The Regional Director for the Environment announced in Horta that the "Eco-Village, Clean Village" contest for 2017 distinguished 17 municipalities with the prize of "Excellence." According to him, this is "the recognition of the importance of local authorities in promoting the development communities and civic education.
 
"Last year, there were 146 registered villages - 93.5% of regional villages - of which 117 were awarded. The "Eco-Village" prize was awarded to 88 villages, which allowed them to hoist the flag during the next year," said Hernani Jorge.
 
The Regional Director spoke at the delivery ceremony of the prizes of "Excellence" awarded under this contest. Established in 2014, they distinguish the villages whose cleaning and maintenance efforts have achieved the highest score in the several evaluation criteria.
 
"Rewarding the performance and distinguishing excellence not only recognises the efforts of the populations and their local authorities, but also encourages the continuity of actions to maintain and clean public spaces, towards an effective change of behaviour," stressed Hernâni Jorge.
 
In his speech, he added that 149 villages are registered in this year's edition. The applications submitted under "My Stream" and "Clean Coast" projects cover an intervention area of 207.4 kilometres of water lines and 107.7 kilometres of coast, respectively.
 
"In addition to financial support amounting to 450 thousand Euros, the best applications submitted under "My Stream" project will continue to receive equipment for the cleaning and maintenance of the hydrographic network, including brushcutters and chainsaws, representing an additional investment of 50 thousand Euros," added Hernâni Jorge.
 
The Regional Director pointed out that, currently, this programme is "highly recognised by villages as well as by citizens and the various entities involved in preserving environmental quality."
 
"This programme as well as other actions promoted by local authorities and other entities play an increasingly important role, at a time when the majority of our islands are sought after by a growing number of visitors. This raises the level of demand and response capacity to the impacts and consequences of this demand, so that we may continue ensuring the quality of our public spaces," stressed the government official.
 
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.