The exhibition’s organising committee included Ana Cláudia Silveira (Director of the Fortress of Sagres), Maria Raquel Roxo (Senior Technical Officer at the Fortress of Sagres), and Alexandra Abreu Lima (Coordinator of the Emc2 Project; Researcher at MARE-ARNET & INIAV, I.P.). The exhibition’s introductory panel describes the Sagres Promontory - an important architectural heritage site, classified as a National Monument since 1910.

The Sagres Promontory has unique geological, biophysical, and climatic characteristics, leading to its inclusion in the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coastal Natural Park and the Natura 2000 network. The remaining panels cover topics such as the ‘Emc2 Project within the context of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’; ‘Coastal Zone Biodiversity’; ‘Biodiversity in Sagres and Cape St. Vincent’; and ‘Nature as an Excellent Classroom’. The Emc2 project (www.mare-centre.pt/pt/sociedade/programas-educativos/emc2) is an educational initiative focused on the white crowberry plant found in Portugal’s coastal zones. It aims to address knowledge gaps regarding this plant - an Iberian endemic species whose distribution range is currently in regression.

Since 2016, the project has carried out activities along the Portuguese mainland coast (across various regions between Moledo and Ancão) and has also developed an initiative in the Azores (on Graciosa Island). For declining white crowberry populations, the project works alongside local entities to ensure their conservation - what has happened since 2018 with this plant species population in Caminha-Moledo dune beach (Northern mainland coast). The initial findings from this conservation work have been featured on the international platform Panorama Solutions: https://panorama.solutions/en/solution/project-emc2-exploring-white-crowberry-coastal-habitats.

Credits: Supplied Image; Author: Emc2 Project, Alexandra Abreu Lima;

The Emc2 project is a collaborative initiative, and it gratefully acknowledges the participation of all teachers from the schools involved, as well as the contributions of the various municipalities, national entities, colleagues from INIAV, I.P. and from the National Herbaria and the team of the Sagres Fortress (Museums and Monuments of Portugal, E.P.E.).

More information about the exhibition is available on the poster.

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