On Tuesday evening Gaia Council gave in to calls against the moving of the mega festival, and said it would refund losses caused by “those who torpedoed the event.”
In a statement the northern council said “seeing as the previous space, located 900 metres from the new Park Canidelo Urban, is still available, we chose not to prevent the festival from going ahead, to not compromise its viability, and we concede, after talks with the organisers and the tutelary entities, to hold it in the previous space.”
At the end of last year Gaia Council announced that the festival would be moved to a spot near a nature reserve on the Douro Estuary, which was met with a flood of criticism from environmentalists and two injunctions from nature protection association Quercus.
The Marés Vivas festival, which takes place every July in Gaia, northern Portugal, would have been moved for the first time to an area of land just 100m from the nature reserve of the Douro River Estuary.
The 150-acre reserve, which is protected under Portuguese law, is home to hundreds of species of birds, including eagles, kingfishers and cormorants, and is one of Europe’s most popular sites for bird-watching.
Gaia council added it is only possible for the festival to return to its original location because “construction to urbanise it has not yet started and because the conditions for its organisation are still stable in the former spot.”
Earlier this month an international public petition was launched by environmentalists in Portugal to stop the Marés Vivas music festival from taking place in a new location near the Douro estuary, in Gaia, while at the same time campaigners sent an open letter to Elton John asking him to boycott the festival due to concerns it would be an environmental disaster for its new home.
The Campo Aberto environment protection association launched thr petition against the staging of the popular festival in the new spot beside the Douro Estuary, asking its sponsor to take a stand.
In the petition, dated 9 May, Campo Aberto asked the “manager of MEO to make it clear that he/she does not want the company’s name tarnished by a wrong decision made by the Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia and his lack of willing to hear the voice of reason.”
Campo Aberto explained within the document, which was published on an international petition site, that MEO “is the main sponsor of the music festival, which is about to relocate from its usual spot, near the Douro River, to a more inappropriate location for a mega festival – right beside a protected Nature Reserve on the Douro Estuary, where hundreds of birds live, nest, and rest during migration.
“This land belongs to the birds and if anyone considers installing a stage here, it should be for the birds” the petition stated, having garnered close to 300 signatures by the time of going to press.
In a subsequent statement Campo Aberto said the international petition was drawn up “as a way of showing a will to preserve the Local Douro Estuary Nature Reserve.”
In the environmentalists’ opinion, “it is sad that the local authority thinks it is adequate to accept having the Marés Vivas festival just metres from the reserve”, and admitted that while the event will not benefit the area, it is also unlikely to “destroy” it.
Last month the SOS Douro Estuary Civic Movement was created, which appealed to artists due to play at the event to “refuse to perform” at the festival.
An open letter was even sent to Elton John, who is due to headline the event alongside other British singers James Bay and Tom Odell, asking him not to take part.
According to the Guardian, local campaigners wrote to Elton John asking him to take a stand against the “environmental damage”.
“More than your business and your art, please consider the environmental importance of the area. The reserve is very delicate, special and vulnerable... the area is very special to some species of birds for stopover and for nesting,” says the letter, which is signed by names including biologist Serafim Riem, Lucília Guedes, vice president of the Fund for the Protection of Wild Animals, and João Branco, director of Portuguese environmental group Quercus.
Around 30,000 visitors a day are expected at the music festival, which was moved from its previous site after a dispute with the owners.