Now that discussions on economic recovery are under way, more than 90 organizations and individuals, including the FGS (NGO of the Portuguese Jesuits), are advocating a fairer, more resource-efficient and more resilient society.

More than 90 organisations and personalities from Portuguese society, including the Jesuits NGO Fundação Gonçalo da Silveira (FGS), have signed the Manifesto for a Fair and Sustainable Economic Recovery in Portugal, a statement made public yesterday on the need to promote an economic recovery that places a fairer, more efficient and more resilient society at the centre of concerns. This document argues that the economic measures to be taken in this coming period must be fair and sustainable and based on the European Ecological Pact (EPE), the Paris Agreement, the objectives of biodiversity protection and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDOs), with a view to a more resilient and inclusive society and economy in the future.

The signatories believe that the commitment to a fair and sustainable economic recovery should be assumed by all sectors of the Portuguese society, that is why they signed the Manifesto 27 non-governmental environmental, social, agricultural, forestry, development associations and cooperatives and some significant personalities of the Portuguese Society.

Together, they give voice and face for a model of recovery based on social and sustainability principles, ensuring a climate-neutral economy that protects and restores nature, health and well-being to people, without leaving anyone behind.

For subscribers 'this is not about creating a new economy from scratch'. It is about stating unequivocally that a fair and sustainable economy is the only way for the Portuguese economy to recover, where 'public investment must be clearly marked, and should not be applied indiscriminately to all sectors: not all sectors of activity are able to recover from this shock, not all sectors are economic activities of the future, and not all respond to present and future societal needs. In contrast, the environmental goods and services sector, critical for a fair and sustainable recovery, recorded in Portugal in 2017 growth rates above those of the national economy in employment (3.7%, compared to 3.4%) and exports (20.0%, compared to an increase of 11.6% in total exports). Throughout Europe, between 2000 and 2015, the growth rate of green jobs was seven times higher than in other sectors of the economy".

The Jesuits NGO FGS develops projects in the areas of Global Citizenship, Development, Integral Ecology and Right to Quality Education. Occasionally, also collaborates in Humanitarian Emergency initiatives through our international networks.