For the year 2021

DREM releases Regional Environmental Statistics

Data gathered by the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) for the year 2021 indicate that 58.5 million cubic metres of water were abstracted in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) (60.4 million m³ in 2020), by the managing entities of public water supply services.

In 2021, the water distributed in the Region through the public network was around 19.3 million m³. 70.4% of the water distributed was for the residential sector, a lower percentage than in 2020 (71.6%).

Funchal accounted for the largest volume of water distribution, about 47.7% of the Region's total (9.2 million m³), due to the concentration of population and of economic activity in this municipality.

In the year of reference, 16 beaches in the Autonomous Region of Madeira were awarded with blue flags, the same as in 2020. Regarding bathing water quality, 94.7% were classified as excellent or good, with only three beaches without classification. In the municipalities of Calheta, Ponta do Sol, Porto Moniz, Ribeira Brava, Santana and São Vicente, all monitored bathing waters were classified as excellent.

In 2021, the global production of waste in Madeira decreased to 248.6 thousand tonnes, down by 34.8 thousand tonnes over the previous year. This decrease of 12.3% is fundamentally explained by the reduction recorded in the deposition of aggregates on the island of Madeira, which went from 122.2 to 79.4 thousand tonnes between 2020 and 2021, representing a 35.0% drop.

A substantial part of global production is related to waste sent to the Meia Serra Waste Treatment Station. At that station, incineration, the most relevant waste treatment process (91.7% of the total), increased by 1.0% compared to the previous year. The increase in organic waste valorisation (composting) should be highlighted, having almost quadrupled. With regard to waste that is recycled or sent outside the Region for that purpose, it amounted to 31.4 thousand tonnes (+0.7% than in 2020).

The consolidated expenditure of the Regional Administration of ARM on management and protection of the environment, in the year under review, amounted to 11.7 million euros. Of that total, 79.5% was channelled to the domain of “Biodiversity and landscapes” (28.1% in 2020).

In 2021, the 10 fire brigades existing in the Region had 692 employees, who provided around 46.5 thousand services (+12.2% than in 2020), with the vast majority (69.0%) related to the health/pre-hospital area. In the year under review, the fire department expenses were around 13.3 million euros, +14.2% than in 2020,and of that total 82.1% were related to personnel expenses (82.7% in 2020 ).

The firefighter in the Autonomous Region of Madeira is characterized by being mostly male (86.7%), aged between 26 and 50 years old (68.1%), with secondary education (47.4%) and operating in a professional regime (58.1%).

In 2021, the amount of precipitation was higher than in the previous year, both in Funchal (861.8 mm in 2021 against 503.5 mm in 2020) and Porto Santo (519.9 mm in 2021 against 464.1 mm in 2020). With regard to temperatures, in Funchal, the average maximum temperature in 2021 was 23.5ºC (23.8ºC in 2020), while in the case of minimum temperatures, the average was 17.6ºC (17.9ºC in 2020). Detailed information on this subject can be obtained on the DREM website, in the statistical area of the Territory.

For the year in question, data on air quality show that the proportion of measurements for the Funchal agglomeration that recorded a result of "Very Good" or "Good” did not exceed38.1%, i.e. 19.8 percentage points below the percentage recorded in 2020 (57.9%). In turn, the measurements classified as "Average" increased to 60.0% (39.6% in 2020).  Only 1.9% of the measurements had a negative qualitative assessment of “Weak” or “Bad” (2.5% in 2020).

Also noteworthy in 2021 was the occurrence of 44 forest fires (-15 than in the previous year; -25.4%), which consumed an area of 72 hectares (1,392 hectares in 2020), of which 46 hectares of stands forestry (64.2% of the total). It should be noted that the burnt area in 2021 was the lowest since the beginning of the series available at DREM (2006). This year, fires occurred in 7 of the 11 municipalities in the Region, with Porto Moniz, Santana, São Vicente and Porto Santo not registering any occurrence and the municipalities of Ribeira Brava (16 fires) and Machico (10 fires) accounting for more episodes of this nature. In terms of burnt area, Ribeira Brava was the most affected municipality in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, with 29 hectares of the affected area (40.7% of the total).

DREM also releases Time Series on Environmental Statistics for the 1989-2021 period  

DREM also releases today on its website, the Time Series on Environmental Statistics, updated with the data for 2021.

The time series contains data about water supply, water treatment and drainage, solid waste, expenditures of the regional and local scope entities in environmental management and protection by economic aggregate and domains. There are also meteorological data and information on forestry fires, firemen, blue flag beaches, bathing water quality, drinking water quality, air quality, elements of the nature and environment protection service, forest fire protection actions and nature and environment protection activities.

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