GEOTA

GEOTA (Grupo de Estudos de Ordenamento do Território e Ambiente) is a Portuguese national environmental NGO based in Lisbon. It works on river protection, habitat restoration after wildfires, coastal monitoring and environmental education. It started in 1981 as a reflection and education group, was legally constituted in 1986 and has Public Utility status. Its mission is to promote sustainable development and the conservation of natural and cultural heritage by helping citizens take part in environmental education, civic participation and advocacy. The Rios Livres programme campaigns for the protection and ecological restoration of Iberian rivers. It opposes unnecessary dam construction and promotes the removal of obsolete barriers. The Renature projects, in Monchique, Leiria and Estrela, restore habitats in areas devastated by wildfires, and more than two million native trees have already been planted. GEOTA has coordinated Coastwatch in Portugal since 1990, bringing schools, NGOs and local authorities together to monitor the coastal environment. With Associação PATO, GEOTA jointly manages the Centro Ecológico Educativo do Paul de Tornada, which provides environmental education facilities next to a local nature reserve. TerraSeixe works on biodiversity conservation in the Seixe River Basin in southwest Portugal. Insetos são nossos Amigos takes pollinator education into schools. GEOTA also has working groups on sustainable consumption, energy and mobility, and land-use planning. It takes part in European programmes such as RESETTING, a sustainable tourism programme coordinated by ISCTE under COSME. The organisation is built on volunteer work, technical competence, constructive civic engagement and associativism, and it's open to any citizen who wants to contribute to environmental protection in Portugal.