With just six years to meet the global biodiversity targets set by the Kunming-Montreal agreement, Portugal, like much of the world, struggles to make progress. Among the critiques of the country’s approach, biogeographer Miguel Bastos Araújo highlights a critical issue in the weekly newspaper Expresso: the mismatch between ambitious commitments and the actual operational framework to achieve them.
Araújo points to the resolution by the previous government, which classified 34.8% of the national territory as protected areas but failed to meet effective conservation criteria. “This classification does not guarantee the strict conservation criteria necessary to meet the goals of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030,” he notes.
As COP16 begins in Cali, Colombia, with the theme “Peace with Nature,” Portugal’s lack of an updated National Strategy for Nature Conservation is a glaring omission. Araújo emphasizes the need for financial investment and clear management plans to transform these commitments into meaningful action.