This from Frank McLintock in Portugal, our host in the Alentejo:
"You may not have heard but unfortunately, and to Portugal's shame, this government has just given the go-ahead for development totaling 359 hectares all around Salgados, (or "Pera Marsh" as it's known to some), down in the Algarve, an area just as valuable for Butterflies, Dragonflies and Moths as it is for birds and other animals.
Salgados is a unique and internationally recognized Wetland Sanctuary and once gone - as it will be if the developers start work - it will never return.
I urge you, PLEASE, to sign the on-line petition by clicking here http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_Salgados_a_unique_internationally_recognized_birding_sanctuary_from_being_destroyed/
and to share this with your friends on Facebook and Twitter - urging them in their turn to share and pass on etc. Please can you raise awareness of this in any way you can; perhaps you could even put the link up on your site if you have one?
I have watched this area deteriorate over the last 20 years from somewhere that it was a joy to visit with a wealth of birds nesting to what it is now, a cynically destroyed barren lake.
During any of that period protection could have been afforded but as with a lot of things here in Portugal, it has been mired in bureaucracy while big business rode roughshod over any considerations, promising this and promising that.
To believe the empty promises of the developers, a company called Finalgarve, (who in turn are owned by Gallilei), that have been given permission to develop this site is wishful thinking of the highest order. Even as I write this, the company involved is defending itself before a Parliamentary Committee for Corruption. It doesn't have the funds to pay the fines imposed on it for this corruption and is squirming before the Committee saying it'll have to lay off 1,500 people if it is "forced" to pay ... and yet they are planning to destroy this unique habitat before they have any funds to build anything else! If anyone really puts any faith in their word they need their head examined.
This is about money, and how much they can make. They don't have it right now and need investors ... So to get the latter they'll finish destroying Salgados with their new infrastructure and then, just like other failed projects here, nothing will happen - but the final nail will have been driven through Salgados' heart.
What we will be left with is a sterile "gentrified" lagoon - regularly sprayed of course to keep any nasty biting bugs down. There will be some Coots, a Grebe or two, maybe a Little Tern and of course some Gulls, and just maybe a couple of Flamingos 'cos they look pretty, but the rest? Well, we certainly wont be seeing the Peregrines or Black-winged Kites, Purple Herons, Black Terns, Collared Pratincoles or any of the other myriad species that have made Salgados one of the jewels of Algarvian birding.
There is form on this development; years ago there used to be quite a few of these coastal lagoons along this coastline and Quinta do Lago or Dunas Douradas spring to mind. There used to be many beautiful species there for whom these lagoons were vital nesting and migration sanctuaries, but they're gone now. They're very clean and "pretty" of course, but they hold few species. Salgados is the last of them - once the area around this is concreted over there will be nothing left, none of that richness that we hoped to pass on to our descendants. It will be gone for ever - simply to line someone's pocket.
There have been continuous efforts made over the last ten years to destroy Salgados - in the winter when it rained the sea wall used to be broken down on a regular basis to avoid flooding the next door golf course, and when water was in short supply, as it is at present, the same golf course pumps water illegally from the lagoon to keep their greens watered. Right now that is exactly what is happening and the golf course is amazingly green - in stark contrast to the lagoon that is drying out; it is more than 1 meter too low and dropping by 4 cms every week. Everyone knows that this is happening and yet no-one stops it. The developers stated object is to build several luxury hotels and an 18 hole golf course ... hotels here at present have 55% occupancy and are all struggling to survive - but the developers and politicians say we need MORE of them! And to do that, as they're running out of space along this coastline, they're prepared to sacrifice this wonderful place.
If it wasn't so depressingly predictable it'd be laughable. If you need any further information regarding this, please get in contact with me through this email or the number below, and here is an article published by the "Algarve Daily News".
I know I've eaten into your valuable day if you've read this far, and I thank you for giving me your time.
Please click the link and pass it on and I do hope you can raise awareness of this disgrace on your website so that we have a chance of saving it; together we might just make a difference.
Thanks and regards,
Frank"
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