The São Miguel Island Natural Park, which comprises the municipalities of Nordeste and Povoação, will apply for the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas (ECST).

The announcement was made at a press conference on Friday morning by the Regional Director for the Environment, João Bettencourt, who stressed that this distinction is awarded by EUROPARC, a non-profit NGO that brings together about 400 members (parks, environment administrations and other public and private entities). Currently, there are 75 protected areas distinguished with this award across eight European countries.

For that governmental official, sustainable tourism is a concept that seeks to combine the economic goals of tourism development with the maintenance the resource base that is necessary for its existence.
In this context, the Region has developed in the recent revision of the legal framework that supervises the Regional Network of Protected Areas as well as the coordination of policies between the environmental, tourism and local development areas, which enables to anticipate the base conditions for the success of this challenge so that the Azores become into a quality tourist destination, in which nature is their primary resource and cornerstone.
 
Hence, the work developed by the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds on the island of São Miguel has been fundamental, particularly through the LIFE projects in the Special Protection Zone of Pico da Vara/Ribeira do Guilherme not only in the area of nature conservation, specially of the Azores bullfinch species, but also in the context of local development in order to improve the integration of the areas of nature and tourism. 

In this framework, the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea has already started the application procedures for the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, which will comprise the area that integrates the São Miguel Island Natural Park (the municipalities of Povoação and Nordeste), with special emphasis on the Special Protection Zone of Pico da Vara/Ribeira do Guilherme, as well as Furnas, which were designated in this application as “Terras do Priôlo” (Azores Bullfinch Lands).

The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas aims to raise awareness for the acknowledgement of the Protected Areas of Europe, being a fundamental part of our heritage which should be preserved enjoyed by the present and forthcoming generations; as well as to improve the sustainable development and management of tourism in protected areas that take into account the needs of the environment, of populations, local businesspeople and visitors.

In addition to stimulating specific tourism products which enable the discovery and knowledge on the area, this European Charter also intends to increase the knowledge on protected areas as well as on sustainability issues in the tourism sector, assure that the benefits of tourism support the quality of life of local populations and to monitor the influx of visitors in order to reduce their negative impact, revealed the Regional Director for the Environment.

For João Bettencourt, an application for the ECST assumes that the protected space has jointly developed with its institutional partners a set of actions which demonstrate that its drafting encompasses the contributions provided by several entities throughout different stages: Characterisation and Diagnostics, Goals and Strategy, and Action Plan.

Thus, the ECST is a process of institutional involvement that requires the active participation of various local partners in the definition of the future of sustainable tourism in the territory where it is going to be implemented.

In Portugal, this distinction has been awarded to five parks: the Peneda Gerês National Park and the Serra de São Mamede Natural Park (2002); the Natural Parks of Alvão, Montesinho and Douro Internacional (2009).

Currently, these protected areas integrate two networks of spaces included in the ECST, the Iberian Network and the European Network of Protected Area included in the European Charter which annually meet to exchange experiences and discuss the most important themes on this subject.

It should be noted the existence of only two protected areas included in the ECST that are located on islands, the Parque Nacional de Garajoney (La Gomera/Canary Islands) and the Parc National de la Guadeloupe (French Antilles).

According to João Bettencourt, an application for the ECST comprising the Special Protected Zone of Pico da Vara/Ribeira do Guilherme and the remaining protected areas of the municipalities of Povoação and Nordeste, which are designated as “Terras do Priôlo” (Azores Bullfinch Lands) in this application, would distinguish São Miguel as one of the first European islands to be awarded for its effort in the promotion and development of sustainable tourism.