Two environmental and forestry organizations warned this Saturday of the “drastic reduction in public support” for the forest, which, they claim, puts forest management and the prevention of rural fires at risk.
The reduction is 44% and results from the Reprogramming of the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC) for Portugal 2023-2027, approved last Wednesday, explains the environmental association Zero and Centro Pinus, an association for the valorization of the forest of pine.
In a statement, the two associations explain that the measure of the Common Agricultural Policy that supports fire prevention suffered a funding cut of 50%, and they add that the same happened with the “measure that finances recovery after fires or forestation , as well as the main support for forestry investment.”
Specifically, they say, support for the forest increased from about 275 million euros to 153 million euros.
And the amount previously available, they point out, was already insufficient. The Pinus Center estimates that an investment of 548 million euros is needed for maritime pine alone.
“This cut occurred without the Ministry of Agriculture announcing or committing to compensation for the funds now lost through other funding sources,” the statement said.
The two associations also mention that the Ministry of Agriculture justifies the cuts with investments in the forest through the Recovery and Resilience Program (PRR) but they say that this instrument will support investment in around 140 thousand hectares, which represent 5% of the 3.3 million. of hectares classified as territories vulnerable to fires.
“When all the experts have warned of the need to increase forest management and the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF) also highlighted, in the last annual report, that intervention in the territory has not yet occurred at a sufficient spatial scale and asked to increase this scale, this political decision is completely incomprehensible and unacceptable, which will be reflected precisely in a reduction in the scale of forest management,” the associations say.
Source: Observadora
