Five environmental non-governmental organizations — GEOTA, LPN, Quercus, SPEA, and ZERO — welcome, in a statement, the decision of the South-Central Administrative Court that denied the appeal filed by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and by other interested-party entities in the Pisão Dam case, maintaining the provisional order of the precautionary measure that suspends the effectiveness of the Environmental Impact Assessment Declaration and the acts dependent on it.
According to the same source, this decision constitutes a landmark moment for the defense of the Environment, reinforcing the credibility of environmental assessment instruments and the precautionary principle. The Court understood that, at this stage, the provisional suspension must be maintained, preventing the progression of the works from producing concrete, serious, and potentially irreversible environmental damages before a final decision exists on the legality of the project.
The matter concerns the Crato Multi-Purpose Hydraulic Project, known as the Pisão Dam, an infrastructure presented as strategic for Alto Alentejo. The project’s execution raises significant concerns about its impacts on ecosystems, soils, water courses, natural habitats, oak habitats, and biodiversity, as well as about the adequacy of the assessment of alternatives and the weighting of its environmental effects.
The ruling now known confirms that the public interest invoked around an infrastructure cannot dispense with strict compliance with environmental legislation, nor disregard judicial scrutiny when there are serious risks to protected natural values and to the right to a healthy environment. The designation of a project as being of national public interest does not remove the obligation to assess, prevent, and avoid environmental damage, especially when such damage could become irreversible.
The signatory organizations underscore that this decision does not yet amount to a final ruling on the merits of the main action. It represents, however, an important confirmation that administrative justice must act preventively in cases where the continuation of works could create a fait accompli, hindering or making impossible the restoration of the environmental values affected.
They also reiterate the need to ensure that any decision regarding the future of Pisão Dam must fully respect environmental legislation, the principles of prevention and precaution, the transparency of impact assessments, and the effective protection of the environmental values of Alto Alentejo.
In a context of climate crisis, water scarcity, degradation of Mediterranean ecosystems, and increasing pressure on natural resources, public water policies and territorial development policies must be based on robust, transparent solutions that respect the ecological limits of the territories. Climate adaptation cannot be used to automatically justify new pressures on habitats, soils, and water systems; rather it should strengthen ecological resilience, water-use efficiency, ecosystem protection, and serious evaluation of alternatives.
This case demonstrates the importance of public participation mechanisms, the involvement of civil society organizations, and access to justice in environmental matters. The prevention of irreversible damage must prevail over the logic of a fait accompli, especially when large-scale projects, public funding, and lasting territorial impacts are at stake.
The five signatory environmental NGOs will continue to monitor this process and to advocate for a water policy oriented toward sustainability, territorial justice, ecosystem protection, and climate adaptation based on evidence, public participation, and respect for the environmental and ecological values of Alto Alentejo.
