Conservation areas of Portugal

The Protected areas of Portugal (Portuguese: Áreas protegidas de Portugal) are classified under a legal protection statue that allows for the adequate protection and maintenance of biodiversity, while providing services for ecosystem that maintains the natural and geological patrimony.

Protected areas are regulated by Decree-Law 142/2008 (24 July 2008), and can be classified by the national authority, or even by public or private institutions. The applicant is analyzed by the Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (Nature and Forest Conservancy Institute), while regional or local classifications can be completed by municipalities or groups of municipalities, under terms of Article 15.

The typical classifications that exists in Portugal are: national park, nature reserve, protected landscapes or natural monuments. Except for the national park designation, local or regional classifications can adopt whichever designation is appropriate, as long as they are accompanied by the "regional" or "local" qualifiers ("regional" when they involve more than one municipality and "local" when they only include one local authority. Decree-Law 142/2008 24 July 2008), also allows for the creation of Áreas Protegidas de estatuto privado (APP) (Private Protected Areas), based on the application of respective property-owners. A proposing candidate is governed by the ICNF, and regulated by ordinance 1181/2009, 7 October 2009. National protected areas (APs) and Private protected areas automatically pertain to the Rede Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (National Network of Protected Areas)); in the case of regional or local APs, their integration within this network are dependent on the evaluation of the national authority.

Scattered across the country, are various areas defined due to their European ecological interest, and have been classified within the context of the Nature 2000 network. Meanwhile, other areas fall within international nature conservation networks, such as Biogenetic Reserves (Council of Europe), Ramsar Sites (Ramsar Convention), Biosphere Reserves (MAB/UNESCO) and sites covered by the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO).

Areas classified as national parks encompass regions that represent natural regional characteristics that demonstrate a biodiversity of natural and human landscapes, as well as geosites with scientific, ecological or educational value. The classification of an area as a national park is influenced by the region's natural value, conserving the ecological integrity of the ecosystem, its constituent elements and ecological processes within that territory, and prevent intensive exploitation by adapting of compatible measures for the region's conservancy. Peneda-Gerês National Park is the only designated national park in Portugal; located in the northwest corner of the territory, it belongs to the PAN Parks network.

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