1st Renewal Forum of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism of the Terras do Priolo 2023

Aug. 9, 2023

The Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change held, on 25 July, the 1st Renewal Forum of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) of Terras do Priolo 2023 at the Centro Municipal de Atividades Culturais, in the village of Nordeste, on the island of São Miguel.

According to the Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, “this Forum aimed to evaluate the results achieved during the last years of the implementation of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism Action Plan and to prepare the action strategy for the next five years”.

“Terras do Priolo, located in the municipalities of Nordeste and Povoação, on the island of São Miguel, has held the ECST award since 2012 and has been implementing the Action Plan for Sustainable Tourism in Terras do Priolo (2017-2021), consisting of 85 actions related to different areas of sustainable tourism development in this territory”, said the person responsible for the Environment portfolio.

Alonso Miguel emphasised that “after an interruption due to the pandemic, the Office of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in the Terras do Priolo has been restructured, and now consists of elements of the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, including elements of the São Miguel Environment Services, the Classified Areas Division of the Regional Directorate for the Environment and Climate Change and the LIFE IP AZORES NATURA project”.

“The commitment of the entities that make up the Local Technical Team, which are the partner entities of this project, has already been renewed, namely the Regional Directorate for Tourism, the Regional Directorate for Forest Resources, the Nordeste City Council, the Povoação City Council, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, the Azores Geopark Association and the Microbial Observatory of the Azores”, he explained.

He added that “this first Forum was the first step towards the renewal of this award, where the results of the work carried out were presented, a reflection was made on them, and where the collection of contributions to defining the strategy for the next five years began”.

Alonso Miguel also said that “the second Forum is already scheduled for 2 October, at the Auditório Municipal da Povoação, whose focus will be the preparation of the Action Plan for the next five years, and that the process will be concluded in a third Forum at the end of the year”.

Regarding these Forums, the format open to public participation stands out, in which companies, associations, local entities and citizens have the opportunity to participate and contribute since, in the words of the Regional Secretary, “this is a process intended to be dynamic and participative”.