Loulé has announced plans to plant thousands of trees in the Serra do Caldeirão hills over the next five years.
The announcement came last week after the local town hall signed two protocols with Associação Natureza Portugal/WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and the Portuguese Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF). Both entities will assist the local council with the tree-planting projects.
The protocols were signed during a ceremony held last Wednesday (June 9) at Lagoa de Momprolé, where around 5,000 trees were planted in 2017 as part of the ‘Montanha Verde’ operation carried out by the local council, Zoomarine and local schools.
“We commit to planting, in an orderly manner, several thousands of trees along Serra do Caldeirão,” said Loulé Mayor Vítor Aleixo at the ceremony.
Cork trees, evergreen oak trees, strawberry trees, carob trees and olive trees are “just some of the native species” that will be planted, said the council in a communiqué to the press.
The partnership with Associação Natureza Portugal/WWF follows Loulé Council’s decision to join the ‘Plantar Água’ (Planting Water) programme and the ‘Diálogo da Paisagem da Serra Algarvia’ (Dialogue of the Algarve Hills Landscape) initiative, which aim to restore the ecological treasures of Serra do Caldeirão and improve the “socio-economic resilience of its communities”.
The association’s spokesperson Afonso do Ó said that WWF can play an important role in these projects due to its “experience” linking public and private financing as well as making “all players get involved”.
Meanwhile, ICNF will help the local council raise awareness among property owners about the importance of preserving the Algarve’s native forest.
ICNF’s regional director, Castelão Rodrigues, said that the goal of its partnership with ICNF is to “transform the landscape and mobilise producers and associations to make these hills and this borough more sustainable and help make wildfires less aggressive.”
By MICHAEL BRUXO
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