On the 23rd of September, an official national IMPEL network was established in Portugal. A Protocol of Cooperation was signed by the Portuguese Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Secretariat General from the Ministry of Environment, the Environmental Agency, the General Inspection for Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning, the Institute of Nature Conservation and Forests, the Regional Inspectorate for Environment from Azores and the Regional Direction for Spatial Planning and Environment of Madeira.
The Protocol intends to ensure the best possible representation in IMPEL activities and coordination among the relevant national authorities.
John Seager, Chair of IMPEL, said: “IMPEL congratulates the Portuguese authorities with this development. Signing the agreement clearly demonstrates Portugal’s commitment to IMPEL’s work. By doing so, they have set an excellent example of how to implement and promote our work at the national and regional levels and make the best use of our products. We consider this a good practice that we will promote to our other member countries as well.”
The aims of the agreement are to increase:
- The knowledge on the implementation of environmental legislation, and its dissemination;
- The cooperation and collaboration between public entities with responsibilities on the implementation of environmental legislation; and
- The practical and effective implementation of the knowledge acquired.
National IMPEL Conference
After the protocol was signed, the first national IMPEL conference in Portugal kicked off. Besides presentations and discussions on IMPEL projects, also a representative from the Spanish Environmental Inspection Network REDIA attended and shared the experiences from Spain. More information about this event can be found here, including the delivered presentations (information partly in English and partly in Portuguese).