Environmental organisation Quercus has reviewed the best and the worst environmental aspects of 2015 and presents the prospects for the year 2016, while mysteriously avoiding the subject of oil and gas exploration in the Algarve.
The worst environmental aspects for Portugal in 2015 include pollution discharges in the Tagus river, unfeasible municipal waste recycling targets in PERSU2020, the adverse impacts of the new afforestation scheme which increases new eucalyptus plantations at the expense of native forest, laws that enable potential polluters to avoid environmental impact assessments and the general slack standards employed by government to control polluters.
The emissions fraud at the Volkswagen group, the forest fires that continue to ravage Portugal, the continued use of Glyphosate which Quercus claims is carcinogenic for humans, the lack of food for scavenger birds due to changes in natural ecosystems due to the compulsory collection of carcasses of dead animals from fields, the suspension of the "Golden Quality" rating for Dona Ana beach near Lagos due to the work carried out by the Ministry of the Environment.
The Wind Farm at Torre de Moncorvo which will affect the Special Zone of the Alto Douro Wine Region, a World Heritage Site, the Illegal poison of endangered species, and the expansion of exotic species in the Alqueva reservoir such as the water hyacinth.
The best environmental facts for last year include welcome legislation on plastic bags, the recovery in numbers of some threatened wildlife populations, citizens actions for the environment, legislation on fertilizers produced from waste, the global climate agreement reached in Paris, and the GNR operating with canine teams to detect poisons.
The environmental outlook for 2016 includes plus points for municipalities which can opt for alternatives to herbicides in public areas, a change of government to one that has a better environmental awareness, improvements to the Green Tax Reform of 2015, the beginning of the development of management plans for Sites of Community Importance and the consolidation of the Natura 2000 network and the re-evaluation of some of the Sites of Community Importance boundaries.
Quercus also looks forward to more investment in raising awareness for the Conservation of Nature, the creation of electronic guides for waste monitoring, and transparency in the privatisation of the waste management company EGF.
Readers by now will have spotted the one glaring omission, the threats to nature and the environment of the exploration for oil and gas on the Algarve’s land mass and adjoining seas.
As members of PALP, the environmental organisations’ anti-oil group, it seems odd that Quercus has failed to point out in its review and projection, this acute threat to the Algarve.
Past funding from REN, Galp and EDP are well documented and it is hoped that no undue influences recently have been brough to bear on Quercus' independence.
For the full report by Quercus, in Portuguese, see
http://www.quercus.pt/comunicados/2015/dezembro/4533-balanco-ambiental-2015
