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Higher Education Institutions have an important role in the promotion of sustainability. The sustainability has been seen not only as a component of education, research and innovation, but also as a social learning process within and beyond academia. The adherence of the four schools that belongs to IPBeja, to the Eco-Schools Program allows the environmental analysis of each. The present work intends to contribute to the creation of the Eco Green Campus in to Polytechnic Institute of Beja (IPBeja). Environmental audits were carried out on the four Schools and in the IPBeja common services facilities. The results shows that it is necessary to implement some measures in order to IPBeja become an Eco Green Campus, involving all academic community: improvement of resource management; reduction of waste and effluent production; waste recovery; reduction of water and energy consumption; use of renewable energy; promotion of sustainable mobility and adoption of sustainable public procurement. It was proposed a concept of an Eco Green Campus, the IPBeja Environmental Policy and Environmental Best Practices Guide, oriented for decision-makers and for the entire academic community. The creation of an Eco Green Campus is simultaneously a challenge and an opportunity to contribute and promote the Circular Economy.

Nowadays society water represents both, an opportunity and a threat, the greatest strength and the greatest wealth of society. Water is the key for conservation and environmental management. Different tools support sustainable management and conservation of natural resources. A possible way is to implement active and collaborative public participation, a key mechanism that effectively makes possible the implementation of what legislation requires. This paper intends to illustrate two processes developed in Portugal that have contributed to the management of “water”, with the integration of the participatory dimension: (1) the analysis of an active public participation process that took place within the scope of the MARGov Project-Collaborative Governance of Marine Protected Areas. This will contribute to bring up better knowledge of such processes while guaranteeing the articulation among stakeholders in a collaborative way with increasing gains for long-term co-management. Results indicate that active public participation contributes to societal change that passes through the valorization of the knowledge of each citizen, a relevant contribution for governance models design providing added value for the natural systems; (2) Ardila river basin searching for definition of rehabilitation proposals for water quality improvement from a cross-sectional perspective. Results revealed the lack of institutionalized tradition of participation and the need to reinforce the information and qualification of stakeholders, through the adoption of participative methodologies in the processes. Both cases will allow the authors to reflect the role of active participation to the societal transformation and its contribution to better forms of water governance.

The Alentejo local pig breed is currently the Portuguese autochthonous swine breed with the highest livestock number and breeding population in the country. According to the statistical data of the General Directorate of Food and Veterinary (2017) among the swine breeds: Alentejana, Bisara and Malhado de Alcobaca, it is verified that the Alentejana shows a livestock population superior to the others. Thus, in this work on the generic biodiversity theme, we present only a brief review of the historical evolution from the registration of the pattern of the Alentejana local pig breed (1959) until today. A brief description is also given of the “mamilada variety” that was recently inscribed in the Genealogical Book of the Swine Alentejo Pattern. This variety was the subject of a recovery study during the 21st century, and the reproductive goodness of the Alentejano Mamilado boar genotype was confirmed. Since the 16th century, the biodiversity of these Portuguese and Spanish autochthonous breeds constitute the Iberian trunk of Mediterranean pigs.