Ecosystem Services in Spatial Planning Instruments. The case of Mafra´s future Master Plan of 3th generation

Abstract

In an era where the loss of biodiversity is a threat to both territories and humanity, it is urgent to promote measures that minimize negative impacts. In recent years, Portuguese spatial planning has undergone transformations, both in urban planning law and in environmental law, reflecting an evolution in the integration of international and European legislation into national legal frameworks.
The evolution of legislation concerning spatial planning, urban development, and environmental policy, will have an impact on the application of special planning instruments (IGT) at national, regional, and municipal levels, and it can be possible to draw lessons for the future, which can improve the effectiveness of public policies for spatial planning and urbanism.
In this sense, the regulation, in the broad sense, of biodiversity loss can be equated from the delimitation of ecosystem services and their integration as essential elements in the definition of sustainability and environmental protection zones and in the future in the redefinition of urban areas, within the scope of the development the IGT.
In fact, the development of IGT will require the consumption of the soil resource, as well as the adaptation of areas to suppress human needs for urban development and economic activities, which integrate ecosystem services.
This article aims to contribute to a comprehensive reflection on the governance and regulation, in the broad sense, of biodiversity loss, through the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), evaluating possible methodologies for the enhancement of sustainability and environmental protection zones, in the specific case of the future 3rd generation Mafra PDM, or the creation of specific ecological restoration projects.