PROBAAL related press

Battle begins to save Barrocal landscape from transformation into massive solar park
Date: 25/05/2023
Description of the event

Journal do Algarve
Journalist João Prudêncio recently visited the site at Cerro do Leiria and has written a very thorough piece regarding the situation here. The article contains contributions from PROBAAL members, Claudia Sil of the Sustainable Water
Platform (PAS) and biologist João Pinto from the University of the Algarve, Faro.
The President of Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo, Carlos Sousa, also spoke with the paper, saying ”We all recognise that energy is an asset for our country, but the Junta de Freguesia thinks that there were alternatives that would not harm the parish in the barrocal. We have areas further inland that could be used for this purpose”. As to the hypothetical lack of land available for this project, the mayor added: “Here in the Barrocal, the land wasn’t available either. They were looking for land and had to buy and rent. The Junta de Freguesia is calmly awaiting the position of the public consultation, and what the people will say. It’s not about getting up there and putting up the panels”, he concluded.
Date: 27/01/2022
Subscribe online for the full article: https://www.facebook.com/jornaldoalgarve/posts/7748968228462170

Solar Farm at What Cost?
by Nina Dar
A brand new season of The Change Troubleshooter Podcast.
In Season 3 – If Not You, Who? This season features people who are getting out there trying to make a difference, often against the odds.
It’s a season of stories about ordinary, everyday people with the guts and determination to take on is big issues
Date: December 2021

Open Letter to Iberdrola in
El Correo, Bilbao
Bilbao is where the headquarters of Iberdrola are, which is why we wrote our first open letter to this newspaper. It read as follows:
”Renewable energies are not worth our biodiversity, soil or water;
The environmental association PROBAAL opposes the 83MW Estoi-Tavira solar project proposed by Iberdrola S.A. in Cerro do Leiria, Algarve, Portugal. Its implementation would deforest 2kms; destroy habitats, biodiversity and trees,
in an area of National Ecological Reserve. Designated as an area of maximum infiltration of the Peral/Moncarapacho aquifer, a strategic area of protection and recharge and an area of high hydrological vulnerability, its deforestation
would accentuate the already high levels of soil erosion and hinder the recharge of the aquifer.”
”We say to Iberdrola that any photovoltaic project on Cerro do Leiria will be illegal, in violation of the Algarve Spatial Planning Law (PROT) and the Ecological Reserves Law. It is also sad to find cases where intimidation tactics have been used by officials to obtain land in Cerro do Leiria, even before the Environment Agency has reviewed a case. PROBAAL will protect this land by all legal means because destroying the planet to save it is not a madness we can tolerate.”
Date: 07/10/2022
25/06/2021
Sul Informação
26/05/ 2021
Sul Informação
12/05/2021
Algarve Daily News.com
19/03/2021
The Portugal News