Portugal e o mar

Abstract

Oceans are critical to the humanity survival and well-being, so the opportunities enclosed are on our hands and they are a challenge to all of us. Far from now are the days when the sea separated countries and people – now it’s the sea that approaches them, giving power and competitiveness. It’s a fact that Portugal became prosper when it saw the sea was a way to go further. The goal of this work is to know and understand the reasons that led our country to the current situation. The importance of this issue, having in mind that Portugal has a privileged location in the Atlantic and an historical connection with the sea, leads us the main question. What are the opportunities and challenges that Portugal will have to face? The exploitation of marine resources is done in several areas since food to research through health, economy, renewable energy, biotechnology, industry, transport, tourism, ports, among others. The appropriate exploitation of these variety of resources requires a multidisciplinary approach and a careful management in order to create a sustainable future. Through a methodology based on literature reviewing, bibliographical research and analysis about the sea and its potentials, it was tried to show relevant arguments, highlighting the sea importance to the sustainable development and particularly to Portugal’s future. Despite conclusions are only brief notes of such a vast subject as it is the sea, we wanted to highlight the opportunities and challenges, which are at our disposal and let us dare to make Portugal’s growth and to believe in its prosperity.

Date of Award	17 Jul 2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandra Leitão (Supervisor)