National green fuel

There is nothing new about the rise in forest fires resulting from the predominance of eucalyptuses in Portuguese forests. However, ever since October, environmental organisations deem the situation has taken a turn for the worse due to the entry into effect of decree-law No. 96/2013 (1), the controversial legislation termed “The Eucalyptus Law”. This legislation allows for landowners to plant eucalyptuses on plots of less than five hectares without bothering to notify the national Institute of Nature and Forestry Conservation. In practice, this is swiftly driving an increase in this forestry type, which according to the non-governmental organisation Quercus, already prevails across the length and breadth of Portugal covering an area in excess of 700,000 hectares. Another of the alterations enacted by this law is the scope for freely reforesting areas of burned land with eucalyptus over areas of up to ten hectares. However, even in cases of larger areas, such authorisation becomes automatic whenever the public services do not respond within a 30-day period.

Introduced into Portugal in around 1830, the eucalyptus began expanding especially since the 1960s as a means of boosting earnings in the forestry sector. However, just what is its actual relationship with the propagation of forest fires? According to Eugénio Sequeira, spokesperson for the Nature Protection League, the eucalyptus, alongside pine, contributes to fires spreading due to the fact that so many of the plantations are badly managed. This means the lands are not cleaned and resulting in the build up of brush and undergrowth susceptible to feeding the fires. This lack of cleaning also extends to impeding the establishing of fire breaks and thereby hindering any subsequent fire fighting operations by the authorities. “Instead of spending 70 million every year, and this year that amount was even higher, in fighting fires, and 20 million on prevention, the government has to reverse those figures. However, the best form of prevention is the presence of agriculture and agricultural policies should prioritise irrigation” Eugénio Sequeira furthermore affirmed.

The concern expressed by various environmental organisations is that the above mentioned legislative change will only serve to worsen the rural exodus and abandoning of small holdings, leading their owners to plant eucalyptuses as a means of making an immediate gain and attainable without having to bother cleaning or caring for the land. Eugénio Sequeira also explained how eucalyptus plantations contribute to soil erosion and the loss of biodiversity, particularly in the wake of fires. When it then rains, the water and all the soil’s nutrients run off along the tracks made by the trucks transporting wood and thereby aggravating soil erosion. In fact, land owners would seem to be in favour of the law irrespective of its actual consequences and only environmental organisations stand up in opposition.

Having lost the plantations of Lusitanian oak in the 17th century and the bulk of its agricultural production in the 20th century, is Portugal once again on the verge of sacrificing a sustainable future on the altar of immediate returns?

About the author

Hugo Filipe Lopes:Has a degree in sociology and a post-graduate qualification in clinical nutrition from the Egas Moniz Faculty. Collaborates with a number of online publications, a trainer and nutritional therapist. Honourable mentions in the Casa da Imprensa and Lisboa à Letra competitions..