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Consell and Ibiza & Formentera Preservation take Sustainability Clinic to local students

plastic free aula sostenibilidad2The Formentera Department of Environment has teamed up with Ibiza & Formentera Preservation to launch an initiative called l’Aula de Sostenibilitat. The aim of the initiative, whose name translates roughly as “the Sustainability Clinic”, is to make educational materials about sustainability and environmental preservation more widely available.

“Initially we envisioned taking the project to island classrooms”, said environment conseller Antonio J Sanz. The ongoing public health crisis, however, meant that “as with arrangements to work or attend classes from home, we needed to tailor it to fit current needs”. “The Sustainability Clinic embodies these changes. We’re very excited about this project and see it as a very powerful tool.”

Also backing the initiative is the Eivissa-Formentera Education Office, which is collaborating to disseminate the clinic’s associated activities across schools on Formentera’s northerly neighbour. Various levels of the public administration can use the Sustainability Clinic.

Related educational materials can be downloaded using the Classroom tool. Plastic Free Eivissa & Formentera, Water Alliance, Ibiza Produce, Sustainability Observatory and Marine Forum all take part in producing content for the initiative, the goal of which is to touch on a range of different subjects whose common ground is the environment and the Balearic Islands. Content related to Plastic Free Eivissa & Formentera was produced with backing from Ferrovial.

Free to use and with versions in Catalan, Castilian Spanish and English, the material was conceived for use in a variety of subjects across primary and secondary education.

Resources are available in the following subjects:

· Climate change: ecosystems in the islands, biodiversity, geological attributes, climatology.
· Water: the water cycle, purification, reuse, pollution.
· Plastics and waste: plastic and bioplastics, how they affect the environment, the 3 R’s.
· Local produce: organic farming, other certified forms of agriculture, native produce and when it can be found, native species.
· The sea: posidonia, threatened species, marine reserves, water quality in swimming areas, polluting discharge, etc.
· Biodiversity: endemic flora and fauna, native species, invasive species, etc.

The material is potentially of interest to schools and teachers because it touches on a subject that students of a particular age are already familiar with and receptive to. Updates will typically occur on Mondays, although presentations may be uploaded more frequently.

Schools interested in using the educational material can get in touch by contacting the Google Classroom email auladesostenibilitat@gmail.com.


3 April 2020
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera

12th Formentera Half-Marathon postponed until 10 October

The Formentera Departments of Tourism and Sports report that the 12th Half-Marathon (Mitja Marató) and 8K Run (Cursa 8 km) originally scheduled for 16 May have been pushed back to 10 October amid the public health emergency around the Covid-19 virus.

The agreement was reached between the event’s organisers at Unisport Consulting, the Departments of Tourism and Sports, and stakeholders in Formentera tourism on the Consell’s Committee for the Promotion of Tourism.

Department chiefs and organisers applauded the athletes who had registered to take part in the function for their understanding, and suggested multiple options for what to do next: lock in a space for the October rain-check or the 2021 run, give one’s spot to another runner or, if cancellation insurance was purchased, cancel and get registration fees back. Unisport will send out emails in the days ahead to inform registered runners of the varying options.

May functions postponed
Other May events have also been given pushed further back on the calendar. Formentera Fotogràfica, originally scheduled 29 April to 3 May, and Formentera 20, schedule from 7 to 10 May, will both be put back until 1 to 4 October. May’s Gastronomic Weekends have also been adjourned pending an improvement of the public health situation.

“Our office of tourism is retooling its marketing campaigns and communications efforts in order to focus their thrust as soon as prep work for the tourist season is viable again”, said Consell president and tourism consellera Alejandra Ferrer. “For now Formentera’s fans can keep track of the island they love on social media”.

Sports dates cancelled
Definitive cancellation is now confirmed for the sports trials initially lined up to take place in April, like BTT La Mola on the 5th and De far a far on the 19th, as well as all other sporting events in May.


2 April 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

Vehicle fire

foto 2020 incendi cotxeIn the early hours of Thursday morning, the Consell de Formentera fire crew put out flames that had engulfed a vehicle parked at Sa Senieta building in Sant Francesc. The call came through at 12.53am and five firefighters proceeded to the scene with a water pump and a pickup truck. The apparently accidental blaze started at the car’s front end, and extended to the van parked in the adjacent space. The fire was declared extinguished at 1.50am. Officers of the Civil Guard also intervened in the effort.

2 April 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

Social Welfare office serves nearly 700 during emergency health crisis

The Formentera Department of Social Welfare reports that as the public health crisis continues to unfold, some 700 islanders receive support from the department’s range of services.

Social welfare conseller Rafael Ramírez noted that as an essential service, FDSW has remained operational, pointing out that “departmental reorganisation occured even before the state of alarm was invoked, when the adult day care centre and local seniors’ clubs were shuttered”. “Our entire staff is standing by ready to assist in the protection of residents”, said Ramírez, who affirmed that personnel “act in lockstep with health ministry recommendations and instructions regarding keeping staff and islanders safe”.

New support service for the aged
FDSW works on a number of fronts in service of the most vulnerable. Take for instance a new service offering assistance to old people on the island outside the department’s traditional network of clients. Poring over Formentera’s register of inhabitants and membership rolls of the island’s elderly clubs, staff have contacted a total of 265 individuals, reaching out to 370 out-of-network local seniors to check how they are doing and whether they need help. What’s more, from law enforcement agencies and the healthcare system to varying branches of the local administration and beyond, collaboration has cut across government and services to ensure FDSW can follow the cases that require attention.

Help at home
Responsible for evaluating and monitoring the home assistance programme (Servei d'Atenció Domiciliària, or SAD), FDSW staff have retooled the service to keep it functional even as essential safety measures are adopted to protect SAD’s beneficiaries and employees. Today 14 islanders in 11 homes benefit from the service; before the state of alarm the number was 22. Weekly telephone calls help staff stay connected with individuals not currently using SAD so staff can stay abreast of changes and determine whether a reactivation of the service would be appropriate.

Phone contact is also made once a week with islanders who in the past obtained mental health treatment, which is part of the department’s catalogue of basic services. Before the state of alarm, the service claimed seven users; the number is now six, of whom, four are contacted weekly and two biweekly.

Food vouchers
Also among the department’s basic services are food vouchers, the demand for which has swelled since the start of the health crisis. Compared to one year ago, voucher deliveries in March grew from 31 to 68 (an upswing of 119%) while the number of islanders obtaining vouchers went from 13 to 21 (a 62% spike). This month’s figures remain provisional, but to date 77 vouchers have gone out compared to 32 during the entire month of April 2019 (a 140% increase), while the number of recipients has climbed from 12 to 47 (a 292% jump). Based on the current trend, the month of April could see as much as a five-fold increase in voucher recipients. Two-hundred thirty-seven vouchers were handed out in 2019, while 187 have already been distributed so far in 2020.

Adult care facility
Though the doors of the Formentera’s Centre de Dia have been closed to the public since 13 March, the care centre’s nurse, psychologist, social worker, physiotherapist and director are monitoring clients’ cases over the phone to offer help to families and principal carers and decide whether more comprehensive home support such as meal delivery is in order. Hygiene assistance and daily therapeutic walks, both at-home services, have been activated already. Minimum once weekly telephone support is maintained with 36 individuals, and only one of the centre’s typical attendees has requested meal delivery.

Gender violence support
The Consell de Formentera wishes to remind islanders that the risk of gender, domestic and sexual violence can mount during periods of home confinement. “This is why”, said Ramírez, “measures to prevent, control and minimise the negative consequences of home confinement are so important for the lives of many of these victims”.

In an effort to ensure comprehensive support for people who experience gender violence, FDSW offers 24-hour information and telephone support (the Balearic Women’s Institute, IBdona, can be reached at 016, 112 and 971 17 89 89; the WhatsApp number is 639 83 74 76), 24-hour emergency in-person help, shelter service for women who are not safe at home and mental health support.

Protection of minors
To keep at-risk youth safe, FDSW establishes mostly telephone contact with families which, in light of their particular characteristics, are considered likely candidates for such assistance. Staff carry out Skype interviews with specific families and coordinate via Hangouts and Zoom with stakeholders in other structures involved in youth development, care and intervention. FDSW currently has 97 open files in its caseload, 30% of which are classed as critical and requiring contact 3-4 times a week. For the remaining portion, classed as moderate or minor, contact is made once or twice a week.

Phone support
The Red Cross, which manages telephone support for Formentera, has been contacting 161 service beneficiaries weekly (a third round of calls was completed this week). No one on Formentera expressed the need for outside social services support. The dependence support division of the Balearic Islands’ social affairs ministry monitors 141 individuals with a recognised degree of dependence.

2 April 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

Consell unveils first package of economic and fiscal measures to limit economic and social sting of coronavirus health crisis

On behalf of the entire governing cabinet, Consell de Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer signed an initial decree ordering new economic and tax policy measures to contend with the social and economic toll of the coronavirus public health crisis. “Swift action is needed now at every level of public administration”, said the president, “not to mention a joint, coordinated strategy to deal with the fallout as efficiently as we can. The threat this virus poses to people’s health and wellbeing needs to be at the forefront of all our minds”.

In an effort to offer badly-needed financial relief to people and businesses, the Consell de Formentera is taking action, first, by suspending the following:

- Collection during the voluntary pay period, for which the Consell is responsible.
- Notifications concerning public revenue payments.
- Validation of lists detailing monthly tax and government-regulated fee collection.
- Referral to Balearic Islands Tax Office (ATIB) of public revenue payments outstanding as of voluntary pay period.

The Consell will petition the ATIB to extend the period for voluntary payment via bank-to-bank transfer of recurring taxes (initially scheduled 1 August to 1 October). This includes the following:

*Economic activity tax
*Special-characteristics real estate tax
*Rural real estate tax
*Urban real estate tax
*Mechanical traction vehicle tax
*Bicycle tax
*Occupation of public thoroughfare tax
*Waste collection tax
*Access rights for entrances/exits tax

The decree likewise dictates that, from the invocation of the state of alarm through to its rescindment, applicability assessments of taxes and fees collected by the Consell de Formentera will cease. Such taxes and fees have not been referred to the ATIB for collection, save for those related to still-operational services considered essential.

Stimulus for family and social welfare support
Payout of social welfare and family support claims will be prioritised, as will payments to the administration’s service providers, without prejudice to priorities already set out in high-ranking regulatory guidelines. “We intend to look after the individuals and families whose situations entail true vulnerability”, said the president.

Necessary changes will also be made to tax ordinances and municipal service fees in an effort to mitigate the negative impact of the health crisis on local economic, social and productive structures.

“This first decree will be followed by others more specifically targeted and adapted to the circumstances. Insofar as the local government’s jurisdiction is concerned, extraordinary measures are in order as regards tax levying and public revenue collection. Our top priority is to lessen the fiscal knock-on effects borne by families and businesses, the aim being to facilitate a return to normalcy as soon as the public health situation improves.”

“Considering the grinding halt in which Formentera’s social and economic structures are currently locked, clearly very affected by the limitations imposed under the state of alarm, we propose this first package of economic measures”, said Ferrer, describing the steps as “products of the continuous back-and-forth between the various arms of local government, not to mention the island’s range of economic and business stakeholders. They are aimed at helping these actors attain maximum efficiency and adapt to the local economic reality.”


1 April 2020
Department of Communications
Consell de Formentera

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premsa@conselldeformentera.cat