Regional Regulatory Decree No. 4/2019/A establishing the first Amendment to the Management Plan of the Sete Cidades Lagoon (POBHLSC).

This Regional Regulatory Decree approves the Regulation of the Management Plan of the Sete Cidades Lagoon (POBHLSC) and establishes the classification of this Lagoon as a protected water body. The POBHLSC Regulation, consisting of 44 articles divided into four Titles and three Annexes, establishes the rules for safeguarding the natural values of the water catchment area of the Sete Cidades Lagoon, by laying down the rules governing the settlement, use and transformation of the soil and the use of the water plan. The scope of the POBHLSC corresponds to the area delimited by the section and union of the surrounding outer ridge lines to the Sete Cidades Lagoon, as represented in the Synthesis Plant. The general objectives of POBHLSC are to: establish rules that aim to harmonize and reconcile the different activities, uses, occupation and transformation of the soil in the intervention area, with the recovery, maintenance and improvement of water quality, in an integrated perspective of valuing the landscape and safeguarding natural and cultural resources, biodiversity and the public interest. The specific objectives of the POBHLSC are: a) viability of the lagoons as a strategic water reserve; b) use of the water plan and the adjacent terrestrial zone in a sustainable development perspective, through the rational management of natural resources, protection of the environment; c) diversification of the economic base, through the promotion of new activities, ensuring the involvement of local interests; d) valorization of the water plan as a resource and place for controlled recreational uses; e) definition of strategies for action, combining the actions and activities of public and private entities that participate in the use and valorization of the intervention area; f) definition of a sustainable development model appropriate to combat eutrophication; g) monitoring system to ensure the implementation of the POBHLSC and to assess the evolution of water quality.