One year as a European Green Leaf winner

"I moved to the municipality of Valongo at the beginning of 2022 and was pleasantly surprised with the number of activities organised in the region that focused on the environment. In my line of work, I deal with environmental and sustainable matters, therefore it was great to see that the municipality of Valongo is aware and concerned with the emergent environmental issues and works together with the community to create a better and greener city."

This is the testimony of one of the participants of GreenFest Valongo, the largest sustainability event in Portugal. The event was hosted in July 2022 for the first time in Valongo as part of the city’s European Green Leaf programme. 

We owe it to the European Commission and to this prestigious Award that gave us the stage to show that, even with few resources, it is possible to make a change. That change does not depend on size or wealth but on will, resilience, and motivation. Certainly, in Valongo there is no lack of will and initiative.

Throughout this year we were able to implement several projects that act as an incentive for the involvement of local and European key players: we promoted native forests, carried out several reforestation actions to combat invasive species, promoted urban biodiversity and created more and better green spaces in urban settlements through parks and organic gardens, encouraged sustainable tourism while spotlighting the Valongo Mountains (which are a Protected Landscape Area and part of the Natura 2000 Network), cleaned rivers and streams, worked actively to promote the circular economy at a local level, involved the schools from all over the country in a unique way to talk about environmental and climate change issues and finally, we hosted several national events related to sustainability topics. 

2022 was definitely a rich and prestigious year for Valongo and allowed the city to leverage innovative initiatives, involve the community, and promote together a greener and more inclusive Valongo.

"We will continue to be green ambassadors and honour the European Green Leaf Award, which the European Commission presented to us in 2021."

José Manuel Ribeiro - Mayor of Valongo