The PS Parliamentary Group has confirmed that it has submitted a request to Eduardo Jesus in the Legislative Assembly requesting all documentation on the candidacy process of the Levadas to World Heritage, which was suspended last year.
The socialists demand that the Regional Secretary for the Environment, Tourism and Culture “explain why and what has caused the delay in delivering Madeira’s Levada candidacy to UNESCO.”
The PS deputies say they have “doubts that the poor representativeness of the eight public management levadas that were part of the candidacy for World Heritage of Humanity is the only reason that dictated the withdrawal of the proposal presented by the Regional Government to the National Commission of UNESCO,” therefore, asking for the opinions issued by the various entities that evaluated the candidacy, as well as the official communication containing the recommendation that led to Madeira’s withdrawal in June 2024.
The PS specifically requests from the tutelage: the final proposal for the candidacy of the Levadas of Madeira to World Heritage of Humanity, delivered to the National Commission of UNESCO, the opinions of the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the International Union for Conservation of Nature that were the basis for the withdrawal of the candidacy, other reports or opinions carried out within the scope of this process and also the official communication between the National Commission of UNESCO and the Regional Government, where the recommendation to withdraw the candidacy is included.
Socialist deputy SĂlvia Silva – quoted in a press release – considers that, “if there was an assessment on the ground and a finding of the ‘chaos’ that occurs in nature tourism in Madeira, including in the Levadas, with the overload of users that lead to the degradation of the natural heritage and the accumulation of rubbish, it is likely that negative considerations have been recorded about these facts,” which the PS wants to know.
The parliamentarian recalls that in 1999, UNESCO stated that the carrying capacity of the routes should be calculated and that measures should be implemented to control the impacts of tourist activity on nature.
SĂlvia Silva further recalls that, “in 2017, in its assessment report on the Laurissilva Forest, the International Union for Conservation of Nature concluded that the Region still lacked data, without sufficient information and without studies to define the carrying capacity to limit human pressure on the environment.”
“If, after 25 years, the problems have not only remained, but have worsened, it is natural that the entities that evaluate the proposals for the nominated properties for world heritage show reservations about Madeira’s ability to manage and protect its classified heritage .” SĂlvia Silva, PS
In the same note, the PS deputy points out that the Levadas of Madeira have been part of, since 2017, Portugal’s Indicative List of assets to be nominated for UNESCO World Heritage, and in 2022 the Regional Government delivered the first version of the candidacy and, in 2023, these were the asset selected by Portugal to be part of the candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage Site.
However, against all expectations, in June 2024, the Regional Government accepted the recommendation of the National Commission for UNESCO to withdraw the candidacy, based on the negative opinions of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which foresaw a lead in the candidacy, if it was maintained.
“Taking into account that, last week, the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation reaffirmed the ambition to apply for the Levadas of Madeira to World Heritage of Humanity, ensuring that the proposal is being reformulated and promising a project more complete and in line with UNESCO criteria, the socialists want to know in detail the repairs that made Madeira’s candidacy unfeasible, to be able to assess in the future the convergence of the new proposal with the intentions of the managing entity of the cultural and natural heritage of Humanity.” SĂlvia Silva, PS
In the statement sent last Friday to the newsrooms, the socialists also take the opportunity to request international reports on the conservation status of the Laurissilva Forest, namely from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which, since 2017, has prepared, every three years, the ‘IUCN World Heritage Outlook,” which assigned a qualitative classification to the conservation status of the endemic forest in Madeira.
“The PS is surprised that there is no document published since 2020, the year in which Laurissilva obtained the classification of ‘Good, with concerns,'” exposes the party.
That’s if there is anything left after tourists have clambered all over them, broken branches, or strung washing lines between tree trunks.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
