Lisbon, June 2, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal will invest an average of €500 million per year in restoring nature by 2030, having identified restoration needs across all sectors, for which more than 400 measures are proposed.
The figures form part of the National Nature Restoration Plan (PNRN), which is being presented on Tuesday by the government and which sets out measures to restore terrestrial, marine, riverine, urban, agricultural and forest ecosystems.
With today’s presentation, Portugal is one of five European Union (EU) member states already in the final stages of drafting its PNRN, the government states in a press release.
In the PNRN document, to which Lusa had access, Portugal commits to planting three million trees a year by 2030, creating a network of nurseries for restoration, including municipal and private nurseries.
In terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, there are 260 square kilometres in need of restoration (0.3% of the country's area), according to the document.
The areas most in need of restoration are wetlands, river, lake, alluvial and riparian systems, and coastal and dune habitats.
According to the document to be presented today, there is a significant lack of knowledge regarding marine ecosystems, so restoration must be combined with mapping and assessment. There are almost 33,000 square kilometres whose condition is unknown.
In urban ecosystems, the aim is to reach 2030 without any net loss of green spaces and trees in cities and to start increasing them from then on, taking into account, in particular, rising temperatures and how they are felt in cities.
In an initial phase, as the government had already announced, Beja, Évora, Leiria, São João da Madeira and Vila Real will proceed with pilot projects in parks and green corridors, on green roofs and façades, in the planting of trees in streets and squares, and also in networks of climate shelters to protect people.
The PNRN also encompasses programmes already underway, such as PRO-RIOS, which aims to restore 1,500 kilometres of watercourses by 2030, including the removal of barriers.
It also covers the restoration of pollinator species and agricultural restoration, alongside a programme for the restoration of forests, and a support programme for the oak forest, which acts as a barrier against desertification.
In forest ecosystems, the PNRN proposes the restoration of 44,000 hectares by 2030.
Quoted in a press release, the minister for the environment and energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, says that the PNRN is, “more than an obligation” linked to concrete targets and deadlines, “an opportunity” that allows us to rethink land management “and place Portugal at the forefront of a new European environmental policy.”
According to the document to be presented, the PNRN is based on four guiding principles: restoring ecological functions, acting in a territorially differentiated manner, combining active restoration with adaptive management, and coordinating public policies and funding for stakeholders.
It includes 407 specific measures: 152 for terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecosystems, 84 for agricultural ecosystems, 83 for rivers, 28 for pollinators, 27 for marine ecosystems, 25 for forest ecosystems and 8 for urban ecosystems.
The PNRN, which is now open for public consultation for one month and is expected to be finalised by the end of August, is essential, says the government, for reversing biodiversity loss and for combating and adapting to climate change.
It is the result of almost two years’ work by various teams. The European Nature Restoration Law, the government also stresses, is one of the fundamental pillars of the development of the next multiannual financial framework (2028–2034).
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