Today, December 2, the date marking the 22nd anniversary of the inscription of the Rock Art Sites of the Côa Valley on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the interministerial decree determining the preparation of the Special Programme of the Archaeological Park of the Côa Valley (PEPA Côa Valley) was published in Diário da República.

The joint order of the government areas of Culture, Environment, Territorial Cohesion and Agriculture, now published, meets a long identified need, reflecting an integrated vision of the territory in question. In the short term, it will constitute a fundamental instrument for the adequate conservation and management of the territory integrated in the Special Protection Zone of the Archeological Sites of the Côa River.

The Minister of Culture, Graça Fonseca, highlights: “At the end of the 1990s, Portuguese society mobilized around the salvation of the rock engravings of Foz Côa. Twenty years later, we took a huge step again in the valorization of this important cultural heritage, now based on a vision that is intended to structure, able to integrate and enhance the multiple dimensions of the Archaeological Park of the Côa Valley”.

The Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, stresses: “This is the opportunity to simultaneously safeguard and enhance a cultural, environmental and archaeological heritage, which is not only ours, but of all Humanity. Its preservation is only possible through this appreciation, but also through the attraction and settlement of people, the creation of jobs and the appreciation of endogenous resources with science and technology, meeting the needs and aspirations of the people who live and work there. In this context, the international projection of this heritage and of all the actions aimed at its preservation and valorization is fundamental”.

The Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes, stresses “the importance of an integrated development, aiming to define strategic measures for the promotion of an economy adjusted to this territory, Heritage of Humanity, which values the natural capital and its agricultural skills. In this sense, the modernization of agriculture and the practice of activities that guarantee greater income in a sustainable and balanced way are fundamental”.

The Minister of the Environment and Climate Action, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, recalls that “before there were the engravings there was the river and there were the cliffs, and that is why an ecosystem was created that became man’s where the engravings were made. This is called landscape, the physical environment that provoked activities and the activities that transformed that physical environment. It is this landscape that is to be valued, building a future from a past with history, and the plan will give shape to this participatory project of affirmation”.

The main objectives to be achieved by PEPA Vale do Côa are the creation of an adequate regime to safeguard the archaeological heritage with the definition of a model of sustainable development of the territory, through the valorisation of natural resources, the rural economy and the exploitation of cultural, tourist and leisure potential, thus giving international projection to the archaeological, cultural, natural and landscape heritage and promoting social cohesion and the valorisation of the interior territories.

The preparation of PEPA Vale do Côa, which will be carried out in articulation with the future Programme of Re-ordering and Landscape Management of the Alto Douro and Baixo Sabor, will be ensured by the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage, and by the Côa Park – Foundation for the Safeguarding and Enhancement of the Côa Valley,  also counting on the accompaniment of a consultative committee, widely representative of the actors that constitute the territory in question.