Torres Novas hosts 80% of proposed Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park expansion

The municipality of Torres Novas accounts for nearly 80% of the proposed expansion of the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park (PNSAC). The Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) has proposed adding 3,734 hectares to the park, with 2,937.1 hectares located within the Torres Novas municipality across the parishes of Pedrógão, Chancelaria, and Assentis.

Mayor José Trincão Marques stated that the delimitation aims to classify areas with significant geological, geomorphological, landscape, and ecological characteristics. A primary focus of the proposal is the protection of the Escarpa do Arrife, a geological structure marking the transition between the Estremenho Limestone Massif and the Tagus Tertiary Basin. The current expansion proposal seeks to include the entire extent of the Escarpa dos Arrifes, which was largely excluded when the park was originally established in 1979.