The small Portuguese island of Madeira, quite a ways out in the Atlantic, is often known as the ‘Hawaii of Europe’ or ‘land of enternal spring’, and maybe best known to many, as the home of the legendary soccer player Ronaldo.
Call it a busman’s holiday, but I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the Levadas, an amazing system of canals that wind their way down the steep slopes of the volcanic mountains. They were built to help channel the water and bring it slowly to the lower areas and are really reminiscent of the Peruvian Amunas in Andes mountains.
Another part of the story, is that plants, particularly an indigenous heather, help to capture water from the fog, mist and dew, and turn it into water droplets. The root zones of the plants are like densely packed sponges that soak up the water and release it slowly.
The levadas work with nature and are one of the reasons this island is so beautiful lush and green. Truly Jurassic. Traditional water knowledge combined with nature based systems.
Echoing the themes of Our Blue World: A Water Odyssey‘make rain, rehydrate the land and cool the planet’.
And much of how we are working to identify water replenishment projects for cities and corporates.
They also make a unique Poncha cocktail here, which is next on my list to try out!
For those interested in screening Our Blue World, reach out to Aoife Kelleher and for information on the BlueTech Research
Replenishment project tracker, please reach out to Saurabh Singh
Watch and listen to my video from here.
