Lisbon, Feb. 27, 2026 (Lusa) - A geographer specialising in environmental risks argues that policymakers in Portugal need to have a better understanding of the terrain, that infrastructure needs to be monitored following the recent storms, and that awareness among the public about civil protection needs to be raised.
Maria José Roxo believes that there is a serious lack of knowledge about the terrain at all levels, including "among politicians, especially those with greater decision-making power who should know the country better".
The professor in the Department of Geography and Regional Planning at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, speaking to Lusa about the effects of the recent Kristin, Leonardo and Marta storms, said that in policies on land use or land use change, it should be verified whether agricultural policies "were positive" or not.
"There is a lack of policy evaluation here and also a lack of monitoring of what is fundamental in a territory, and this also prevents us from making good diagnoses and taking proper preventive measures, because prevention will always be much cheaper" than reconstruction, she pointed out.
The researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social Sciences (CICS) said that recent storms have demonstrated the importance of knowing how to "deal with this climate uncertainty" and identifying "who the people are", the "areas that are at risk" and how to minimise that risk.
The specialist in disasters and environmental risks stressed the need for inspections, rehabilitation and reconstruction of public works, dykes and bridges and argued that "the State and private entities must take care of infrastructure", which "must be monitored" and properly maintained.
"And here, local authorities undoubtedly have a very important role to play. Proximity and knowledge of the land are fundamental, and there is also something that I think is crucial for the future and that we have very little of, which is community spirit, supporting each other, for example," she said.
In areas at risk, she noted, it is necessary to know the people and who needs more help, namely "elderly people who cannot read warnings on their mobile phones" and, in this case, "local radio stations have a crucial role to play in helping, despite the amazing work of the fire brigade", but a spirit of "mutual aid" must be created, because civil protection begins with self-protection.
Faced with the devastation of forest areas, Maria José Roxo also pointed out that "it rained a lot" and there is "a lot of vegetation" and, at the end of March, we should already be "really thinking about what strategy to use to minimise the risk of fire in the summer".
However, for the CICS researcher, the solution "cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach", as she observed, for example, in Vouzela, with the implementation of "a fire protection strip around a dam, which is the most absurd thing" she has ever seen in her life.
"There is no awareness of the geographical particularities of this country. I cannot treat the Alentejo in the same way as I treat the Centre or the North, they have their own specific geographical features, in terms of relief, climate, vegetation, people and cultures," she stressed.
Therefore, she stressed, clearing scrub should not only depend on the calendar and not be done "at random", and "this particularity must be internalised", with the need to "rethink the territory, redesign, reorganise" and insist on the vision of urban and rural areas.
"We can no longer think about urban planning without thinking about the river basins that cross these cities, because there is no other way to think," she stressed, insisting on the importance of "thinking carefully about the land."
While conceding that "there are many interests," the expert countered that what is at stake is "the common good" of the forest, the soil, and the water, which everyone must understand.
"What I think is missing in Portugal is a spirit of common good. Think carefully, and that is why we have a country like the one we have," she concluded.
LFS/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
