Anti-oil organisation ASMAA reports on is activities in the past year; on the successes and threats to the region.
"2015 has been without a doubt one of the most challenging for ASMAA and for the Algarve in the fight against offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration, but there has been many highlights and positive outcomes:
• In July and September 2015 copies of concession contracts were published which for the first time enabled ASMAA to analyse them and to identify the risks facing the region economic and environmental sustainability. We had the contracts assessed by international legal experts and as a result of legal opinions we submitted a request for an investigation to the EC for two of the contracts supported by over 1000 signatures.
• From January to December – 11 information sessions were held – from the west to the east in the Algarve. We were in Aljezur, Vila do Bispo, Lagos, Alvor, Portimao, Lagoa, Faro and Tavira. In total we reached over a 1000 people. Some sessions were organised by ASMAA, others by Lagoa in Transition, Tavira in Transition, Contramare, Friends of Costa Vicentina and Stop Fracking in Vila do Bispo.
• In November we were in Tavira at the invite of Tavira in Transition for the Climate March event which saw hundreds of people participating and was a huge success.
• From January to December we walked the streets talking to people in towns and villages along the coast of the Algarve where we distributed thousands of “Oilgarve” posters, flyers and collected signatures for our petitions.
• We engaged with representatives of all political parties in the Algarve and we even visited the Portuguese Parliament in Lisbon on invite from PAN who then posed questions regarding the oil and gas exploration in Parliament. The BE Algarve representatives have also on regular basis asked questions and brought the matter up in Parliament as did the Greens.
• In November 2015 – all the council mayors stood together as one under AMAL and proclaimed their stand against any oil and gas exploration for the first time.
• In December we were part of the people supporting AMAL during the ENMC/AMAL meeting of Friday 18 December.
In addition to all of the above we managed to seriously update our site, and you can now use our Google interactive map for onshore concessions to assess if you will be directly affected by the onshore concessions that include the risk of fracking. You can also access hundreds of articles, studies and reports, and more data is being added on a daily basis. (We still have hundreds of international reports and studies, and thousands of witness reports - USA - that need to be uploaded)
And we did all of that with the help of less than 5000€ received from donations during the year and thousands of volunteer hours and the support from the management team of ASMAA that saw them personally not only dedicating their time and resources, but also carrying many of the costs during the course of the year when there were no funds to cover expenses.
It has been tough, it has been challenging … but we did it.
WHAT ARE SOME OF ASMAA’S PLANS FOR 2016?
• Manage and coordinate the door-to-door 3-month campaign “Not one well. Not now nor in the future” (Nem um furo. Nem agora nem no futuro) in support of AMAL and local mayors. (read the press release here) – We have been asked by various grass root organisations and individuals to take this campaign national – we currently assessing how to go about replicating it in other parts of the country.
• Ensure that we have a good number of people attending the meeting scheduled for 12 January 2016 at the University of Algarve to attend a session organised by ENMC in which representatives of the oil and gas companies, industry experts, etc will be giving presentations and will also be available to answer questions from the public.
• We are looking at how can the first offshore core drilling that is apparently scheduled to take place in June 2016 in the Alentejo Basin, and the second offshore core drilling that is scheduled for September 2016 in the Algarve Basin be stopped.
• We will be carrying on conducting various information clarification sessions to local populations. The first four sessions will take place in January - Carrapateira, Rogil, Odeceixe and Lagos. Let us know if you are interested in attending and which one.
I believe that you will agree with us that above is an exciting list of objectives for 2016. And you can bet that there will be even more exciting things added to it as time goes on.
Already we have a few new projects in the development pipeline that we believe will help in preserving the Algarve and assist in ensuring the sustainability of the population and our way of life.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ENSURE THAT ASMAA MEETS ITS 2016 OBJECTIVES?
• Donate
• Get a campaign T-Shirt (Say No to Oil) – for a 10€ donation Follow the link to complete the order form.
http://asmaa-algarve.org/index.php/en/shop/oilgarve-oil-leak-t-shirts-pt-en
• Volunteer to take part in the door-to-door “Nem Um Furo” campaign
• Get your family and friends to sign the current online petitions
To Donate visit our Donate page or make your contribution directly to our bank or via Paypal. Please be generous as our resources are running low.
Option 1
The simplest form is to make your donation online using your Paypal account, or your credit or debit card. We are thankful for whatever amount you donate, be it 25€, 50€, 100€, 250€, 500€ ... or any other amount that you feel is justified and you can afford to part with.
ASMAA site donate page: http://asmaa-algarve.org/index.php/en/donate
or use info@asmaa-algarve.org to donate via Paypal
REF: Say NO to Oil
Option 2
Alternativly you can donate directly into our bank account by bank transfer. We are thankfull for whatever amount you donate, be it 25€, 50€, 100€, 250€, 500€ ... or any other amount that you feel is justified and you can afford to part with.
Banco: BANIF
Conta: ASMAA Algarve Surf and Marine Activities Association
NIB (Portugal): 0038 0000 4030968177132
IBAN (International): PT50 0038 0000 4030968177132
SWIFT: BNIFPTPL
REF: Say NO to Oil
And to end our last communication for 2015, we wish you and your family a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Thank you for all your support - let 2016 bring you all the joy, love, health and prosperity that you so rightly deserve.
Laurinda, Joe, Cat, Susie and all the rest of the ASMAA team.
info@asmaa-algarve.org
282 789 888
969 320 231
Over 15,000 people so far have signed the Algarve's anti-oil petition
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