Livre wants to hear the environment minister in Parliament

Livre presented this Wednesday a request to urgently hear the Minister of Environment and Energy in parliament about a possible merger of the powers of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) into two other entities.

The request comes after the newspaper Expresso reported on Tuesday, citing “several unidentified sources”, that the Government intends to extinguish the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), as it currently exists, and divide 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 also wants to hear from the president of the ICNF Board of Directors, Nuno Banza, and the president of the APA Board of Directors, José Pimenta Machado.

The Livre deputies emphasize that this alleged intention “immediately sparked a reaction and concern among sector experts and environmental associations, who warned of the risks of fragmentation of environmental protection, loss of technical autonomy, and politicization of decisions on nature conservation.”

"The Minister of Environment and Energy neither confirmed nor denied this intention, stating only [in the news] that the Ministry is currently "more focused on the energy sector", which worsens the opacity and uncertainty surrounding a possible reform with profound environmental and institutional implications," criticize the MPs.

In the request, the Livre party argues that, "if it happens, the dismantling of the ICNF will jeopardize the continuity and effectiveness of public policies in this area and expose a deliberate strategy to weaken public services and dismantle environmental protection structures, disguised as modernization and reform of the State."

Considering that "the lack of public clarification by the Government requires an urgent response before Parliament," the MPs want to hear the Minister and the two presidents urgently in the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Energy.

"It is essential to ensure transparency and democratic scrutiny of the motivations, impacts, and consequences of a restructuring that could seriously weaken the nature conservation system, reduce the State's technical capacity, and compromise national and European commitments on biodiversity and climate action," they argue.