"Today the territory is more prepared than in recent years, because there are more fuel interruption strips", the roadsides are "clean in a general way and there was a strong investment and a substantial reinforcement of the means of combat", said the Secretary of State for Nature Conservation, Forests and Spatial Planning, João Paulo Catarino.

"I think we are more prepared, but the natural conditions and extraordinary events call us to be effectively alert, we have to be very careful, because the conditions are those we know," he appealed.

The governor, who was participating in the presentation session of the feasibility study of the 'Ceira on Bike' cycle path, in Casal de Ermio, in the municipality of Lousã, stressed, on the other hand, the importance of this project for the exploitation of the territory's natural capital.

"In addition to the exploitation of the territory's natural capital, the interventions made in the Ceira river promise natural engineering solutions, which is an advantage, because we harm the river as little as possible and enable a progressive renaturalisation of the banks of this river, which has an enormous advantage for this entire region," said João Paulo Catarino.

The 'Ceira on Bike' cycling route involves a length of about 139 kilometres, through the municipalities of Arganil (25.74 kilometres), Góis (40.98), Lousã (17.07), Miranda do Corvo (17), Coimbra (4.93) and Pampilhosa da Serra (33.39), in the Coimbra district.

The initiative is also part of the strategy of the project "Rio Ceira - Gestão da Bacia Hidrográfica no Contexto de Alterações Climáticas", which aims to value the water resources of the Ceira river basin, to rehabilitate hydraulic infrastructures along its course, to recover socio-cultural infrastructures and to rehabilitate riverside ecosystems, among others.

"This is the challenge that this territory wants to give to the country. Make the largest cycle path in the country known" said the executive secretary of the Coimbra Region Intermunicipal Community (CIM), Jorge Brito.

"This is a territory that can be travelled by bicycle and is intended to be configured for families, for people who seek this type of activity, with a set of various points of interest," he stressed.

The 'Ceira on Bike' cycle path aims to use pre-existing roads and paths, to ensure the closest possible proximity to the river along the entire route, to ensure continuous connection to the natural heritage, where necessary through "branch lines / detours", and also to promote safety and compatibility of existing and future infrastructures, promoting intermodality.

"We hope that this project will contribute to the valorisation of this river, and that it will be a catalyst for the environmental and economic development of this territory", highlighted the vice-president of Coimbra Region CIM, José Alberto Dias.

The project "Rio Ceira - Management of the Hydrographic Basin in the Context of Climate Change", which is part of the strategy for management and valorisation of the river Ceira, is developed in partnership with the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and the municipalities of Arganil, Góis, Lousã, Miranda do Corvo, Coimbra and Pampilhosa da Serra.