A Nossa Terra Annual General Meeting
The association invites all the associates to participate in the general meeting, which is scheduled to Saturday, 20th February, 2 p.m., at the Óchálá.
The general meeting purpose is to discuss and organize the activities for this year.
Transition Town Meeting
Next Sunday, 24th January, we will realize the first 2016 Transition Town meeting.
The local is at Bica Boa, Monchique, at 2 p.m., and the discussion themes are the community garden, the annual plan for 2016 and a review from the last year’s scene.
CONSOLFOOD 2016 Internacional Conference
On 22nd and 23rd January, the international conference CONSOLFOOD, takes place at Campus da Penha at the Algarve’s University, at Faro. In this conference, several experts will discuss food processing with solar energy in seminars and workshops.
Our associate George Portas will be part of the conference program, presenting the sun drying process from his artisanal spirulina production. For more information and inscriptions at the conference, please visit http://www.consolfood.org/.
Public Session about The Oil and Gas Exploitation in the Algarve
On the next January 25th, we will receive in Monchique an open public session about the oil and natural gas exploitation in the Algarve. This session is organized by the Preservar Aljezur Group with support from ASMAA.
We invite everyone to participate in this session, which will take place on the 25th January, at 9 p.m. at the public library, in Monchique (near the post office and the Santo António Gallery).
This event has the purpose to provide information about this serious topic for the municipality and the region, which has been under reported by the official media.
The Portuguese govern has granted the rights for prospection, testing, developing and production of hydrocarbons (oil and gas) on land and ocean by the Algarve’s offshore, included a few kilometres of the Sudoeste Alentejano Natural Park and the Vicentina Coast. For more information, visit
http://www.asmaa-algarve.org/index.php/en/.
Participation at the Seminar about Mining Conflicts in Portugal and Brazil, by the Coimbra’s University
The association will be at a seminar about mining conflicts that exists in Portugal and Brazil.
“This event will discuss aspects of the population’s struggles related by mining in Portugal and Brazil, and the different ways to say “no” to these projects, by sharing experiences and building knowledge between academics, activists, associations and social movements”.
The seminar will take place on February 2nd, at the Social Studies Centre of the University of Coimbra, between 10.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. and at the Science Museum Cafeteria from the University of Coimbra between 4.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m.
Monchique’s Monumental Trees on Portugal em Direto, Antena 1
On January 12th, Stephen Hugman and Rui André were interviewed for a radio interview about the Monchique’s Monumental Trees, presented in the radio program Portugal em Direto, Antena 1.
In this interview, we can also listen the researcher Raquel Lopes, from Aveiro University, who is creating a guide for classified monumental trees in the centre of Portugal. The purpose is to attract new audience and ecotourism.
The interview is available online at http://tinyurl.com/zye8z82
Certificate of Merit from the Portuguese Environmental Agency
A Nossa Terra received a certificate of merit from the Portuguese Environmental Agency, on December 4th, in Faro. The certificate was received in recognition of the association´s excellent work and effort towards the programme of environmental volunteering for water.
2015/2016 Water Monitoring Program in Monchique
The hydrologic year started on October 1st 2015. Since most streams are not permanent, the water sampling programmes takes place in spring, between February and July.
To take part in the program, contact the association. The next monitoring will start in February in the Ribeira de Monchique.
Portuguese seeds
New catalogue 2016: http://tinyurl.com/sementes-PT
Fernanda Botelho 2016 Diary – Medicinal Plants and Biodiversity (in Portuguese)
The association has available copies of the 2016 Diary from the author Fernanda Botelho.
These diaries (in Portuguese) include information about plants and agriculture, and this year’s diary is related to medicinal plants and biodiversity.
Each diary costs 12,50€. We also have available the 2015 and 2014 agendas, which costs 8€.
Reuse Books for Free
The office of Nossa Terra has a lot of books available for reuse. Come in, take what you like, and leave a donation. German/English/Portuguese available.
Transition Group Newsletter
To receive news from the Monchique Transition Group, as well as news from other Algarve groups, you can register on Google Groups “Transition Monchique”. There’s a link to this group on the Transition Monchique website: http://transition.monchique.info/.