Portugal

Portugal consists of the peninsular mainland and the volcanic Atlantic archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores. It has a terrestrial area of close to 92 000 km² and a marine areas of 1.7 million km² . It is bordered by 1 other countries. The highest point is Mount Pico (on the Azores) at 2 351m. Portugal has a population of 10.2 million people and a population density of 113 people per km².

Protected areas

There are a total of   protected areas in Portugal,   Natura 2000 sites -   Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and   Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as   sites designated under national laws.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Natura 2000 sites in Portugal cover   species and   habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For   sites there is only 1 feature being protected with   sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Portugal under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

 % of species are considered to be Good

 % of species are considered to be Poor

 % of species are considered to be Bad

 % of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Portugal under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

  habitats protected under EU law in Portugal.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

 % of habitats are considered to be Good

 % of habitats are considered to be Poor

 % of habitats are considered to be Bad

 % of habitats are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Portugal:

Following the Millennium sub global assessment for Portugal, a contract was signed in August 2014 between ICNF (Institute for Nature Conservations and Forests - national authority for nature conservation and forests) and Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), to put in place a short term pilot MAES at Alentejo region (south Portugal) which has already been concluded and the main products will soon be made available at BISE. 

Read more

Green infrastructure in Portugal:

Green Infrastructure is primarily known in Portugal under the term “Ecological Network” or “Ecological Structure”. An inter-ministerial coordination mechanism is in charge of promoting the integration of conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity into the various sectoral policies (Council of Ministers Resolution Nº 41/99 of 17 May), including considerations in ecological network planning.

Read more

National Biodiversity strategy for Portugal:

To report on progress to the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, the European Commission extracted relevant information from the EU Member States’ 5^th national reports to the CBD. Of the 5 countries which had not finalized their national reports at the time of the synthesis (26^th of August 2015), Greece, Malta, Portugal and Lithuania provided information to be included in the synthesis.

Read more