The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism stated this afternoon that the Educating for the Environment and Sustainability Portal is a platform that facilitates access to information with the aim of promoting environmental sensitivity through greater public, individual and collective participation.
 
Marta Guerreiro spoke in Ponta Delgada at the launch of the portal, explaining that this is "another contribution to the transformation of utopian sustainability into action, instilling a green spirit that aggregates all islands and sectors of activity."
 
"This portal comprises a vast set of information and resources, ranging from the agendas of School Park and Open Park programmes and various educational resources and contents to the contacts of "Ecotecas" (environmental awareness-raising centres) and Environmental Centres," said the Regional Secretary.
 
On the eve of the beginning of the school year 2017/2018, the Secretary for the Environment added that, last year, the School Park programme mobilised 17,000 participants in 740 activities. This figure represents about half of the 36,000 participants in more than half of the 1,378 activities directly developed by the environmental education services of the Azores Natural Parks.
 
"These figures show an increase of 63% in the population's participation, as in the number of activities, compared to 2014, which we regard as a factor of additional enthusiasm," noted Marta Guerreiro.
 
These "encouraging" results also include the growing number of visitors to the Environmental Centres, which registered nearly 400,000 visitors in 2016. In this regard, the government official stressed the "consolidation of other programmes such as "Eco-Village, Clean Village," "Miosótis Azores" and "Eco-School" or projects such as SIARAM (Feeling and Interpreting the Azores Environment through Multimedia Resources), and the promotion of good environmental practices and active citizenship in our Region. "
 
In her speech, the Regional Secretary recalled the path that has been followed by the Azorean Government regarding the strategy for environmental education and awareness through various measures, from the Regional Network of "Ecotecas" of the Azores and the Regional Plan for Environmental Education and Awareness to the Network of Environmental Centres. As she mentioned, "they cover all islands of the Azores and have continuously developed environmental education programmes and projects."
 
Marta Guerreiro also added that these measures "also benefit from the creation of Island Natural Parks and the company Azorina. They have also monitored a new operating model implemented in all these structures in order to promote a relation of proximity to the populations and target audiences."
 
The portal may be accessed at http://educarparaoambiente.azores.gov.pt/.