Clean up, but do it right.

Saturday, 25th january 2025.

More beautiful. Bigger. Harder. Tighter. Smoother. Stronger. Do we still want more? There’s a new political party in Portugal that has put up signs on the motorway in the Algarve… Bitch-bitch, bitch-bitch. A wannabe clean man is depicted standing there like a hitchhiker and he probably wants a lift. At least that’s how I understand André Ventura. A clever chap, he rents an advertising billboard and happily makes a fool of himself. He’ll never get another chance like this. Is he in the government? No. His politics are nothing more than a marketing coup. What do you think?

Do you have to take everything you’re offered for free? Not necessarily. Thanks to this new neo-fascist party, we can now all drive on the motorway for free? Limpar Portugal – cleaning up Portugal? What is there to clean up in Portugal? The road? The parliament? The ministries? The forest? The MP André Ventura would be better off buying a broom and becoming a street sweeper…

When 85% of the cost of building the motorway was financed through EU subsidies, raised through the taxes paid by the citizens of the EU’s then 28 member states, including the UK, the Portuguese government was obliged to sign an agreement stating the conditions under which it would receive the financial subsidies. And it would only receive this money if it did not charge tolls. This decree was in fact illegal. The awarding of the concession for building the motorway to the company BRISA was also illegal. This agreement will cost the government dearly. So who will cast the first stone? Chega? That’s certainly “Enough”!

I’d rather travel on the EN 125 or take the train. At least then I know that I don’t have to say thank you to a neo-fascist party. What I still demand in the midst of this whole business is a legally binding judgement issued by the highest court in the land that provides definitive clarity. I want a law stating that the tolls which the government has taken from our wallets must be paid back.

Speaking of wallets.  What do you think will work out cheaper for us? Portugal riddled with forest fires caused by eucalyptus monocultures or an intact, well-tended mixed forest without any fires? Follow the money trail. Eucalyptus monocultures don’t just fall from the sky. Machines have worked the soil, and millions of seedlings have been planted in rows over the past 30 to 50 years. The boom began in the mid-1970s. In this way, the diverse forest that had previously existed in the Monchique mountains was transformed into a green monoculture for the paper industry.

After eight years of growth, eucalyptus is ‘harvested’ with a chainsaw, i.e. the tree is felled and cut into logs that will be loaded onto a lorry and transported from Monchique to Setúbal, for example. There, the eucalyptus is industrially processed in order to make paper. Always resulting in a dreadful smell. People say that money doesn’t stink. But that is not true. Paper production stinks to high heaven, at least in Setúbal.

Eucalyptus is a fast-growing tree, in contrast to the cork-oak, chestnut, carob and almond trees. So, if it grows quickly, it needs a lot of water. Do you see what I’m getting at? If you start growing eucalyptus on a large scale, don’t be surprised if the soil, streams and springs all dry up. Water resources are not infinite…

And eucalyptus has a high calorific value: the plant converts water into essential oils, and the forester doesn’t even get his hands dirty at work. Once it has been felled after eight years, the eucalyptus tree will sprout and grow back again on its own. Free of charge.

The tax revenue that the Portuguese government receives from paper production and its export is several times higher than the amount that it spends on civil defence in the event of forest fires. If you do the maths on the tax revenue from the paper industry, it would seem that forest fires are readily accepted. That is the real scandal.

Incidentally, the damage is again supported by … the citizens. Their forest burns, their houses burn, their animals burn… The government, regardless of its political colour, accepts this situation without complaint. Anyone who lives in Portugal and invests (in something other than eucalyptus) is making a loss: whether they’re pouring their money into nature tourism or anything else. The sword of Damocles of forest fires haunts people who want to live in harmony with nature.

For this reason, Esgravatadouro, Cooperativa do Ambiente CRL, has installed a sprinkler system in its botanical garden in Caldas de Monchique in order to protect its diverse mixed forest from the next forest fire. Because, since 1991, we have had forest fires in Monchique, Silves and Aljezur, again and again, in 2003, in 2004, in 2016, and in 2018 and in 2023… Should this situation be allowed to continue?