EDP launches an environmental education programme in Trás-os-Montes
The Junto à Terra project involves hundreds of school students in the areas covered by the Baixo Sabor and Foz Tua dams
EDP recently launched the Junto à Terra project, an environmental education initiative that seeks to disseminate and capitalize on the natural heritage of a huge area of Trás-os-Montes covered by the Baixo Sabor and Foz Tua dams. The launch phase in the Sabor Valley was completed today, in Alfândega da Fé, with field visits involving more than two hundred school students.
Organized in partnership with local associations*, this first year of the initiative will also feature a theoretical training component to consolidate the practical learning acquired by the students. During the field visits, year 9 students from Alfândega da Fé, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Mogadouro and Torre de Moncorvo attended five thematic workshops on specific local features associated with “Livestock and Biodiversity”, "Forest Biodiversity", "Minerals And "Biodiversity", "Wolf Discovery" and "Agricultural and Wild Biodiversity."
Demonstrating the adaptive prowess and capacity of indigenous and migratory species, such as the subalpine warbler - a small bird that every year flies from Mali, in Africa, to nest on the slopes of the Sabor Valley - is one of the many ways used by Junto à Terra to draw the attention of the young people to the richness and biological diversity of their region. At the same time, they are taught about the range of economic activities that depend on local biodiversity, such as almond and olive oil production. At the end of the school year, they will be challenged to pass on the knowledge acquired to the rest of the community, through multimedia content that they will produce.
As part of the Baixo Sabor Dam Environmental Programme, this education project for sustainable development will be extended to the Tua region during the next school year, to boost the action of the Tua Valley Natural Regional Park, another of the compensatory measures of the EDP water expansion plan.
The Baixo Sabor dam started production in January 2016. The commissioning of the hydroelectric plant for Foz Tua is expected to take place during the summer.
* Partners:
- Grupo Nordeste - Group for the Promotion of Sustainable Development: AEPGA (Association for the Study and Protection of Donkeys and Mules); PALOMBAR (Association for the Conservation of Nature and Rural Heritage) and APFNT (Association of Forest Producers of the Trasmontano North East)
- Grupo Lobo – Association for the Conservation of the Wolf and its Ecosystem
- Geopark Terras de Cavaleiros