Earlier today CiF president Jaume Ferrer and councillors Susan Labrador (education), Alejandra Ferrer (land and tourism) and Daisee Aguilera (environment) met in the Council's plenary hall with Spurgeon Miller, mayor of Guanaja, Honduras. Also present was Blai Paco, president of Unió Empresarial de l'Anoia de Catalunya, the association which set up the encounter.
Mr Ferrer gave thanks to Mr Miller for his visit and commented, «Guanaja and Formentera, for their similar sizes and populations, can share a lot with respect to our administrative models». Tourism in Guanaja, according to the Formentera Council president, is in the beginning stages of its expansion. The representatives took advantage of the encounter to discuss environmental issues such as waste management, supply of water and energy and promoting sustainable transport.
The mayor of the Honduran island took note of the path taken by Formentera and declared his desire to implement similar solutions to ours. He referenced ideas such as the construction of a waste transfer plant and supplying electricity by means of an underwater cable and indicated, «the key to sustainable growth is striking a balance on tourism that is both environmentally-friendly and respects homegrown traditions, which is what has happened here on Formentera».
After the morning meeting, the officials visited landmarks like the Es Cap de Barbaria lighthouse and other sites such as the field of solar panels and the transfer plant.
Formentera Council president Jaume Ferrer has commended workers at the island’s farmers’ cooperative (el Cooperativa del Camp) for the work they’ve recently begun sowing hay seed on a field in Can Parra. The hay will come from vetch, barley and oat seeds and will be used as fodder for local livestock. «This», declared the president, «is unequivocal evidence the revival we’ve talked about in Formentera’s rural areas is really there».
The Formentera Council's environmental office has postponed the beach-cleaning outing originally scheduled to take place this Sunday, 22 November, in the Ses Illetas zone of the island. Department head Daisee Aguilera pointed to the spell of good weather over the last few days and the recent beach-cleaning carried out by groups of school children as the motives behind the office's decision to «postpone Sunday's community cleaning effort until future storms require further action».
Earlier today in the plenary hall of the Formentera Council, before a crowd comprising representatives from different local associations, councillor of social welfare Vanessa Parellada joined Rosa Cursach, director of the Balearic institute for women (IB-DONA), in a press conference concerning a draft law on equality known in Catalan as la Llei d'Igualtat.