On the eve of World Water Day on March 22, the European Environmental Bureau, Europe’s largest federation of environmental NGOs, together with Portuguese environmental groups Almargem, Aldeia, C O A G R E T - P o r t u g a l , Euronatura, FAPAS, FNCA, GEOTA, Grupo Flamingo, LPN, Quercus and SPEA sounded alarm bells in a letter to Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso over the Portuguese Government’s plans to build up to 12 new hydro power plants. While the Portuguese government claims the dams would reduce their dependence on fossil fuel-based energy, the environmental organisations argue that Portugal has many options for more costeffective and less damaging ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the NGO said in a statement. Eugenio Sequeira from LPN (Liga para a Proteccao da Natureza) said, “The Portuguese Government’s plans for 12 new dams are likely to heavily damage some of Portugal’s last stretches of natural river ecosystems, yet the Government’s impact assessment has failed to assess these ecological impacts and worse, did not even consider alternate solutions like solar and demand management.” The Portuguese Business Council for Sustainable Development has estimated that Portugal has the potential to save up to 40 percent of its current energy consumption through demand management.