Eco123 Revista da Economia e Ecologia
The solution must not ignore the reality.
31/10/2026 – 06/11/2026 by Uwe Heitkamp
Edition 43.2026
This campaign aims to finance the reforestation of at least 50 hectares of land spread across different parts of southern Europe (Portugal, Spain), wherever the land needs it most, at an estimated cost of €15,000 per hectare, including the forest protection system WetNet. (see https://www.wetnet.pt/en)
The funds raised through this campaign will be used for:
- Planting: species selection, land preparation, certified nursery stock and labour (45%)
- Monitoring and maintenance during the first five years, including the replacement of failed plantings (20%)
- Formalising the agreement with landowners and the payments linked to their involvement in the project (15%)
- Registering and certifying the projects with the CO2-Absorption Registry, Voluntary Carbon Market (10%)
- Protection and security measures – “WetNet” (10%)
Southern Europe is losing its forest. Every summer, wildfires spread faster than anything that nature can regenerate to replace what has been lost. With every burnt hectare, far more than trees are lost: biodiversity is lost; fertile soil is lost; the land’s capacity to sustain life is lost.
And these losses almost always happen in the same places: the rural areas of Portugal and Spain are becoming depopulated, with fewer and fewer people remaining to look after the land. Wildfires don’t just destroy the landscape; they also push out the people still managing to survive.
The new forest owner doesn’t act immediately on the recently burnt land: first of all, each area must be studied in order to determine when and how to intervene. The soil’s natural regeneration time is taken into account before planting native species – holm oaks, cork oaks, chestnuts, strawberry trees, willows and pines – to restore the biodiversity that the fire has taken from each ecosystem. Also considered are the habitat for wildlife, the creation of a refuge for species left without a home, while ensuring that the soil is able to sustain life again.
That’s why the new forest owner seeks to achieve a triple impact in every project: environmental, social and economic. Environmental, because every reforested hectare recovers biodiversity, captures carbon and will install the sprinkler system WetNet to protect the new forest. Social, because the landowner – often the last person still looking after that land – is involved from the start, and part of the benefit that is generated will stay in the village where the work takes place, giving a real economic reason not to leave. And economic, because, by being spread across different territories rather than being concentrated in one place, this model enables the landowner to work with companies seeking to commit to several areas of the country at once, sustaining the activity that makes it possible to repay this investment.
Crowd investment depends heavily on nature conditions. If the new forest burns in another fire, the investment ends in hot air. This is to be avoided at all costs.
The other way would just be to replant a forest with different tree species, taking care of nature and growing tree species to build a new diverse forest, because we can do it (we do not need a credit) and because we love it. Nature and climate will be very grateful in an investment for the future. We should plan this kind of project as an association or cooperative, making sure that we have enough staff around the clock to protect the new plantation against eventual forest fires.
Grants are available for this project through the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg: https://www.eib.org/en/indexand you can obtain more information fromhttps://goparity.com/ …
