National Ecological Network - a proposal of mapping and policies

http://epic-webgis-portugal.isa.ulisboa.pt/

 

The goal of the present project is to delimit National Ecological Network. This Network was integrated in the Decree-Law nº380/99 according to which it should be delimited in all Landscape Plans. However, at national level, this never occurred in Portugal. The Structure integrates all elements which safeguard the functioning of the ecosystems in Landscape. Thus, it functions as an instrument for planning without which it is impossible to establish strategies of development that guarantee the sustainability of natural resources of territory. Many European countries have already carried out this delimitation and use it as basis for sustainable development policies (Jongman et al, 2004).

The team we suggest for this project is particularly qualified for this task, since its main nucleus is composed of different fields of knowledge provided by the Higher Institute of Agronomy and also due to their vast experience in delimitation of Ecological Networks at municipal level. A part of this team has developed “Green Plans” for municipalities (Lisboa 1993; Seixal, 1996;Loures 2003; Sintra 2007, Almada, 2007) that represent different ecological contexts, focusing not only on Ecological Network but also on its implications on the best location for human activities in municipal territory (Magalhães, 2006; Magalhães et al, 2007). The team has also developed a case study at regional level.

Thus, the project we propose uses part of the methodology already applied in the past and refines and reinforces it by expanding the team in the areas of water and climate and hence integrate two more recognized research units, namely LNEC and IN+/IST. Related to the fields of water, we will discuss the criteria to be used in the delimitation of one of the most important system of Landscape – the areas adjacent to waterlines – generally designated as high water beds and introduce quantitative data related to runoffs, water inventory and infiltration. The research team on climate will proceed with the delimitation of Landscape structures that never before have been delimited in Portugal, such as: channels for cold air drainage at night, areas of great cooling and exposed to more intense and faster winds.

Beyond the reinforcement and consolidation of the methodology, we will also evaluate the detail to which Ecological Network will be delimited as well as the elements of which it is composed, according to the various scales of planning, namely 1/500.000; 1/100.000 and /25.000. We will compare and evaluate the produced cartography on the basis of some municipal case studies that we have already mentioned and with the help of Networks of Valorization and Environmental Protection that are delimited by Regional Landscape Plans (PROTs).

For this purpose we will have meetings with some town councils and with the five Regional Development Coordination Commissions (CCDR). We will also count on the consultancy of a member of one CCDR and invited professor from the university of Évora (Portugal) with a vast experience in territory planning and management and of a professor from the university of Nürtingen (Germany) with experience in the implementation of Ecological Network through methods of compensatory management (of ecological balance). During the more significant phase of the project - concepts, delimitation, regulation - we will also consult a Dutch institution which promotes at national level the delimitation and management of the “Dutch Ecological Network” and which has already been visited by a group of researchers of our team in 2004.

Beyond the proposal of the delimitation of Ecological Structure which may be included in the revision of the National Programme for Spatial Planning Policy (PNPOT), this project aims at: a proposal for a methodology for the delimitation of the Structure as well as a proposal for a regulation that serves as a basis for its management. We intent to publish a book on these two perspectives of Ecological Structure. During the three years of research work we will publish 6 articles in international journals and organize two seminars with the participation of the consultants and various foreign institutions which are responsible for the creation and management of Ecological Network.