Most European countries have invested a lot of effort and dedication to the planet’s ecology and Portugal is no exception. Over the years Portugal has contributed to an attempt to improve sustainability by implementing some initiatives and appealing to younger generations the importance of ecology not only in their daily lives but in the future. One of the big problems we face is the high degree of air pollution leading to a drop in air quality. This type of pollution is mainly linked to transport, industry, agriculture and energy. Therefore, the State and other entities alert and encourage the population to take various measures such as public transport, walking or cycling. Another big problem that Portugal faces every summer is mainly forest fires where, on average, about 400,000 hectares of natural land burn each year, so to help reduce fires it is prohibited to carry out fires, launch fireworks or similar, smoke in the forest spaces… In order to reduce water consumption, a national program was created to improve the efficiency of water consumption, such as awareness and training of citizens, reducing the use of drinking water in activities that can have the same performance with alternative waters, limiting impacts associated with discharges of industrial wastewater, among others.

Artur Silva