Environment

Within the scope of civil and technical forestry protection, the Intermunicipal Community of Tâmega e Sousa is responsible for:
 

• Monitoring the implementation of the actions established in the various legal regulations and plans relating to forestry policies;
   
• Checking the compatibility of the cartographic information of forestry plans at municipal level and the timetable for their implementation;
   
• Defining the standard for transposing the Planos Regionais de Ordenamento Florestal [Regional Forest Management Plans] into the Planos Diretores Municipais [Municipal Master Plans] with the municipal councils, preparing proposals for regulations for the transition from Regional Forest Management Plans to Municipal Master Plans;
   
• Preparing information within the scope of Geographic Information Systems and the use of geographic information in municipal Forestry Technical Offices;
   
• Collecting all the information from the Municipal Forest Fire Defence Plans and sending it to Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, I.P. [Institute of Nature and Forest Conservation];
   
• Preparing and executing controlled fire plans and awareness-raising actions on an intermunicipal scale;
   
• Receiving technical guidance from Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, I.P. [Institute of Nature and Forest Conservation], and coordinating their implementation with the municipal Forestry Technical Offices;
   
• Preventive forestry, namely forest fuel management, using manual, motorised manual or mechanical techniques or controlled fire, among others;
   
• General forestry;
   
• Ensuring the maintenance and improving forest defence and forest management support infrastructures;
   
• Raising awareness among the population of the rules of conduct in terms of forest protection, in particular with regard to the use of fire, forest clearance and plant health;
   
• Armed surveillance, initial intervention in rural fires, support for mop-up operations and post-mop-up active surveillance, under the terms of Decree-Law no. 8/2017, of 01/09, in its current wording.
   
• Participating in defining the network of volunteer fire stations and drawing up support programmes for volunteer fire brigades.
   

These competences will be exercised in conjunction with the Forest Firefighters.

In the environmental area, the Intermunicipal Community of Tâmega e Sousa is responsible for:
 

• Promoting information and disseminating actions, particularly in environmental matters;
   
• Participating in the management of protected areas and environmentally sensitive areas;
   
• Proposing and participating in the creation of protected areas of regional or local interest;
   
• Proposing and participating in the creation of protected areas of zoological, botanical or other interest;
   
• Participating in the management of natural resources;
   
• Participating in the management of national protected areas;
   
• Identifying innovative opportunities for taking advantage of natural resources, particularly endogenous ones, capitalising on sectoral and territorial synergies;
   
• Adopting a new approach to solving environmental problems, encouraging innovation to achieve higher environmental performance standards;
   
• Promoting sustainability in business and institutional management and identifying new markets;
   
• Participating in the promotion and development of any other environmental projects.

In the planning and geographic information systems area, the Intermunicipal Community of Tâmega e Sousa is responsible for:
 

• Processing and validating all the digital geographic information produced, with a view to producing the different cartographic series and integrating them into a geographic information system.

In the area of energy transition, the Intermunicipal Community of Tâmega e Sousa is responsible for:
 

• Promoting eco-efficiency as a stimulus for innovation and modernisation;
   
• Participating in the implementation of a new energy paradigm;
   
• Participating in the development of new energy demand models that encourage the implementation of consumption reduction measures in diffuse sectors, particularly transport;
   
• Proposing intermunicipal actions and strategies to change the energy matrix and promote renewable sources;
   
• Proposing actions and strategies for the sustainability and energy efficiency of facilities, infrastructures and mobility, the latter in coordination with the Multidisciplinary Team for Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
   
• Preparing applications for payment of the community contribution, with a view to their approval.