ECOLOGICAL FLOWS IN PORTUGAL: DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPACTS UNDER THE WFD IMPLEMENTATION

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2017

Authors

Ramos, V (Author) Other; Formigo, N (Author) FCUP; Maia, R (Author) Other

Conference proceedings International

Title: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT (ICEE 2017)

Pages: 187-191

3rd Internacional Conference on Energy and Environment (ICEE) - Bringing Together Economics and Engineering

Porto, PORTUGAL, JUN 29-30, 2017

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00P-QJD

Abstract (EN): Freshwater ecosystems are under increasing threats due to anthropogenic activities. In this context, throughout time, water managers have been working on the definition and implementation of measures that help them to deal with the risks associated with those effects. Ecological flows appeared as a possible answer to this challenge. In Portugal, the concern about this issue has been increasing over time, both in terms of relevance in water resources legislation and in the evaluation of the ecological flow regimes. In 2000, with the adoption of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (European Commission 2000), the European Union took a revolutionary step to preserve water bodies. Even though this Directive do not use the term ecological flows/environmental flows explicitly, it emphasizes the need to act, mainly in those situations where hydromorphological pressures are having a significant impact on the water bodies quality. Moreover, based on the assessment done by the 1st River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), the European Commission recommended that Member States should define and implement ecological flows. In this context, the main goal of this work is to provide an overall picture of the ecological flows evolution in Portugal, emphasizing the changes introduced by the WFD. Based on the overall results, some considerations about future steps will be presented.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 5