The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and the Environment participated today in the allocation of safety kits to four Village Councils of Pico Island under the initiative to the "Eco-Village, Clean Village 2016" programme with the aim to improve protection and working conditions in the cleaning of the streams.
 
"We have basically doubled the budget for this project," Luís Neto Viveiros said, mentioning that the overall programme "provides 600 thousand Euros to the entire Region," this amount was set at 325 thousand Euros in 2013.
 
This year, in addition to the 20% increase in the overall amount, the event also awards 35 maintenance kits to the best applications to the "My Stream," an additional investment of 60 thousand Euros.
 
Each of these kits includes a chain saw and a professional brush cutter and two complete individual protective suits; its distribution is scheduled for the end of May.
 
Today, the kits were delivered to the Villages Councils of São João, municipality of Lajes do Pico, São Mateus, municipality of Madalena, and Santo Amaro and Prainha, municipality of São Roque do Pico.
 
"My Stream" project is one of the novelties of "Eco-Village" 2016, which has already registered the adherence of one hundred municipal entities, said Neto Viveiros.
 
Eco-Village is primarily intended to recognise and distinguish the efforts of these local authorities and the cooperation of the people in cleaning, removal and proper referral of waste disposed of in public places, including water lines and the coastline. Moreover, it also aims to encourage participation in programmes and awareness actions in environmental education.
 
In 2013, 113 villages joined this project, a number that rose to 145 in the following year and to 148 in 2015.
 
This year, the initiative involved 155 of the 156 parishes that exist in the archipelago of the Azores.