S1 Amaliamezei 2019 20 [605136]

Territorial Management
in the local and regional scale – risks and civil protection

When we talk about the susceptibility to risk in terms of territorial management and civil
protection, we must keep in mind that the component that deals with the assessment of the
danger (is preventive) is given by the territorial management. The component that deals with risk
assessment is civil protection (it is reactive).
Regarding the necessary legislative framework, we have three important laws in the
foregrou nd, which can be summarized in several lines. It's about Lei de Bases da Protecao Civil
(no. 27/2006, revision 80/2015) , REN – Reserva Ecológica Nacional (law no. 166/2008, revision
239/2012) and (Programa Nacional de Política de Ordenamento do Território – PNPOT) – law
58/2007.
The first law obliges municipal, regional and national institutions to make plans for civil
protection and territorial management. Regarding the first law, some major problems can be
noticed: the lack of supranational or supra -regional plans. For example, each municipality or
district must have its own flood risk plan, but they are not coordinated with other neighbouring
regions through which they cross the same river. Another impediment is that, the elaborated
plans are t oo long and do not consider the real conditions of a region. For example, in such plans ,
we find measures that are not necessary for the area concerned, such as tsunami risk plans, in
the context where we have a region far from the ocean or the sea.
Unfor tunately, another reported problem is that Portugal is one of the countries with the
least use of EU funds. Two major causes can be mentioned here: often it is not known about the
possibility of using the funds and the incompetence of the civil servants to manage the financial
resources.
REN – Reserva Ecológica Nacional is a biophysical structure that includes a set of
typologies, which have a value and a sensitivity to natural risks, so they are subject to a special
protection regime – The legal regime of the national ecological reserve (RJREN). Here we can
identify some reasons why risk areas are not included in the REN environment, such as:

– risk areas and ecological areas should not have the same usage restrictions ;
– a dangerous territory does not necessarily have a high ecological value ;
– REN is far from including all types of risks that may arise in a territory ;
– information principle: citizens have the right to know about the risks they are exposed to.

Regarding the risks in the national program o f territorial management policy
(Programa Nacional de Política de Ordenamento do Território , which is a territorial
management tool, which defines the strategic objectives and options for territorial
development and establishes the organization of the nati onal territory ). Two plans were
implemented: one made by the University of Lisbon and the other by the University of Porto.
Of the two plans, the second one has some shortcomings, because some risks have been
eliminated, such as earthquakes under the sea and technological risks .
As for a methodological guide needed to map risk maps, there are some, but there
are some impediments . The authorities of Portugal collect the data necessary to make such
cartographic materials, but most of the time they are not pu blished or cost a lot of money.
In conclusion , risk prevention is achieved through good mapping and regulation, the
susceptibility mapping must precede and guide the other territorial development
interventions.

References:
https://www.ccdr -n.pt/servicos/ordenamento -territorio/reserva -ecologica -nacional
http://pnpot.dgterritorio.pt/pnpot
Lei n.o 80/2015, de 3 de agosto – Lei de Bases da Proteção Civil. Diário Da República, 1.a Série —
N.o 149 — 3 de Agosto de 2015 , 1a série , 5311–5326.