If you go to http://rainforest.care2.com you can help save some of the planet's remaining rainforest.

Over the last decade 113 million rain forest acres have been destroyed. of the 3,000 plants that have anti-cancer properties, 70% grow in rain forests.

By clicking the "Save the Rain Forest" button once a day you generate a donation to protect rain forest land. Sponsors pay for your donation. It's 100% free to you.

If you go to http://www.thehungersite.com you will see a map where a country darkens each 3.6 seconds. According to UNICEF, in the darkened country, somebody dies of hunger.

Click the button DONATE FREE FOOD that is under the map, and you will finance (without cost for you) a plate of food for somebody needed in the world. This is paid for by the companies whose logos are shown when you press the DONATE FREE FOOD button.

Please make time for a click. No cost and very helpful.

The long-disputed route of the proposed Algarve-Lisbon highway has now been decided, and the environmentally-sacred Serra da Caldeirao has been spared.

The news was broken by Prime Minister Guterres in a television interview. An announcement that the motorway will not cross what has been termed "the sacred soil of the Caldeirao mountains" came from Environment Minister Elisa Ferreira. It will be welcomed by environmentalists who have vociferously protested the possibility as a blatant desecration of a vital and protected area of the Algarve. The government has wisely been influenced by an environmental impact study to avoid this critical zone by following the route of the existing N2 highway to Sao Bras de Alportel and the IP1. The wisdom of preserving the delicate region of Caldeirao has the added benefit of avoiding an environmental clash between Lisbon and the EU which also condemned the potential environmental damage it would cause.

No new motorway can be regarded as an environmental victory, but at least in this instance, environmental considerations have been heeded.

UPDATE March 2000:

An enquiry is to be launched into the final part of the route. It has been suggested that the final leg of the motorway should run along the existing IP1 corridor and join the trans-Algarve Via do Infante near Albufeira, rather than cut a new route and decimate the Paderne area.

Water figures very largely in environmental concerns in the Algarve, and the Iberian peninsula in general. The water table is being drained at an alarming rate and there are real fears that sea water could soon encroach, making the water undrinkable.

So, however much you see streaming around you today, PLEASE DON'T WASTE WATER!

are the most active environmental group in Portugal. Their main office is in Lisbon (tel: 21-2332314), and in the Algarve they can be contacted on 289-826681.

Greenpeace

don't have a Portuguese group at the moment. Greenpeace International are currently investigating expaning their activities in Portugal, including the setting up of local groups, and are currently inviting comments and feedback to assist them.

If you have any comments to make, or feel you have can be of assistance in any way at all, please e-mail Greenpeace International directly.

Friends of the Earth Europe

29 rue Blanche, B-1060 Bruxelles, Belgium

http://www.foeeurope.org/

Environmental groups on the Web

• Greenpeace
• Envirolink
• Friends of the Earth International
• Friends of the Earth UK Home Page
• A list of other WWW environmental sites

Keep us updated!