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Viriato Soromenho-Marques

Brief geographical description of Portugal

In his «Lessons on the Philosophy ofUniversal History» (Vorlesungen überdie Philosophie der Weltgeschichte),

the philosopher Hegel made the followingstatement about Portugal: «It is in Portu-gal that the rivers of Spain find their wayinto the sea. It would be thought that,since Spain has rivers, it should also havea relationship with the sea; but this rela-tionship was particularly developed byPortugal.» (Hegel, 1968: 197).

In fact, if Portugal, besides being oneof the world’s oldest nation-states, hasplayed a role of universal significance inthe history of humankind, successfullytranscending the small size of both itsterritory and population, such a fact isdue, amongst other causes, as Hegel soshrewdly observed, to the specialrelationship that it enjoys with the sea. Thisunique relationship reached its peak in

the long period of the Portuguese MaritimeDiscoveries, beginning in the first quarterof the 15th century and being continuedby the remarkable feats of BartholomewDias, Vasco da Gama, Álvares Cabral,and many other navigators and warriors.

Portugal’s geography — even after itsimperial cycle was brought to an end bet-

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Winter in North-East Trás-os-Montes.

ween the recognition of the independenceof Guinea-Bissau, on 10th September 1974,and the devolution of the administration ofMacau to the People’s Republic of China,on 20th December 1999 — continues to bemarked by a (dis)continuity in which theAtlantic Ocean plays a key role.

The basic trunk of the Portugueseterritory is situated in the extreme west ofthe Iberian Peninsula, with a latitude thatis defined by the parallels of 37.oN and42.oN and a longitude ranging between6.oW and 9.o 30’W. However, 1240 kilome-tres to the west of the continental landmass is to be found the archipelago of theAzores, with its nine islands organised intothree groups (Eastern, Central andWestern groups). Further south, some 900kilometres from the Portuguese mainland,and 600 kilometres from the coast ofMorocco, lies the archipelago of Madeira,consisting of the inhabited islands ofMadeira and Porto Santo, and the uninha-bited islands of the Ilhas Desertas and theIlhas Selvagens. In total, the Portuguese

territory covers an area of 91,905.955 km2,with a population that, due to a recentinflux of immigration, already numbersmore than 10 million inhabitants. Itsextensive border with the Atlantic Ocean(in mainland Portugal alone, the coastlines t re tches over a d is tance o f 832kilometres) makes Portugal the countrywith the largest Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ) in the European Union.

The most comprehensive view of Por-tuguese geography, understood in itsmany different aspects, from relief tobiogeography, and including the culturalcharacterisation of its populations, can befound today in the works of the great mas-ters, such as Orlando Ribeiro, HermannLautensach (who began his academiccareer as a Professor of Geography inHannover, before the outbreak of theFirst World War), Suzanne Daveau andManuel Viegas Guerreiro, amongst others.

Orlando Ribeiro offers us an impres-sive geographical picture of the countrywhen he suggests that we should see boththe Portuguese land and culture as beingmarked by a dialectic between thepredominantly Atlantic characteristics ofthe northern coastal area and the Mediter-ranean components that tend to predomi-nate in the most extensive part of theterritory. In this way, the central chain ofmountains, which is the most distinctivefeature in the relief of the Portuguesemainland, would not therefore be seen asa factor causing an abrupt separationbetween the more mountainous north andthe more gently undulating south, butrather as an intermediary element for themost influential factor in the Portugueselandscape: the human labour that hasbecome lost in the mists of many millenniaof human occupation.

The Atlantic-Mediterranean dialecticwas to be the basis for identifying the threefundamental regional divisions of theterritory of mainland Portugal: the Atlantic

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Arrábida mountains: Portuguese Mediterranean landscape.

North, the «Transmontano» North (thenorthern area of Trás-os-Montes, theregion «beyond the mountains») and theSouth. However, in a more refinedanalysis, Orlando Ribeiro identifies a totalof 23 sub-regions (see Map 1), whichgives us a clearer picture of the greatdiversity of the Portuguese territory. Otherdividing lines can be identified in mainlandPortugal: a) the contrast between anorthern region, with its greater availabilityof water resources and greater populationdensity, and a drier southern region with asparser population; b) the contrastbetween the coastal region and the inlandregion, which explains, on the one hand,the way in which the human occupation ofthe country has been concentrated alonga coastal strip on the western side of a linerunning from Braga to Setúbal, comple-mented by a more recent occupation thatcoincides with the Algarve coastal region,and, on the other hand, certain aspects inthe continuity of the wooded areas fromTrás-os-Montes to the Alentejo and theAlgarve, where, amongst other species, itis possible to observe oaks, chestnut

trees, cork-oaks, holm-oaks, olive-trees,fig-trees and almond-trees; c) the contrastbetween the highlands and the lowlands,where the most notable features are thearchaic t races of a l i fe based onagriculture and grazing, and the plantingof vineyards and fruit trees (OrlandoRibeiro, 1991: 131 ff.).

The two Portuguese archipelagos inthe Atlantic Ocean are of exceptionalinterest and beauty. Both are situated inthe biogeographical region of Macarone-sia (Archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira,Canaries, Cape Verde, and some areason the North African coast). The islands ofthe Azores, which are the result of morerecent volcanic activity, are surprisingbecause o f the d ive rs i t y o f the i rlandscapes. Madeira is remarkable for itsevergreen Laurissilva Forest, which wasclassified by UNESCO in December 1999as being of world interest. The MadeiranLaurissilva Forest, composed of suchspecies as fet id laure l , Madeiranmahogany, bay laurel and rare cedars, isa surviving relict of a forest that oncespread over a vast area, covering a large

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part of southern Europe. With the altera-tions in the climate, namely the succes-sion of glacial periods, this flora onlysurvived in the region of Macaronesia(Raimundo Quintal, 1999: 16).

As far as the people are concerned, itmay perhaps be said that the mostdistinctive feature of the Portuguesecultural identity is to be found, on the onehand, in the ancient nature of the settle-ment of its mainland territory and originalhomeland, and in the profound interming-ling of peoples and ethnic groups, fromthe Celts and the Iberians to the Romans,Germanic tribes (in particular the Swa-bians), Arabs and all the other peoplesthat the reconquest of the territory from theMoors and the era of the PortugueseMaritime Discoveries and OverseasEmpire caused to converge and becomepart of the Portuguese destiny.

Environmental awarenessand society in Portugal

Portugal was not a pioneer in matters ofenvironmental awareness, because itwas also not a pioneer of modernity, withits long parade of industrial revolutions

signalling the first surge of the wave ofdestruction that has altered the planet’secosystems and marked the Earth’shistory over the last two centuries.

As far as the policy of nature conser-vation is concerned, attention is drawn tothe pioneering work of the personalities,almost all of them originating from aca-demic and scientific circles, who joinedtogether in 1948 to found the Liga para aProtecção da Natureza (LPN — Leaguefor the Protection of Nature). Shortly befo-re this, there had appeared the excellentstudy by Francisco Flores, who, in anessay published by the Revista Agronómi-ca in 1939 made an important summary ofthe doctrines and policies being followedon an international scale in the area ofnature conservation, in so far as this waspossible at that time (Flores, 1939).

In the literature of that time, we find,amongst others, two pioneering works inrelation to the question of environmentalawareness: Os Pescadores (The Fisher-men) by Raúl Brandão (1923), a genuinelypremonitory denunciation of how fishingresources were being destroyed by theunscrupulous nature of industrial fishing,and the great work by Aquilino Ribeiro

Madeira Island: a laurel-wood landscape by the Janela brook.

Regional map of Portugal.

Source: adapted de Ribeiro, Portugal, o Mediterrâneo e o Atlântico, Lisboa: Sá da Costa, 1992, p. 173.

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Border between the North and the SouthBorder between the Atlantic seaboard and the Trás-os-Montes areaOther important borders determined by the relief or the nature of the mountainsBorders between areas belonging to the same set of landscapes

1 - Between the Douro and Minho Rivers 2 - Minho Mountain 3 - Mountains in Northern Beira and the Douro 4 - Medium altitude land in Beira Litoral 5 - Plateux in Beira Alta 6 - Beira Litoral 7 - Central mountain range 8 - Trás-os-Montes plateaux and mountains 9 - Beira/Trás-os-Montes plateaux and mountains10 - Alto Douro and adjoining depressions11 - Baixo Alentejo12 - Northern Estremadura, generally low13 - Limestone masses in Estremadura and Arrábida14 - Depressions and hills between 7 and 1315 - Meridional Extremadura, generally hilly16 - Beira Baixa17 - Ribatejo18 - Alentejo plains with isolated hills19 - Alto Alentejo20 - Alentejo Litoral with hills21 - Sado River depression22 - Serra Algarvia – the Algarve mountain range 23 - Algarve Litoral or Baixo Algarve

The Portuguese regions

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Quando os Lobos Uivam (When TheWolves Howl, first published in 1958),which shows how intensive forestrypolicies, especially those linked to theexpansion of the cellulose industry, alsorepresent a threat to the cultural aspectsrelated to mountain life and the ruralworld. (Queirós, 1997: 175-180).

The main obstacles to the early deve-lopment of both an environmental aware-ness and an environmental policy in Portu-gal can be explained by the enduringpersistence of pre-modern characteristicsin Portuguese society: from its heavystress on the rural way of life to the lowcompetitiveness of its fragile industrial

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Fishing boats in Sesimbra: an ecologicaland social challenge.

The Azores: Fire Lake in Sao Miguel. A beautiful, delicate ecosystem.

fabric, and not forgetting the State’sincapacity in matters of public education.The almost fifty years of dictatorship(1926-1974) were to further aggravate thecountry’s deficiency in terms of civicparticipation, which is one of the mostimportant factors behind the developmentof environmental policies.

The first phase of a publicenvironmental policy inPortugal

On 19th June 1971, the National Environ-ment Commission was created — whosepresident, both before and after the

revolution of 25th April 1974, was JoséCorreia da Cunha — which may be consi-dered as the first Portuguese institutionresponsible for defining a public environ-mental policy.

The government of Marcelo Caetano,condemned to international isolation as aresult of its colonial policy, took the invita-tion to participate in an environmentalconference seriously. Portugal was repre-sented by large and highly qualifieddelegations, both at the StockholmConference and in the various preparatorymeetings held at that time. As part of thepreparation for the above-mentionedconference, a preliminary report was alsodrawn up about the state of the environ-ment, which was published in the sameyear of 1971.

A quarter of a century ago, Portugalfollowed the world trend towards creatingstructures that would progressively turnthe environment into a horizon capable ofintegrating public policies that werepreviously neglectful of the subject or elsewere to be found scattered in fragmentedfashion around other executive bodies.However, the similarity of the Portuguesesituation to that of other OECD countrieswas not without certain clear and fun-

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damental limits. Whereas the creation ofpolitical structures in the area of the envi-ronment by governments such as those ofthe USA, Sweden, Germany, etc. was theresult of a decade of intense democraticand civic activities that had taken placethroughout the 1960s, the creation of theNational Environment Commission in Por-tugal resulted predominantly not from theirresistible endogenous pressure of civilsociety — whose capacity for democraticexpression had been blocked by the longlethargy of a repressive dictatorship — butinstead from the effects of a reaction to anoutside impulse.

Another hugely important moment inthe presence of this «outside impulse»,with all the positive and negative implica-tions that this had, occurred in the studyprepared for Portugal’s accession to whatwas then the European Community. Someof the basic political conditions for beingable to talk about an environmental policyalready existed in the 1970s, immediatelyafter the April revolution, namely the pio-neering recognition of environmentalrights in the country’s Constitution, drawnup in 1976. On the other hand, and this isto be considered yet another positiveaspect, since 1983 Portugal has had animportant and original instrument for themanagement of its territory: the NationalEcological Reserve (Reserva EcológicaNacional — REN). However, only after1986, as a consequence of Portugal’smembership of the European Community,did we see a speeding up in the introduc-tion of the mechanisms that would allow forthe definition of a more agile environmen-tal policy.

The state of theenvironment in Portugal:a brief overview

Despite the decline in some economicindicators in recent years, Portugal has

experienced some very high growthrates, not only since the country’s acces-sion to the European Community, but inthe course of a long period that began adecade before the 1974 revolution: this isclearly proved by both economic andsocial indicators (Barreto, 1996). Theenvironmental impact of this growth mustbe studied with great care and attention.

Such growth has been achieved at thecost of a highly intensive use of energy,with an excessive consumption of rawmaterials in industrial processing, as wellas at the cost of a production of largequantities of waste, even hazardouswaste, not to mention the exponentialgrowth in urban solid waste, an areawhere Portugal has one of the most criticalsituations within the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development(OECD). This means that the increase inthe Portuguese Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is being achieved, in comparisonwith the average of the other countries inthe European Union or the OECD, at thecost of a greater waste of energy, not onlyin terms of production, but also, andabove all, at the level of transports, andwith greater pressure being exerted onresources and raw materials, with all theproblems that are associated with this interms of urban and industrial waste.

It is important now to examine thegreat lines of force that characterise thestate of the environment in Portugal.

Climate changeIn comparative terms, Portugal’s contri-bution to the changes taking place in theworld’s climate is notably less than that ofits European partners. For this reason, inthe Burden-Sharing Agreement (2002),signed between the EU countries underthe scope of the joint fulfilment of theKyoto Protocol (1997), Portugal managedto obtain permission for a 27 % increasein its emissions of the six greenhouse

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Petroquímica Chemical plant in Sines: difficulties in meeting the Kyoto Protocol targets.

gases covered by the agreement overthe period from 1990 to 2012. Recentstudies have, however, shown that therehas been a very significant slip in theachievement of these targets and thatthey may reach as high as 53 % morethan the base data for emissions in 1990(26 % above the authorised level). Thegovernment has already recognised thatthese emissions will be roughly 10 %higher than the permitted levels (5.8million tons per year of equivalent carbondioxide), which will be covered throughthe mechanisms provided for under theterms of the Kyoto Protocol. In 2004,according to the Portuguese EnvironmentInst i tute, the nat ional increase ingreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions wasalready higher than 41 %.

Despite the existence and updating ofpublic policy instruments designed tocombat climate change in Portugal, suchas the National Programme for TacklingClimate Change (Programa Nacional paraas Alterações Climáticas — PNAC), whichhas had two versions published in 2004and 2006, and the National Plan for the

Allocation of Emission Licences (PlanoNacional de Alocação de Licenças deEmissão — PNALE), whose secondversion for the period from 2008 to 2012was produced in 2006, the fact remainsthat the reasons for the upward trend inGHG emissions continue to exist. Thecauses for this increase are essentially tobe found in the sectors of electric powerproduction (the burning of fossil fuels atthermal power stations) and transport, inparticular the combination of increasingemissions from private motor vehicles andthe road transport of goods. To correctthese negative trends, strict and radicalmeasures will have to be taken in thealteration of transport policy, mainly in themetropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto,with investments being made in improvingpublic transport and increasing thetransport of goods by rail and sea.

EnergyThe national energy system is characteri-sed by a heavy dependence on suppliesfrom abroad, which has consequently ledto an increase in the country’s energy bill.

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In 2001, 84 % of the energy consumed inPortugal was imported. In the EuropeanUnion, only Luxembourg ranks higherthan Portugal in its dependence on oil:roughly 70 % of all its primary energy, asagainst the average figure of 40 % for theUnion as a whole.

Between 1990 and 2004, Portugalincreased its primary energy consump-tion by 50 %. Such growth also resulted inan excessive increase in the energy usedby our economy, despite some positivefacts that have occurred in recent years:two natural gas combined cycle powerstations have come into operation(Tapada do Outeiro and Carregado);and, since then, there has been a greateruse made of cogeneration (electricityproduction that is increased with the useof hot gases) for energy production.

Although Portugal is not rich in fossilfuels, it is a different case with renewableenergies, whose use is not only a recentphenomenon, but is also far from reachingits great potential. Except in the case ofhydroelectricity. So far, the measurestaken have been essentially limited to thesector of electricity production. This is thecase with the Energy Efficiency and Endo-genous Energies (E4) Programme, whichaims to reach a target of 39 % of all elec-tricity produced from renewable sourcesby 2010. More recently, new initiativeshave been taken, with a sharp increasebeing planned in wind and solar power.

TransportThe pollutant emissions associated withtransport have been increasing. As wehave seen, together with the energyproduction sector, transport is responsiblefor the GHG emissions in Portugal.Besides carbon dioxide (CO2), transportis also responsible for emissions ofcarbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides(NOx) and particles, pollutants that alsocontribute to surface ozone. Recent

studies have confirmed the highly nega-tive impact of road pollution on publichealth, particularly in urban centres.

As far as road accidents are concer-ned, there has been a positive trend in thisarea, which should be stressed. Roaddeaths in Portugal fell from 2262 in 1980 to1316 in 2001. There has been an evenmore positive continuation of this trend in2006.

Over the last decade, there was a fallin the total length of railway lines inoperation (a fall of 302.8 kilometresbetween 1991 and 2001). Investment did,however, increase in the modernisation ofthe rail transport system: there was asignificant increase in electrified lines (anincrease of 443.7 kilometres between1991 and 2001), especially in denselypopulated areas.

As far as port activity and maritimetransport are concerned, it should benoted that, despite the publication of theWhite Paper for the sector in 1997, therehas continued to be much hesitancyabout the real potential of this means oftransport, particularly short-distancemaritime transport: our ports have lostcompetitiveness in terms of the lengthand depth of their quays, and in thestructure of their support machinery andtransport equipment.

In the area of air transport, there wasa clear increase in the number ofpassengers transported between 1991and 2001. There was, however, a fall inthe number of domestic passengers,a fact which is not unrelated to thedevelopment of motorways. The decisionto build a new Lisbon international airportat Ota continues to give rise to heateddiscussion and is far from achieving thedesirable national consensus.

Nature ConservationIn comparison with its other EU partners,Portugal has a re lat ively r ich and

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White storks in Alcácer do Sal: biologicaldiversity that needs protecting.

diversified natural heritage, which givesthe country a particular responsibility forprotecting a wealth that must be conside-red the common property of Europeans.

Nature conservation in Portugalresults from a combination of a variednational and international legislation,which includes the Directives aboutHabitats and Birds (the joining togetherof which resulted in the setting up of theNatura 2000 Network), the RamsarConvention, and various programmesfrom the Council of Europe and UNESCO.The Basic Law governing Protected Areas(1993) establishes a typology with fourmain categories for the designation ofareas, most notably the National ProtectedAreas Network, which includes oneNational Park, 13 Natural Parks, 9 NatureReserves, 6 protected landscape areasand 5 natural monuments. These areasare also joined by several classified sites.Counting all the models for protection,including the Natura 2000 Network, morethan 20 % of Portugal’s territory is coveredby some form of protected status.

Despite the fact that the NationalStrategy for Nature Conservation andBiodiversity (Estratégia Nacional de Con-servação da Natureza e da Biodiversi-dade — ENCNB) came into force in 2001,public policy in this area continues to

present difficulties that it has taken a longtime to overcome. The most notable ofthese areas are:

A significant contrast between thepowers and duties and the human andmaterial resources placed at the disposalof the Nature Conservation Institute (Insti-tuto de Conservação da Natureza — ICN)for the performance of its broad remit(extended even further, a few years ago, toinclude the management of the coastline).

A chronic delay in the implementationof the regulatory instruments that areessential for nature conservation.

An insufficient capacity for implemen-ting and monitoring already existing plans.

Endemic difficulties in coordinatingnature conservation with the activities ofagriculture, forestry, hunting, mining,quarrying, tourism and energy (includingrenewable energies).

As a general rule, in the managementof protected areas, there is a low level ofadherence to the aims of conservation onthe part of local authorities and thepopulations residing in the respectiveareas.

Land use, Forests and AgricultureLand use in Portugal is subject tosignificant natural limitations. 60 % of theland, which originates from schist,greywacke and granite, is composed ofthin soils which have low fertility and areeasily eroded. 15 % of the total land areaderives from sand and arenites, wherethe soil has difficulty in retaining waterand nutrients. Roughly 10 % of soil isderived from limestone, which in thiscase is thin and rocky.

Traditionally the area of land used foragricultural purposes has been muchhigher than the 10 % of soil consideredsuitable for farming. With Portugal’s entryinto the European Community, there hasbeen a decline in the cultivated area andan increase in the forested area.

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The dominan t t r ee spec ies i nmainland Portugal are maritime pine,cork-oak, eucalyptus (whose exponentialgrowth has shown itself to have highlynegative environmental impacts), holm--oak and stone pine. Although Portugaltakes part in international schemesseeking to promote multiple-use forestryand respect for the forest as a habitat andecosystem, the fact remains that vastareas where only maritime pines andeucalyptus are grown have led to theoutbreaks of large summer forest fires,which, in recent years, have diminished innumber, thanks to a more organisedstrategy for fighting them.

Large-scale social and demographicchanges have led to major alterations inthis field. Agriculture and forestry isresponsible for roughly 71 % of land usein mainland Portugal. In the regions ofEntre Douro e Minho, Beira Litoral andthe Algarve, between 1989 and 1999,there was a fall of 31 % in the number offarms and a fall of 3.6 % in the total of thecountry’s Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA).

One of the greatest risks facingfarmland is the fact that most areas ofhighest productivity, such as the westernRibatejo region and the Algarve CoastalStrip, are to be found in regions wherethere is great pressure for changes in landuse, namely through urban and industrialexpansion, the building of tourist develop-ments and the demand for secondhomes, amongst other purposes.

A third of the national territory isexposed to a serious process of deserti-fication, which interacts negatively withthe growing trend towards the depopula-tion of the inland region and the ruralworld in general.

The forested area covers roughly 38 %of mainland Portugal, corresponding to12,400 companies, responsible for 3 % ofemployment and 11 % of exports. Thefragility of the forestry sector, particularly

in view of summer fires, is very closelyrelated to the high degree of disorderwithin the sector, resulting in vast areas ofsingle-species plantations (especiallymaritime pines and eucalyptus), whichare afforded little or no maintenance. Oneof the main reasons for this disorder has todo with the great dispersion in terms ofland ownership. Despite the publishingof countless laws, there has been acontinuous failure in the capacity toprovide a response to the decline in theforestry sector, as was unfortunatelydemonstrated by the arid disaster areasthat developed in 2003 and 2005.

Water ResourcesThe structural deficiencies in water policywere the main s t rategic target ofinvestment under the scope of the 2ndand 3rd Community Support Frameworks(1994-2006). Despite the progress made(see Table 1), the fact remains thatPortugal is still faced with a series ofsignificant challenges in this area:

The country’s great dependence onSpain (the EU country with the greatestwater storage capacity) in terms ofdischarges from international rivers. In1998, a new agreement was signed forthe management of Portuguese-Spanishwater catchment areas, the scope ofwhich has been regarded with somescepticism by many specialists.

The chronic delay in the drawing upof strategic planning instruments, as inthe case of the National Water Plan(2001) and the management Plans forWater Catchment Areas.

Insufficient monitoring of groundwater quality, even though many munici-palities continue to depend on aquifers toguarantee the supply of drinking water.

The difficulty in guaranteeing a watersupply to the population in perfectconditions of quality. It is calculated thatthere are 200,000 people served with

Overview of Portuguese water policy in 1995-2004

� A very sizeable figure for water availability(6,200 m3/per capita/per year).

� A sharp contrast between the north andsouth of the country (in southern regionsthere are cyclical droughts and periods ofintense water shortages).

� Portugal is a downstream country, whichshares with Spain the catchment areas of fivemajor international rivers: Minho, Lima,Douro, Tagus and Guadiana. Roughly 56%of the water resources available each year inPortugal are generated upstream in Spain(see Map No. 2).

� In 1995, only 79.6% of the Portuguesepopulation were connected to drinkingwater supply systems. In 1984, this figurewas much lower: 52%. The average figurefor the European Union is 91.5%. By 1998,this figure had risen to close on 90%.

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� In 1995, only 55% of the population wereserved by sewage disposal systems. By1998, this figure had risen to close on 65%.

� In 1995, only 21% of the population wereserved by a suitable sewage disposalsystem linked to a sewage treatment plant.By 1998, this figure had risen to close on40%.

� In 2003, under the scope of the StrategicPlan for Water Supply and Waste WaterTreatment (Plano Estratégico de Abas-tecimento de Água e de Saneamento deÁguas Residuais — PEAASAR, 2000-2006),the following figures were achieved: 92% ofthe population supplied with drinking water attheir homes; 74% of the population served bysewage disposal systems; 60% of thepopulation served by sewage disposalsystems linked to sewage treatment plants.

Sources: MARN — Instituto da Água, Recursos Hídricos de Portugal Continental e sua Utilização, vol. 1, Lisbon,1995; Direcção-Geral do Ambiente, Relatório sobre o Estado do Ambiente, 1998; Instituto do Ambiente, Relatóriodo Estado do Ambiente, 2004.

Farmlands in the Alentejo: the future of the environment depends on better physical planning.

water of deficient quality, especially ininland areas.

A restricted view of water planning,with its use tending to be concentratedin agriculture, industry and as drinkingwater, underestimating the importanceof the ecological dimension. This hasbeen the main reason for persistentcontroversy about irrigation limits, under

the scope of the future gigantic Alquevadam and reservoir (River Guadiana).

Serious wastages of water, both inagricultural use and in drinking waterdistribution systems. As a result ofnegligence, we continue to lose roughly40 % of drinking water in the distributionnetwork, as well as in agricultural use.

Slowness in the transposition of the

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strict European legal framework gover-ning water distribution and supply, aswell as the difficulties in adopting theintegrated view that this promotes. Theneed still remains for an extensive andcoherent adoption of the principles ofpolluter-payer and user-payer.

Coast and Ocean ManagementWith the largest Exclusive Economic Zonein Europe, because of the combination ofits vast continental coastline and theextensive ocean area corresponding tothe archipelagos of the Azores andMadeira, Portugal enjoys both thephysical and natural conditions to be theEuropean country in which there isgreatest justification for an integratedcoast and ocean management.

Let us review some of the main cha-racteristics of the state of the environmentin this area:

Portugal has some part icular lysensitive coastal areas, protected byinternational conventions, such as theRamsar Convention on Wetlands. Suchareas include, from the north to the southof the country, the Ria de Aveiro, theestuaries of the Tagus and Sado riversand the Ria Formosa.

The Portuguese coastline is parti-cularly vulnerable to pollution by hydro-carbons due to the daily passagethrough the area of hundreds of oil--tankers. One of the twelve largest oilspillages in history occurred on thePortuguese coast, in January 1975, withthe Jacob Maesk oi l - tanker beingresponsible for the discharge of 84,000tons of crude oil. Once again, in 2002,the country came very close to sufferingserious damage as a result of the«Prestige» shipwreck off the coast ofGalicia.

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Portrait of Portugal

The Algarve: an example of the pressure exerted by tourism on the coastline.

Our coastline shows high levels oferosion (as is the case with the stripbetween Espinho, Cortegaça andFuradouro): there are pressures fromboth the tourism and building sectors;and there has been a sharp drop in thedeposition of sediments resulting fromalterations in the flow of rivers subjectedto intensive hydraulic works (<85 % ofthe drained area), and possibly also as aresult of the profound global changes inthe climate.

From an economic standpoint ,Portugal is particularly sensitive to theevolution in the stocks of fish species withthe greatest commercial value. At thesame time, cases of deterioration in thequality of bathing water have had anegative impact on tourism. Anotheraspect that has been important forreducing environmental impacts incoastal areas is the profound restructuringtaking place in relation to the national portpolicy, where environmental protectionand a greater rationalisation of resourceshave been two strategic priorities.

Pressures from tourist activities arealso responsible for some significantconflicts in coastal management. The

Plans for the Management of the CoastalStrip (Planos de Ordenamento da OrlaCosteira — POOC) have met wi thserious resistance on the part of munici-pal governments and some economicgroups.

Portugal has struggled to ensure thatthe protection of the oceans remains anopen topic on the international environ-mental agenda. In this sense, we canrecord as positive the fact that, under thescope of the European Union, Portugalhas been given leadership of the Euro-pean Agency for Maritime Safety, whichunfortunately continues without suitablepremises for its full and proper operation.

AirDespite the fact that Portugal’s mostdensely populated areas are exposed tothe winds blowing from the AtlanticOcean, the country still has some criticalareas in terms of air pollution. Greaterurbanisation and the great increase inroad transport are the main causes for thedegeneration in air quality in Europe andPortugal.

The most sensitive areas, correspon-ding to the sites of the stations of a

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network set up for measuring air quality,which must nonetheless be consideredinsufficient, are the urban areas, parti-cularly Lisbon and Porto, and someindustrial areas, such as Barreiro-Seixal,Estarreja and Sines. The network formeasuring air quality is managed by theRegional Development and CoordinationCommittees (Comissões de Coordena-ção e Desenvolvimento Regional —CCDR), and the processing of their datahas resulted in the production of the AirQuality Index (Índice da Qualidade do Ar— IQar). The pollutants measured by thisindex are: nitrogen dioxide (NO2),sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3),carbon monoxide (CO) and inhalableparticles (PM10). Although the coverageof this index is still insufficient, there hasbeen an improvement in the mechanismsfor informing the population when thelimit-values are exceeded, and a dailyforecast is made of the air quality for thefollowing day. As far as air quality isconcerned, Portugal is currently indispute with the European Commission inview of the high levels of inhalableparticles at some of the monitoringstations: the country must greatly reduceits emissions of inhalable particles,particularly those originating from traffic(in Lisbon and Porto).

Between 1990 and 2003, there was asignificant reduction in the emission ofacidifying substances (roughly 15 %),particularly sulphur dioxide, as a result ofreductions in the fuels used in thermalpower stations, petrol and diesel. Inrecent years, there has also been a slightincrease in the emission of substancesgiving rise to tropospheric ozone, namely,nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methanevolatile organic compounds (NMVOCs),carbon monoxide (CO) and methane(CH4), which places Portugal outsideboth the targets of the GothenburgProtocol (CLRTAP) for 2010 and the

aims of the European Union Directive onceilings for national emissions for thesame year.

As far as stratospheric ozone isconcerned, the assessments made bythe Institute of Meteorology (Instituto deMeteorologia — IM) indicate thatPortugal has recorded losses of 3 % perdecade over the last thirty years, figuresthat are similar to those obtained in otherregions of the Northern Hemisphere,situated at the same latitude. At thesame time, the study undertaken of theprocess for the implementation of theMontreal Protocol (1987) shows that thefight against the substances responsiblefor the depletion of the ozone layer hasbeen restr icted to the adoption ofEuropean directives in this area.

WasteThe greatest successes have beenrecorded in the area of Urban SolidWaste. In 1996, a Strategic Plan for theDisposal of Urban Solid Waste (PlanoEstratégico de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos— PERSU) was launched. In January2002, the last of 328 municipal dumps inmainland Portugal ceased to receivewaste. It should be noted that, in 1997,only 48 % of Urban Solid Waste had whatcan be considered an acceptable finaldestination. There has been a largeincrease in incineration. The secondversion of this strategy (PERSU II) iscurrently being prepared.

As far as the negative aspects ofUrban Solid Waste are concerned, therehas been an enormous per capitaincrease in such waste over the lastdecade, together with an increase in thespending capacity of the Portuguesepopulation. The measures taken tointroduce a preventive strategy foundedon the threefold idea of reduction-reuse--recycling have proved to be insufficient.The reuse figures are well below the

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Portrait of Portugal

Forest fires: serious environmental, economic and social loss.

targets laid down by the governmentand the creation of the Sociedade PontoVerde (a non-profit making organisationinvolved in the recycling of packagingwaste) will require an even greater effortto be made in order to be able tocontribute towards an effective and morefavourable change in direction, enablingthe country to achieve the recyclingtargets set in the European context.

Some progress has also been madein the disposal of hospital waste, with theclosure of obsolete incineration systemslocated at a large number of hospitals.However, the situation is not so favou-rable in the case of Hazardous IndustrialWaste (HIW). Twice, in the late 1980sand in 1994-1995, an attempt was madeto build an incineration system fordisposing specifically of this type ofwaste. Between 1998 and 2002, anattempt was made to find a solutionbased on co-incineration at two cementworks. The alternative solutions putforward for the disposal of the differentsegments of waste, such as solvents orused oils, have given rise to muchdebate and a number of initiatives. In itsturn, the 15th Constitutional Governmentsought to implement a distinct option

based on Integrated Centres for theRecycling and Disposal of HazardousWaste (Centros Integrados de Recupe-ração, Valorização e Eliminação deResíduos Perigosos — CIRVER). In2006, the government returned to theco-incineration option, without anyreduction in the protests of local authori-ties and civic associations.

Prevention and mitigation of naturaland environmental risksPortugal is faced with a number of majornatural and environmental risks:

Seismic risk in Portugal is a latentthreat, unpredictable over time, withpotentially catastrophic repercussions inthe south-west of the territory, parti-cularly in the Lisbon and Tagus valleyarea and the Algarve. Along the Algarvecoastal strip and the western coast to thesouth of Peniche, there is the addeddanger of seaquakes.

Forest f i res are a major r isk inPortugal and they have resulted in a highnumber of personal accidents (morethan 50 deaths in recent decades) andeconomic losses of hundreds of millionsof euros. In 3 years (2003 to 2005)roughly 8 % of the country was burned

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Flooding in the Tagus Basin.

Encroaching desert: one of the results of climatic changes.

(not only forests, but the whole territorialarea, including the Azores and Madeira):roughly 880,000 hectares!

Floods are a major threat in mainlandPortugal, particularly in the built-upareas of the floodplains of the country’smain rivers (e.g. Tagus, Douro, Mon-dego, Sado and Guadiana), but also insmall water catchment areas that aresubject to rapid or flash flooding.

Coastal erosion has had a variety ofcauses in Portugal over the last century:(i) the reduction in the inflow of sedimentsinto the ocean, especially since the1950s, with the building of dams; (ii) theuncontrolled occupation of the coastalstrip, with the building of houses andinfrastructures; (iii) the eustatic rise in thesea level as a consequence of thethermal expansion of ocean water.

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Portrait of Portugal

Almada: a detail in urban disharmony.

Soil erosion by water is anotherthreat, characterised by the removal ofthe surface material of the land, leadingto the degeneration of its agriculturaland ecological potential.

Desertification is a complex processthat affects roughly a third of the totalarea of mainland Portugal. The mostserious risk situations are to be found inthe Alentejo, particularly in the Guadianabasin, on the Algarve coast, the Dourovalley, Trás-os-Montes and the borderregion of Beira Baixa.

Climate change in Portugal has nega-tive economic impacts, but it also acts asa catalyst likely to increase a variety ofrisks. According to the results of the SIAMProject Climate Change in Portugal.Scenarios, Impacts and AdaptationMeasures (published in two separatereports in 2002 and 2006), the conse-quences projected for our country, inclu-ding the autonomous regions of Madeiraand the Azores, as a result of the increasein global warming, will be very serious.These include: a) greater desertification;

b) more forest fires; c) more extreme phe-nomena (this was the case with the heatwave of July-August 2003, which, inPortugal alone, caused roughly 2,000extra deaths; d) the spread of diseasevectors that are currently considered to beextinct or under control (such as malaria).

Conclusions and FutureProspects

In short, despite the positive institutionalsteps already taken in regard to publicenvironmental policies, Portugal conti-nues to display great difficulties in tacklingthe major environmental threats, parti-cularly those related with five basic areas:a) the contribution to climate change; b)coastal erosion and desertification; c) lossof biodiversity; d) uncontrolled expansionof built-up areas: e) excess wastage ofwater in urban and agricultural uses.

In order to reverse this situation, wecan reduce the main long-term prioritiesof Portuguese environmental policy tofive areas:

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More and better information: Portugalhas to be equipped wi th sui tablescientific and technical means in orderto have a permanently updated pictureof the state of the environment, in itsvarious fronts. Without a permanentlyupdated environmental database, it willnot be possible to abandon the unsafefield of political decisions that are takenwithout sufficient objective justification.

More and better planning: Portugalneeds its plans to be effectively imple-mented. Plans are needed in the area ofsustainable development, in order tointroduce environment levies and taxesas a means of realising the establishedprinciples of polluter-payer and user--payer; in the area of all types of waste;in the spheres of environmental educa-tion and education about nature conser-vation; in the fields of occupationalsafety, public health (through actionprogrammes in the areas of environmentand health), agriculture and spendingpatterns; in the area of energy conserva-tion, efficiency and substitution; in thefield of town planning, transport andinfrastructures; on the fundamentalhorizon of water policy, involving inlandwaters, but also the coastal strip and theoceans. In order to cement all of theseplans and give them greater coherence,Portugal needs a genuine and fullyoperational National Strategy for Sustai-nable Development.

More and better coordination: Environ-ment policy is not the exclusive domain ofthe Ministry of the Environment. It must beconceived and implemented as a policyof the government as a whole and basedon broad political and social consensus.All segments of government, particularlythe local authorities, must set environmen-tal aims and establish forms for ensuringthat they are fulfilled. Without suchcoordination, the production of plans,programmes and strategies will not result

in the positive shaping and transformationof reality, but will instead lead to a noisyand inefficient bureaucracy.

Better participation: Environmentpolicy seeks to attain sustainability, i.e. itseeks to counteract the present collisioncourse between our technical-scientificcivilisation and the natural ecosystemson which we depend. Both through eachcitizen and through various types ofassociations, civil society must be givena say not only in the formulation, but alsoin the implementation of sectoral andglobal environment policies. The parti-cipation of Environmental NGOs must beenlarged, so that their voice can beheard, particularly those whose contri-bution to the Portuguese environmentalagenda has been most important, suchas Quercus, the National Association forthe Conservation of Nature (Quercus--Associação Nacional de Conservaçãoda Natureza) , the League for theProtection of Nature (Liga para a Protec-ção da Natureza — LPN), and the LandManagement and Environmental StudyGroup (Grupo de Estudos do Orde-namento de Território e Ambiente —GEOTA).

Greater responsibil i ty: Those incharge of environmental policy and thepolitical and economic agents involvedin the process must be made respon-sible for their acts. Policies have to bemonitored and assessed. Amongst otherthings, this implies greater speed in themechanisms of justice, without which therule of law will become nothing morethan a merely rhetorical device. Closerand stricter accompaniment of theimplementation of policies will make itpossible to check on the reliability of theinformation used, the success of plansand their implementation, as well as theresults made possible by increasinglycomplex forms of coordination andparticipation.