Portugal fails European targets for the protection of marine areas

Warning comes from two environmental organizations

Portugal is one of the Member States of the European Union (EU) with delays in meeting common, but non-binding, marine protection targets, with only 5% of its waters designated as Marine Protected Areas, two environmental organizations warn this Tuesday. .

The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Seas at Risk and Oceana disclosed that, among seven Member States analyzed – Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden –, only four presented to the European Commission the commitments made in relation to the goals of protecting the marine environment.

An assessment of the commitments made by Member States regarding marine environment protection goals shows that, in addition to the delay in identifying Marine Protected Areas, Portugal and Ireland also did not provide any information on whether new zones or marine territories will be added. of stricter protection, which should reach 10% in 2030.

“Not only is our country at the bottom of the European league table, with only 5% of marine protected areas in our waters, but it does not appear to be prepared to fill this gap in the coming years,” the vice-president of Oceana for Europe, Vera Coelho.

The environmentalist also added that the current environmental and climate crisis “requires resolute action and, given such a poor record of progress”, the NGO asks the new Government to intervene and urgently adopt a roadmap to protect 30% of Portuguese waters.

Of the member states evaluated, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Sweden have already submitted national proposals for commitments, but only Copenhagen and Stockholm have released them publicly.

Germany and the Netherlands have already reached the target of 30% of marine areas classified as protected, despite not having sent their plans to the community executive.

The two NGOs call on the European Commission to make the targets in question binding in the next legislature and on the Member States to reinforce the political will to comply with these environmental standards.