Five Algarve councils, each of which manages a section of the Algarve’s Ria Formosa, are to run a campaign to inform students of the area’s natural and national importance.Ria Formosa Week will bring together Faro, Loulé, Olhão, Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António councils, between April 16 and 20, as they carry out various initiatives aimed at 'sensitising' schoolchildren.
"An initiative with activities, aimed primarily at schools, which aims to raise awareness of environmental causes and promote the sharing of experiences, as well as develop actions on the natural values of this territory," reads the blurb.
Ria Formosa Week aims also to foster partnerships between public and private bodies and social institutions, (to organise rubbish collection patrols.)
The councils' eco-objective is “to disseminate information, foster knowledge, increase awareness and recognition of the importance of the Ria Formosa to help with the preservation of natural and cultural heritage.”
Tavira council announced it will be running “thematic visits, which address issues related to the natural zone.”
During this week, the environmental awareness part of the Algarve’s rubbish collection company, ALGAR, will be present in Tavira’s Ribeira Market, to promote the theme of waste and recycling to local students.
Whether these scvhoolchildren will be treated to the problems created by human waste being dumped into the Ria Formosa, 24/7, remains to be seen.
The Ria Formosa’s shellfishing industry has been crippled by a lack of dredging and an abundance of nutrient-rich slurry, tourists remain largely unaware of the raw sewage that flows into the Ria from under the city of Olhão, a situation that has not been addressed by successive mayors despite promises, speeches, pledges and specific funding to resolve the problems caused by domestic sewage pipes connected directly to the rainwater drainage system.
As for the ecological stewardship of the Ria Formosa area, students may not get full information on the activities of Polis Litoral Ria Formosa whose ‘interventions’ on the barrier islands have caused misery and disruption to local inhabitants who are best placed to manage the natural resources on which they are dependent.
Similarly, the encroachment of various high-value river front properties into the national maritime reserve, along the mainland shoreline, may not be appropriate for such young students to be ‘sensitised’ to, as this will demonstrate the moral bankruptcy of various council members who the young, in an ideal world, should be learning from.
