img_sao_jorge_seminar.jpg
The Regional Government of the Azores, the two municipalities of the islands of Velas and Calheta, the Natural Park of San Jorge, and the National Committee for the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme signed on Wednesday 26 August, in a public ceremony in São Jorge (Azores, Portugal), the nomination document of the fajãs of São Jorge Island that will be presented to the MAB Secretariat.
The decision on this nomination will be known in March 2016, in Peru, where the next International Coordinating Council of the MAB Programme and the 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves will take place.
Mr. Miguel Clüsener-Godt, MAB Programme Specialist, congratulated the regional and local authorities for the work they have done in completing this application.
Portugal has already eight biosphere reserves in their territory, three of which are in the Azores: Flores, Corvo and Graciosa.
The regional secretary for Agriculture and Environment of the Regional Government of the Azores, Mr. Neto Viveiros, stated he is confident in the success of this candidature, as fajãs of São Jorge Island has all the conditions to become a biosphere reserve, with its people and its cultural, social and natural wealth.
Mr. Neto Viveiros also noted that the biosphere reserve nomination would bring many benefits to the Azores by raising the visibility of the islands worldwide, and also promoting local products made in the island of São Jorge, which could have the biosphere reserve logo.
The fajãs are flat surfaces that were formed by a combination of lava flowing into the ocean flowing, as well as landslides and collapsed cliffs deposits onto the shores. The fajãs provide microclimates and important access between the rugged coast and the interior of the island. It was in this flat and fertile area that in the mid-fifteenth century, wheat cultivation started, which was the pillar of the island economy during the first centuries following its discovery.
No comments:
Post a Comment