The environmental cooperation protocol was signed by Gilberto Silva, the Cape Verde Minister of Agriculture and the Environment and João Pedro Matos Fernandes, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change of Portugal, during the latter’s visit to the West African archipelago on 25 June.

With total financing of €2.3 million, 85% funded by Portugal, through its Environment Fund, this protocol seeks to implement projects on the islands of Fogo, Santiago, Santo Antão, Maio and São Vicente across the fields of sanitation, the reutilisation of domestic wastewaters for agriculture, enhancing tourism and the environments of rural villages, environmental education and the consolidation of biosphere reserves. 

The Águas de Portugal Group is responsible for carrying out two projects. On the island of Santiago, technical specialists from AdP Internacional, AdP VALOR and Águas do Tejo Atlântico are to work on a circular economy pilot project for the reutilisation of water and the recovery of sludges for agriculture. On the island of Fogo, AdP Internacional is undertaking the production of a Sanitation Plan.

Part of the Portuguese ministerial committee, Alexandra Serra, President of AdP VALOR, presented the pilot project for water reutilisation and the recovery of sludges for agriculture on Santiago that, according to the Cape Verde authorities, is of great relevance due to its contribution towards boosting the availability of water to the agriculture sector. Its pilot project status also enables the defining and testing of a model susceptible to replication on the other islands.