Portugal fails European targets for the protection of marine areas | Atlantic Ocean

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 Areaswarn two environmental organizations this Tuesday.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Seas at Risk (Seas at Risk) and Oceana announced this Tuesday 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 environmental protection targets. 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 of stricter protection, which should reach 10% in 2030.

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.