The Municipality of Lousada (in Portugal) is an institution of local public administration. Its aim is to pursue the interests of the population in the territorial space of the Lousada Council. The council of Lousada belongs to the district of Porto and has an extension of 95 Km2. The city assumes itself as the center of the region denominated Vale do Sousa since it’s situated in its geographic center. It has approximately 50.000 inhabitants that are distributed within the 25 parishes of Lousada.
This Portuguese public institution is a very virtuous example on how a local municipality develops internationalisation through European Union projects, giving benefit to all sectors of the community, including youth, schools and companies. The municipality concentrated most of the projects on education to empower citizens competences and on the environment.
Thus, the Municipality of Lousada directs its action to achieve a sustainable development, to promote and boost the council at economic, social, environmental and cultural level, optimizing the use of available resources and striving for a public administration capable of responding to the growth objectives of the council and the needs of its citizens.
With this strong commitment in finding strategies securing sustainable development and nature conservation for Lousada, the municipality has been designing and implementing a strategy that includes several initiatives with schools and the general public.
Actual projects:
– BioLousada – free public environmental education programme for the community;
– Educative and pedagogical valorization and exploitation of Mata de Vilar (Forest of Vilar);
– BioEscola – environmental education programme for all schools of the ML;
– EcoVilar and Forest for Future youth exchanges for forest management and conservation;
– BioFest – environment and culture festival;
– PlantarLousada, LousadaCharcos, Lixo Sustentável, Gigantes Verdes, and many other environmental projects for educating towards sustainable/eco behaviours;
– Fundo Lousada Sustentável, scholarships encouraging youth to develop projects to protect natural heritage.
Promoting environmental protection measures through environmental awareness and the valuation of green spaces is one of the main goals of the Municipality of Lousada. Our transformative actions illustrate the powerful role environmental education plays in promoting environmental practices, supporting the creation of conservation areas and environmental job opportunities, as well as reconnecting local citizens with their rural landscape.
Know more about the Municipality of Lousada at https://www.cm-lousada.pt/
Written by
LOUSADA Team
