The first decree of the year from the Environmental Fund has already been published, outlining funding for emergency measures and support to aid the recovery of municipalities that suffered significant floods, obstructions of rivers and streams, or breaches in dikes, due to the winter weather, according to a statement released by the Office of the Minister for the Environment and Energy.
According to the same source, in this context, the Environmental Fund decree assumes an urgent character, rapidly mobilizing 35 million euros for municipalities and intermunicipal bodies affected to carry out emergency interventions, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of their environmental assets.
A second highlight is the funding of 13.6 million euros for the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) to undertake the restoration of the dikes of the Mondego, Lis, and Tagus rivers, and to enable it to take other measures of sustainable water management.
Payments in the area of waste and circular economy are also anticipated, providing 27 million euros immediately to municipalities, giving them cash on hand to face immediate expenses.
A second priority of the decree aims to ensure, also immediately, the funding of rural fire prevention actions in 2026, as provided for in the Integrated System for Rural Fire Management.
For this second priority, 61.6 million euros are reserved, intended to guarantee the protection of people, property, and ecosystems, namely for the operation and equipment of forestry firefighters who, in the service of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), will play a decisive role in clearing the debris that remained on the land after the storms.
For the Minister of the Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, “we visited the municipalities, spoke with the mayors and the population to define priorities” and redirected “funds, as quickly as possible, to help the municipalities recover from the effects of the storms.”
