Technical opinion of the Management Plan of the Special Protection Area of Arrábida, Espichel

The League for the Protection of Nature (LPN) exercises its right to participate in the Public Consultation on the proposal of the Management Plan for the Special Protection Area (SPA) of Arrábida-Espichel, document prepared under the project “Preparation of twenty management plans of natural habitats, wild fauna and flora focused on Sites of Community Importance (SCI), within the scope of Habitats Directive” – POSEUR Operation 03-2215-FC000005 (Phase V | Stage 4), proposed by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (INCF). Based on the consultation of documents available on the PARTICIPA platform, and for the reasons described in the considerations presented below, LPN expresses its disagreement with the publication of the proposed plan in the terms it is defined.

Previous remark:

LPN recognizes that, overall, this management plan represents significant progress in relation to the current situation of great uncertainty regarding the management of the Arrábida-Espichel SPA. However, there are aspects that need improvement so that it can form a good basis for the management of this area of great national and European importance. In this document, LPN highlights these aspects, both of a general and specific nature, despite the time constraints to consider all the important aspects proposed by the plan.

We are aware of the imposed limitations by the complexity of Management Plans that are and will be in public consultation over the next months and the tight schedule for the conclusion of this process, which are the result of the failure by successive Governments of the deadlines initially defined by the EC. Also because of the complexity and importance of these processes, we cannot miss the opportunity to point out that the deadline for public consultation, in spite being extended during the process, was clearly short for a careful analysis of complex and long documents. It is important to correct this situation in future processes to allow a careful and calm appraisal of the plans. 

Read the technical advice here (in Portuguese).

7 July 2020