Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change marks World Environment Day with several initiatives on all the islands of the Archipelago

June 5, 2023

The Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change marked today World Environment Day with initiatives in all the islands of the Archipelago. The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, participated in a coastal cleaning action at the Baixa da Areia beach in Água de Pau, São Miguel island.

The Regional Secretary said on the occasion that “today, we commemorate the 50th World Environment Day, an important milestone in the history of this global initiative”.

“In order to mark the passage of half a century since the institution of this event by the United Nations, a theme of particular importance and of unavoidable consideration in these days was chosen, which is the 'Solutions to Plastic Pollution’,” he said.

Alonso Miguel pointed out that “the Azores have great natural wealth and unique environmental sensitivity, which makes it even more important to adopt effective measures to tackle this problem, which has serious consequences for human health, for ecosystems, for marine and terrestrial life and for the environment in general”.

“That is why the Regional Government of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, has been strategically investing in waste management and environmental protection through the implementation of various policies and initiatives aimed at reducing the consumption of disposable plastics in the islands, encouraging green consumption practices, through environmental education,” he said.

The governor revealed that significant efforts have been made in this regard, starting with legislation, highlighting the review of the Azores Waste Prevention and Management Strategic Programme (PEPGRA 20+), which is currently under consideration by the Azores Regional Parliament, as well as the measures defined in Regional Legislative Decree No. 5/2022/A, of 4 March, to reduce the consumption of single-use products and to promote reuse and recycling.

“Also noteworthy are the implementation projects of the System for the Deposit of Non-reusable Beverage Packaging in the Azores, with the installation of 25 reverse logistics machines in all municipalities in the Region, in an investment of around 1 million euros, which enabled the collection of around seven million packages in the space of just one year, as well as an investment of more than eight million euros to restructure and equip the existing Waste Processing Centres on six islands in the Archipelago, which will further enable our Region to move towards a circular economy,” said the Regional Secretary.

Alonso Miguel highlighted that today's event at the Baixa de Areia beach, awarded with the Bandeira Azul, continues the commitment to environmental education and awareness, consisting in the cleaning of this coastline, located in an area of the Natura 2000 network and intervention area of the LIFE IP AZORES NATURA project, with the participation of a middle school class of the EBI de Água de Pau and a group of young people from the CDIJ-Trevo project, of the Casa do Povo de Água de Pau, as well as the collaboration of the Lagoa City Council.

“Also, as part of the celebrations of this 50th anniversary of World Environment Day, until next 9 June, several coastal cleaning actions are planned in all the Azorean islands, as well as monitoring and interpretation actions on footpaths, and a commemorative video was also produced to mark this important day”, he concluded.