The conservation and renewal of our building heritage is essential for the preservation of the Azorean identity references, stated the President of the Regional Government in Santa Cruz das Flores today.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Boqueirão Environmental Interpretation Centre, Carlos César underlined that the investment “without parallel in Portugal” ensures that "the present generations as well as the forthcoming,” will become acquainted with those references, “sharing with them a future with past.”

The use of space where the Centre and the “Ecoteca” (Environmental Awareness Raising Centre) are installed, an investment of 1.3 million Euros, is an example of the new features that coexist with the recovery of the building heritage, thus enhancing and providing it with new utilities.

Moreover, the President of the Government said that the island of Flores is one of the islands benefiting from important investments for environmental sustainability, such as the installation of a new power plant that generates energy from renewable sources, coastal protection works, eradication of invasive plants and the construction of a waste Centre.

“This latest investment of nearly six million Euros will solve the problem of urban waste in the Western Group,” Carlos César reminded and subsequently urged authorities to start preparing the equipment for selective waste collection and to prepare awareness and information campaigns on the issue. 

The President of the Government stressed that “successful” policy initiatives are not enough for the classification of landscapes, such as World Heritage Site, Special Protection Areas of Natura 2000 Network, Protected Area according to the Ramsar Convention, Biosphere Reserve, GeoPark Island or Island Natural Park “to meet the high environmental goals that we have stipulated for Flores Island.”

The Environmental Interpretation Centre opened in the adjacent space to the old Whaling Factory today will become part of a set in which this unit, attached to the Flores Museum, will be an important complement to the collection of the São Boaventura Convent “in a near future” in a context to explain the relation of the island with the sea with special emphasis on the whaling issues,” explained Carlos César.