VERDE is an association created to integrate the conservation and regeneration of nature into the daily lives of the Portuguese. We know that nature has the magic of making each cycle happen on its own and, therefore, we want to act as an almost invisible hand, implementing concrete actions, with as little intervention as possible and, thus, achieving maximum preservation results. Through the creation of strategies meticulously studied by our team of biologists and ecologists linked to the sea and land, but also economists, jurists, designers and communication professionals, we want to value the territory and ensure its preservation through a strategic plan of actions with short and long-term impact. This is the biggest challenge we have the honor of taking on.

We created VERDE in 2021. Through this name we intend to make it clear that we want to merge and not overlap with the existing landscape. VERDE arises from the culmination of many years of work by its representatives in favor of nature preservation. It also arises from the need to create an independent body that can embody and consolidate all the work developed in this period of time.

It is a non-profit association, based in Lousada and, currently, co-manager of the Gigantes Verdes Project together with the Lousada City Council.

In Lousada, the Municipality has been playing a leading role in local environmental actions, adopting a strategy that has been awarded in recent years. The founding members of the association have had the privilege of helping to carry out the implementation of these actions, through a holistic view of local needs. It was in this context that we realized that we were facing a growing momentum of community involvement in favor of nature conservation. A momentum that showed VERDE the power of community involvement with the surrounding nature. A momentum that inspires us and shows the urgency of replicating these and other actions in other places. A momentum that has long been awaited by everyone involved and that must be used to implement and encourage a new perspective on preservation and the primordial connection of each one of us to nature.

VERDE was born from this momentum, more specifically from a very special project for its founders: Gigantes Verdes. Coordinated by our president, João Gonçalo Soutinho, this project emerged at the end of 2017 with the aim of getting to know the large trees in the municipality of Lousada. He quickly realized that the information compiled could be used to have a real impact in favor of preserving these natural structures, which are distributed throughout the territory and are managed by the people of this land. A project that has grown and, in 2021, reached the point of making us see that it is essential, not only, to know where these trees are, but also how we can find lasting solutions for their preservation. A work started at the mother house, Lousada, which we hope to expand to the rest of the country.

It is with great joy that VERDE presents its manifesto here, where it commits, through a vision of the future, to create a present action strategy, where the preservation of ecosystems and the harmonization of the Man-Nature relationship is its great mission:

• VERDE wants to value the territory and its natural elements;
• VERDE wants to work to restore and regenerate the places and landscape where the biodiversity to be preserved is located;
• VERDE wants to bring a holistic and integrated vision to the concept of nature preservation;
• VERDE aims to create tangible, urgent and realistic solutions for the preservation of biodiversity;
• VERDE considers it essential to elevate and empower the community in the protection and regeneration of the natural elements of its landscape;
• VERDE intends to create direct and indirect remuneration mechanisms to support nature conservation and preservation;
• VERDE intends to integrate nature conservation in the territory, working on environmental, but also social and economic issues, developing sustainable and non-profit business models, investing in the territory and in the growth of the association's operations;
• VERDE seeks to be the future by acting in the present and offering constant learning. Therefore, we want to be open to all the ideas that will still emerge, to all the concepts that will have to be revised, to all the strategies that will still be invented and adjusted, to all the discoveries that we will be lucky enough to make to may our action always be and even more GREEN.