The Regional Director for the Environment said on Friday that the "ECO Freguesia - Freguesia Limpa" (ECO Village - Clean Village) contest showed "very positive" results in last year's edition, in which 112 of the 154 Azorean villages have participated.

Speaking at the ceremony to deliver the first ECO-Village 2013 flags to the winning villages of Faial, Hernâni Jorge stressed that 72% of regional villages have joined this initiatives. In this regard, the government official admitted that "over time, all villages or almost all will feel obliged "to contribute to the goals of this project.

The Regional Director also underlined that "the vast majority of villages in competition have won the highest awards and even in the villages where these goals were not fully met, "their meritorious effort" should be acknowledged.

"We believe that in 2014 and coming years, more villages will join this initiative and we there will a more dynamic intervention, perhaps not so much in terms of cleaning actions, but in maintaining the quality of the environmental status of villages," said the government official.

Hernâni Jorge revealed that the support awarded by the Regional Government to the villages in competition have reached a global amount of 325 thousand Euros in 2013. This sum will be increased by 15% in this year's edition, whose application period ends on March 10.

However, the Regional Director for the Environment considered that "villages have not join this initiative just for the financial support, but because the majority of village councils are willing to maintain their public spaces clean and presentable.

The "ECO Freguesia - Freguesia Limpa" contest is organised by the Government of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for Regional Resources in collaboration with the Regional Directorates for the Environment and Sea Affairs. This main purpose of this initiative is to recognise and reward the efforts of villages in collaboration with the local population, particularly in the cleansing, removal and disposal of waste in their public spaces, including water lines and shorelines, as well as to develop and promote participation in environmental awareness-raising and educational programmes.

Created in 2010, the "ECO Freguesia - Freguesia Limpa" contest takes place annually with aim of rewarding the good environmental performance of individuals and entities involved; its continuation is justified by the growing importance to ensure the well-being of populations.