The Matosinhos City Hall announced this Monday, January 30th, the creation of two ponds, in Parque das Austrálias and Parque de São Brás, as part of a project to characterize and assess the water bodies in the municipality's green areas
According to the municipality of the district of Porto, at a later stage a Management Plan for these areas and an Action Plan to increase the biodiversity of the municipality will be developed.
The work will be developed in partnership with CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research) and its campaign "Charcos com Vida", which will study and map the urban water bodies, assessing their biodiversity, the main threats and their conservation status.
Quoted in a press release, José Teixeira, the researcher responsible for the study, explains that "small urban wetlands perform important ecological and environmental functions, housing a remarkable biodiversity".
For her part, Manuela Álvares, councilwoman for the Environment of the Matosinhos City Council, says that "the study and mapping of these places is the first step towards their preservation, but also for their environmental enhancement in the community.
The project also provides for the implementation of environmental education actions aimed at citizens and schools in the municipality, as well as training of technicians and gardeners of urban green spaces and environmental education technicians of the municipality for the proper management of bodies of water.