José Eduardo

José Eduardo, aged 55; mechanic, hunter and farmer

ECO123: What can we do to avoid forest fires in Portugal?
First and foremost is prevention, clearing the forests. I am not in disagreement with what is spent, including the military. That is all very useful but I think that a lot of money is spent on these things. The same amount of money should ensure that a lot of prevention work is done, clearing, and firebreaks, cutting wide strips of twenty or thirty metres of scrubland in small areas and, even if not in all of them, in properties. It would be one of the first preventive measures that could be taken.

Does the forest in Monchique help, with 76% eucalyptus?
Well, we know that eucalyptus is a tree that catches fire very easily. It would be good if they removed the dry branches at the bottom which could be used for biomass. When they cut the forests, 30, 40, 50, 100 hectares or more, what happens? When something catches there, it’s uncontrollable, no one can overpower a fire like that. As far as eucalyptus is concerned, we know that it is an economic issue for our municipality and, although I know that we have to live from eucalyptus, I am not a fan of this species. My children and my grandchildren will suffer the consequences of what the eucalyptus does. And I recall that, on my parents’ land, when we didn’t have eucalyptus, you could see that there was a lot of water. There is less water being exploited than in the past, when there wasn’t any exploitation. It goes somewhere. We know, but there are other businesses and interests here, unfortunately.