The University of Vigo, through Campus do Mar, has today joined the initiative launched in 2013 by the City Council of Vigo, which promotes and leads the proposal for the candidacy of the Cíes Islands as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Salustiano Mato and Abel Caballero signed this afternoon, in the premises of the former Rectory that the University will occupy until the completion of the works on its institutional headquarters in O Berbés, a collaboration agreement under which both institutions will work together in the development of actions to strengthen the scientific and technical file for the candidacy of the Cíes Islands as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. “This is a qualitative leap because now, after several years of supporting the City Council’s initiative, it is about providing the scientific and technological evidence so that the candidacy can be viable”, explained Mato, who highlighted that there is nothing better than having the scientific group that brings together Campus do Mar to give value and scientific evidence to the proposal. For his part, the Mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, assured that the scientific endorsement of the international excellence campus of the University of Vigo “is the most important that any university in the world can have, because in marine sciences Campus do Mar brings together some of the most outstanding researchers on the planet”. The University of Vigo, through Campus do Mar, today joined the initiative launched in 2013 by the City Council of Vigo, which promotes and leads the candidacy proposal for the Cíes Islands as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Salustiano Mato and Abel Caballero signed this afternoon, in the premises of the old Rectory that the University will occupy until the completion of the works on its institutional headquarters in O Berbés, a collaboration agreement under which both institutions will work together in the development of actions to scientifically and technically reinforce the candidacy file for the Cíes Islands as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. “This is a qualitative leap because now, after several years of supporting the City Council’s initiative, it is about providing the scientific and technological evidence so that the candidacy can be viable”, explained Mato, who highlighted that there is nothing better than having the scientific group that brings together Campus do Mar to give value and scientific evidence to the proposal. For his part, the mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, assured that the scientific endorsement of the international excellence campus of the University of Vigo “is the most important thing that any university in the world can have, because in marine sciences Campus do Mar brings together some of the most outstanding researchers on the planet”.
After the signing of this agreement, the University of Vigo, through Campus do Mar, will coordinate the scientific committee of the candidacy, in addition to being responsible for scientifically validating the actions that are designed and developed, while collaborating in the scientific justification on which the fulfillment of the UNESCO criteria of the Cíes Islands is based to be declared world heritage. The international campus of excellence of the University of Vigo will also support the design and development of strategies that promote the execution of scientific-technical studies that reinforce the knowledge of the archipelago and its environment, within the framework of final-year projects, as well as establishing regulated practices in the university degree programs linked to Campus do Mar. Collaboration in the design and organization of scientific-technical dissemination activities of the candidacy or the dissemination of actions, promoting the greatest possible academic and scientific participation around the candidacy, are other actions included in the collaboration agreement signed today in an event in which the director of Campus do Mar, Emilio Fernández and the teachers of the University of Vigo and also political representatives, Ángeles Marra, María José Caride and Jaime Aneiros also participated.
A new step in the process of achieving world heritage
Both the rector and the mayor of Vigo highlighted the value of both institutions collaborating in achieving recognition for which Caballero considers that the Cíes Islands “more than meet the requirements”. The mayor, who criticized and sued the Xunta de Galicia for withdrawing the candidacy of the Atlantic Islands National Park as “obstructive and misleading”, assured that “it was enormously easy to achieve collective awareness of the importance of achieving UNESCO World Natural Heritage status for the Cíes Islands”. For his part, the rector, who appealed to work together and highlighted that “the Cíes Islands are the key”, reiterated the academic institution’s willingness to support everything that “is good for Vigo and Galicia”.
Opening of provisional facilities in the old Rectory
The signing of the agreement took place this afternoon in one of the spaces that the University of Vigo will temporarily occupy in the building of the old Rectory on Oporto Street, which it will vacate once the construction of the new institutional headquarters in O Berbés, in the old town of Vigo, is completed, “in a year and a half,” the rector said. “Being close to the citizens has always been one of the desires of this Government team,” recalled Salustiano Mato, who thanked the mayor for the temporary transfer of “this little piece” of the building that housed the Rectory to the University of Vigo. For Abel Caballero, who acknowledged being excited by the rector’s return to his office, “this is an important day for the city,” while assuring that this is the way in which the institution can, even more, become more visible.
Source: DUVI
