Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 55/2018 approving the National Strategy for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity 2030 (ENCNB 2030).

The National Strategy for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity 2030 (ENCNB 2030) is a key instrument for pursuing environmental policy and responding to national and international responsibilities to reduce biodiversity loss. The context of the ENCNB 2030 is marked by three challenges that shape the environmental policy: a) decarbonisation of the economy, with a view to converge with the aim of fighting against climate change and reducing its global effect; b) circular economy, promoting a greater efficiency of the productive processes and of consumption, reducing the use of natural resources and their waste in the processes of consumption; c) valorization of the territory, adopting development models that are differentiated by the combination of unique National characteristics. The vision for ENCNB 2030 is built on the ambition and the dynamic logic that is intended to give it, which is intended: Achieving a good state of conservation of the natural heritage by 2050, based on the progressive appropriation of the design of biodiversity by society, through the recognition of its value, for the development of the country and in the pursuit of management models closer to those in the territory .
The instruments of agricultural, forestry, marine and tourism policies are fundamental for the implementation of measures aimed at the conservation of the natural heritage. The current model promotes the incentives to certain practices to be integrated in the respective sectors in order to have an effective articulation with the main axes of action. Taking into account the commitments made under the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, in particular as regards the implementation objectives and targets, the Strategic Plan of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the European Union Biodiversity Strategy, consolidate a document capable of serving as a reference for the challenges posed to the Portuguese Republic for the post-2020 period. In a logic of continuity, the principles adopted in Council of Ministers Resolution No. 152/2001 of 11 October are reinterpreted in the light of the current context, highlighting three strategic points: i) improve the state of conservation of natural heritage; ii) promote recognition of the value of natural heritage; and iii) foster the appropriation of natural values and biodiversity by society.
The ENCNB of 2001 version highlights the principles of high level of protection, sustainable use of biological resources, precaution, prevention, recovery, accountability, integration, subsidiarity, participation and international cooperation. Many of these principles have been integrated with different dynamics, into management cultures and practices, in a way that transverse the environmental domain itself. In this context, it is important to highlight the way in which the practices and instruments that have implemented the principles of precaution or prevention, as well as the formulation and pursuit of high protection objectives, have been disseminated.