Following the approval of the Nature Restoration Law by the European Parliament, researchers from all over the country signed an open letter addressed to the Minister for the Environment and Energy, calling for a national restoration plan that ‘doesn’t leave the sea behind’.
With the aim of restoring degraded ecosystems, this year the European Parliament approved the Nature Restoration Act. The new law sets binding and bold targets for restoring and protecting biodiversity within the European Union. The entry into force of this new law in August 2024 gives Portugal two years to prepare its plan and demonstrate how it will meet the targets and obligations set out in the law. The European Parliament stipulates that Portugal must restore a minimum of 30% of habitat areas in unfavourable condition, with the area to be restored increasing to 60% in 2040 and 90% in 2050. Portugal must also ensure that the conservation status of most of these habitats is known by 2040.
Portugal, an ‘oceanic country’
It was in this context that a group of researchers from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Research at the University of Porto (CIIMAR-UP) mobilised the scientific community to send an open letter to the Minister for the Environment and Energy, Dr Maria da Graça Carvalho, to encourage the national restoration plan to pay attention to the sea and marine habitats. The letter already has a large and diverse group of more than 90 signatories, including experts in marine, environmental and social sciences, as well as representatives of national non-governmental organisations and civil society.
‘Portugal is an oceanic country, with an extensive maritime area of incalculable natural value,’ says the open letter. ‘More than 97 per cent of the national territory is sea. This maritime area – one of the largest in the world under national jurisdiction – harbours a great diversity of marine life whose conservation is a ‘first line priority’ for the Portuguese state,’ the researchers consider.
75% of marine habitats in unfavourable condition
The percentage of marine habitats in an unfavourable state of conservation in Portugal may be as high as 75%, according to the Biodiversity Information System for Europe, and may include seagrass meadows, macroalgae forests, sponge and coral gardens, and hydrothermal vents. According to the document, this rapid decline in habitats is due to the cumulative effects of human pressures such as unsustainable fishing, climate change, pollution, the urbanisation of coastal zones and the spread of invasive species, and puts at risk ‘vital benefits provided by marine biodiversity to society, such as climate regulation, natural protection of coastal zones, food sovereignty, livelihoods, local economies and the culture of coastal communities’, the letter lists.
A unique opportunity for Portugal
The researchers see this restoration plan as a very demanding task but, at the same time, a unique opportunity for the country: ‘It is an opportunity for the country to expand the limited basic knowledge available to protect marine biodiversity, (…) to improve the coordination of its marine research and take advantage of the best science it produces, (…) and an opportunity for the country to create effective possibilities for public participation, opening up the preparation of the national restoration plan to the scientific community and civil society at an early stage of planning.’
In the document sent, the researchers also propose strategies and establish priorities for what will become the National Restoration Plan in response to the new Nature Restoration Law, in order to turn it into a real opportunity to halt and reverse the loss of marine biodiversity in the country.
The charter, like the plan, is intended to be as inclusive as possible and is therefore open to subscription here.
