- The works will begin this autumn and are part of the European Green Gap project, led by Galicia, to promote green infrastructures in the cross-border area.
- Ángeles Vázquez explains that the actions will benefit the municipalities of Tomiño, A Guarda and O Rosal, including the rehabilitation of two ornithological observatories and a walkway, the elimination of allochthonous species and the renewal of signage.
- He stresses that this is one of the seven pilot projects to be carried out within the framework of this cooperation project in the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion.
The Xunta de Galicia will invest about 200,000 euros in the implementation of a set of actions, between this year and next, with the common goal of improving the differential values and resilience to climate change of the cross-border landscape of the Miño-Santa Tegra estuary.
This was explained this morning to the Regional Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Ángeles Vázquez, during a visit to the bird observatory of the Xunqueira, which precisely will be rehabilitated as well as the walkway that gives access as part of the works planned in the environment of the ecological corridor of the river Minho.
With an execution period of 14 months, the actions on the ground will begin this autumn, expected in October, and are part of the European Green Gap project, an initiative led by Galicia through the Institute of Territorial Studies (IET) and in which a group of local authorities, supra-municipal administrations and universities of the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion collaborate to promote green infrastructure within the cross-border area.
Among the planned actions, which will also benefit the municipalities of Tomiño and O Rosal, the regional head highlighted the recovery of the ornithological observatory of the Pasaxe, located in La Guarda, which in this case will involve a complete reconstruction.
In addition, he explained that clearing and elimination of non-native species will be carried out in the three municipalities (such as the acacia or the boquiabierta grass); signage and signposting will be improved to optimize information to visitors; closures and other protective elements on sensitive habitats will be recovered; and abandoned elements or dead trees will be removed.
Accompanied by the director of the EIT, Enrique de Salvador, the Regional Minister took advantage of her visit to the area to stress the importance of supporting the implementation and development of green infrastructure projects in the Euroregion, as they contribute to creating a network of spaces and elements that improve resistance to climate change, contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and at the same time benefit neighboring populations.
This is the main objective with which Galicia and Northern Portugal began working hand in hand last year through the Green Gap, with a budget of 2.1 million euros financed through the European Interreg Spain-Portugal 2021-2027 program.
In fact, the actions presented this morning for the lower Minho area correspond to the first of the seven pilot projects to be implemented under this cross-border initiative, three of which will be developed in Galician territory, the other two being an environmental restoration project in the surroundings of the reservoir das Conchas, in Muíños, and another for the creation of native vegetation strips of continuous forest masses in neighboring forests of Pontevedra.
