The request comes after reports emerged that the government plans to dismantle the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) as it currently exists, redistributing its responsibilities between the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the Regional Coordination and Development Commissions (CCDR).
In addition to Minister Maria Graça Carvalho, the party seeks to hear from the president of the ICNF Board, Nuno Banza, and the president of the APA Board, José Pimenta Machado.
Members of the Livre party highlight that this alleged intention “immediately raised reactions and concerns among sector specialists and environmental associations, who warned of the risks of fragmenting environmental protection, losing technical autonomy, and politicizing decisions on nature conservation.”
“The Minister of Environment and Energy neither confirmed nor denied this intention, stating only that the Ministry is currently ‘more focused on the energy area,’ which increases the opacity and uncertainty about a potential reform with profound environmental and institutional implications,” the deputies criticize.
In the request, the Livre party argues that if it occurs, “the disbanding of ICNF jeopardizes the continuity and effectiveness of public policies in this area and exposes a deliberate strategy to weaken public services and dismantle environmental protection structures, under the guise of modernization and state reform.”
Considering “the lack of public clarification by the government requires an urgent response before parliament,” the deputies seek an urgent hearing with the minister and the two presidents in the parliamentary committee on Environment and Energy.
“It is essential to ensure transparency and democratic scrutiny regarding the motivations, impacts, and consequences of a restructuring that could severely weaken the nature conservation system, reduce the State’s technical capacity, and compromise national and European commitments on biodiversity and climate action,” they argue.
