The spokesman for the civic movement SOS Serra d’Arga said this Tuesday to Lusa that the Câmara de Caminha is “aligned” in contesting the prospecting and exploration of lithium and other minerals in that area of Alto Minho.
“We are aligned, as we expected, in most of the stories. We wanted to know if the Câmara de Caminha (PS) reaffirmed its position on the matter. Both the president, Miguel Alves, and the vice-president, Guilherme Lagido, said that they are obviously against everything that may affect, directly or indirectly, protected areas, ”Carlos Seixas told Lusa.
Serra d’Arga, in the district of Viana do Castelo, covers an area of 10,000 hectares, of which 4,280 hectares are classified as a Site of Community Importance.
The spokesman for the civic movement SOS Serra d’Arga, who was speaking at the end of a meeting held today with the Mayor of Caminha, said he had been informed that the map that will define the area’s boundaries is “practically ready”. of Protected Landscape of Municipal Interest to be created in Serra d’Arga.
At stake is the project “From Serra d’Arga to Foz do Âncora”, which involves the municipalities of Caminha, Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima, Vila Nova de Cerveira and Paredes de Coura.
That project focuses on “the territory classified as a Site of Community Importance by the Natura 2000 Serra d’Arga Network, corresponding to an area with 4,493 hectares, fully inserted in the Alto Minho sub-region, and whose floristic and fauna conservation is imperative”.
“The Alto Minho Intermunicipal Community (CIM) agreed to lead the process, which means that this new area of protected landscape that will extend the scope of the Natura 2000 network in Serra d’Arga is very short. It will not protect everything we would like, but it is an advance ”, he specified.
Carlos Seixas also said that he questioned the socialist mayor of Caminha about the script that the Government announced it will carry out to present the basic principles of the new mine law to the municipalities directly involved.
“We were told that the position of the municipality is one: it is against this prospecting and exploration project,” he said, adding that Ponte de Lima, the municipality (CDS-PP) that received the movement last week, also reaffirmed the movement “ opposition to all lithium prospecting and exploration projects ”.
“The political message is what interests us and in the two municipalities with whom we met, it was clear that local development is not done in this way”, underlined Carlos Seixas.
The official said that the civic movement will be received on Thursday by the Chambers of Vila Nova de Cerveira (14:30) and Paredes de Coura (17:00). The request for an audience with the Mayor of Viana do Castelo “has not yet been answered”.
Contacted by Lusa, the Mayor of Caminha said that “any prospecting and mining action that may directly or indirectly affect Sites of Community Importance and Natura Network – Serra d’Arga, beaches on the North Coast, Vale do Âncora, Coura valley and Minho estuary deserve and will deserve the firm opposition of the municipality ”.
“With regard to the rest of the district of Caminha, we are working with the municipalities of Ponte de Lima, Viana do Castelo and Vila Nova de Cerveira to extend the protection borders of the Serra d’Arga massif, constituting a Protected Area of Interest Regional ”, he said.
Miguel Alves said that, “in addition to the strategic value of the project that consolidates the protection of biodiversity and the municipality’s commitment to its natural heritage, this protection will allow, in the near future, to protect the territories at the foot of the Serra d’Arga from eventual actions of mining”.
For “unclassified territories”, he added, “the municipality of Caminha requires all environmental studies considered necessary and opinions from different institutions such as the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the Nature and Forest Conservation Institute ( ICNF), the Regional Directorate of Culture of the North (DRCN) and the Local Health Unit of Alto Minho (ULSAM), among others ”.
In early January, the name of the nine places covered by the public tender for the exploitation of lithium was released, in addition to the two contracts already announced in Montalegre and Boticas.
Serra d’Arga, Barro / Alvão, Seixo / Vieira, Almendra, Barca Dalva / Canhão, Argemela, Guarda, Segura and Maçoeira will be covered.
In the district of Viana do Castelo, the Movement for the Defense of the Environment and Heritage of the Alto Minho also contests the prospecting and exploration of lithium in the Serra d’Arga.
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