A thread to cover some of the major - and I mean seriously, shockingly major - gaps, mistakes and problems with the #environmental impact assessment for Montijo airport in #Portugal.

First up: no #fieldwork. AT ALL. 1/ That's right – the EIA of a major international #airport proposed for the country’s most important #wetland site for #bird #conservation didn’t bother to actually count any #birds.

Instead, they depended on studies already published for other reasons.

How did that work out? 2/

Revealing & important article in today’s @expresso on political interference in the approval of Montijo airport:
“Montijo airport was approved despite thumbs down from technical staff”

Thread to translate the main points 1/11

leitor.expresso.pt/semanario/sema… Technical staff at #ICNF (Institute for Conservation of Nature & Forests, part of @govpt) told bosses to reject the application, early in the evaluation.

“The project will have significant, permanent & irreversible negative impacts on the avifauna of the estuary.” 2/11