The Surf Club of Viana (SCV) carried out two initiatives related to environmental sustainability: the “Cleaning of Cabedelo beach”, in Viana do Castelo, on February 8, and the “Planting of native species trees”, in Serra de Alvão, in Vila Pouca de Aguiar, last January 17th, was announced today.
Beach cleaning, with the motto “Small acts add up! Let’s get Stoked ”, was organized by Viktor Drewes and Chiara Russotto, European volunteers at SCV under the project Europe Surfing Solidarity, of European Solidarity Corps.
In a statement, the SCV designates the “environmental concerns, coupled with the realization of the large amount of plastics and other waste resulting from human action on Cabedelo beach and its habit of collecting this waste” as a motivating factor.
Photo: Disclosure / SCV
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They managed to “call this cause” 20 people “very active”. This cleaning, despite having a duration of only one hour, resulted in the collection of several garbage bags, with plastic being the one that had the greatest expression.
“We achieved our goals, which were to collect the garbage and, above all, to raise awareness and involve more people, mainly outside the club”, explains Chiara Russotto.
The club reports two more dates to repeat this activity: March 7 and April 12: “The intention is to raise awareness through small acts, is to create a network. For this reason, we hope to have more and more people, especially children, involved in these actions ”.
Albaro oak, bastard maple and strawberry tree
The other environmental action, in partnership with Associação Plantar uma Árvore, involved the planting of 162 trees in a space inserted in the Natura 2000 Network. In this activity, in addition to Chiara and Viktor, other European volunteers participated, under the project “Volunteer Escapes – Volunteer ”.
Vânia Cruz, Viktor Drewes and Chiara Russotto. Photo: Disclosure / SC Viana
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Albaro oak, bastard plane tree and arbutus were the species planted in greatest number, twenty-five each. This was followed by black oak and holly, twenty each, and seventeen chestnut trees. The hazel and wild apple trees were fifteen of each species.
For Gil Matos, executive coordinator of this association, the initiative aims to “enhance the natural heritage, reduce environmental damage, generate and recover natural spaces, promote biodiversity and restore ecological functions”.
“The restitution of the native forest promotes, transversely and actively, ecological sustainability and awareness, participatory citizenship and social and environmental responsibility”, he explains, adding that “the restitution of forests, the promotion of biodiversity and the diversification of habitats also make it possible to strengthen ecosystems and their resilience to climate change and reduce the risk of fire. ”
Vânia Cruz, coordinator at the European Volunteer Service SCV, considers that “these initiatives are of great importance, as they achieve the objectives of reflection on European themes such as environmental sustainability and the individual role, in the present and future of Europe, that we propose in this project ”.
Photo: Disclosure / SCV
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“With the creation and coordination of beach cleaning, both Chiara and Viktor managed to develop their creativity, acquire new environmental, personal, social and cultural skills, with practical reflections on their active life. The action in Serra do Alvão also enabled interculturality and the creation of networks of contacts for the continuation of active European citizenship and solidarity ”, he said.
It is recalled that the 1st European Adapted Surf Championship, held by SCV in May 2019, was the first European surf event certified in sustainability by Sustainable Tourism & Outdoors Kit for Evaluation (STOKE).
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