The first step was to set up Steering and Monitoring Committees, which will made all decision about a project aiming at favoring sustainable urban planning and a better use of forest resources in the city.

USC will elaborate the technical project to declare the area of riverside forest between As Gándaras and O Ceao as ‘Natural Area of Local Interest’, in order to guarantee its conservation and to organize informative activities to said area.

Lugo is the first Galician city to begin the process to join the Covenant of Mayors, the main European movement of local and regional authorities that takes on the voluntary commitment to improve energy efficiency.

The constitution of the Steering and Monitoring Committees marked the launch of Lugo + Biodynamic, a project of 3,5 million euros financed with European funds LIFE won by the Lugo City Council. These funds will permit in the coming four years to develop new initiatives in favour of a sustainable urbanism and of a better use of the forest resources, in an economic and environmental level. This was announced by the Deputy for Sustainable Development and Personnel, Daniel Piñeiro, who informed that the plan gets this year 713.000 euros and that the formation of management and monitoring bodies is the first step to start the plan, since “they will made all the decisions for the development of the project”. In fact, in the moment of the constitution of the committees, several measures have already been taken, such as the approval of the draft operating rules for the updating of these bodies -which will get the signal on the next Steering Committee- and the defining of the process of contracting the management of the plan, which will be done through an open competition, following the guidelines set by Europe for this type of projects.

Likewise, Piñeiro explained that the University of Santiago, a collaborating entity in this initiative, was entrusted with the preparation of the technical project to declare the area of riverside forest between the polygons of As Gándaras and O Ceao as an Area of Local Interest (ENIL), in order to guarantee its conservation, and to organize activities to let it be known by all people, giving priority to schoolchildren. In parallel, the local authority, as informed by the Deputy of Sustainable Development, will also process the necessary permits to iniciate the conditioning of the land for the planting of a chestnut tree plantation with traditional chestnut varieties to be carried out in an area between As Gándaras and O Ceao.

Commitment to energy efficiency

At the first meeting of the Steering and Monitoring Committees, it was agreed to start the procedure for Lugo to join the Covenant of Mayors, the main European movement in which local and regional authorities take part to voluntarily Improve energy efficiency and use renewable energy sources in their territories. With their commitment, the signatories of this Covenant, promoted by the European Commission, aim to improve the EU’s goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020. Lugo is the first Galician city to join this movement. This joining is included among the actions of the LIFE plan itself.

Composition of committees

The management committee of Lugo + Biodynamic is chaired over by the Mayor, Lara Méndez, and it includes the Deputy of Sustainable Development and those of Economics, Social Welfare and Culture, Ana Prieto, Ana González Abelleira and Carmen Basadre respectively, in addition to one representative of the Diputación, one of USC, one of Polytechnic University of Madrid, two representatives of EVISLUSA (Municipal Company of Housing and Land), and an official who works as a secretary. The Monitoring Committee is composed by Daniel Piñeiro as well as by representatives of the County Council, USC, UPM and EVISLUSA.

Source: Concello de Lugo