Eco123 Revista da Economia e Ecologia
by Uwe Heitkamp
We meet Professor Emeritus Domingos Xavier Veigas of CEIF, the Centro de Estudos sobre Incêndios Florestais at the University of Coimbra in Lisbon during a press conference with Greenpeace. Now he may join the club – he is not working any more for the government. He works as a consultant for the EU.
When, more than half a lifetime ago, I decided to make Monchique the center of my life, it was probably a serious mistake. You never realize these things until much later. I didn’t realize it until I got older. When I moved here in 1990, Monchique still had about 12,500 residents and a traditional forest. Today, in 2026, the mountain village — along with its two neighboring villages, Alferce and Marmelete — has fewer than 5,000 residents. Many young people turned their backs on their hometown after the wildfires. Old friends died. Foreign residents involved in nature tourism sold their homes over the years and moved from Monchique to Lagos on the coast, where fires were virtually nonexistent.
In contrast, there is the municipality of São Brás de Alportel on the other side of the Algarve. Back in 1990, just over 7,000 people lived there; today, there are 15,500 people who enjoy living there and – indeed, enjoy working there too – and the trend is upwards. Mayor Marlene Guerreiro points out in press conferences that São Brás de Alportel is thriving. There are many reasons for this.
It certainly has something to do with the fact that in São Brás de Alportel it is much easier to find a well-paid job, a flat and all the facilities needed to start a family, particularly nurseries and schools. The risk of living in São Brás de Alportel and not finding peace of mind is far lower than in the mountains of Monchique.
This may have something to do with the ‘casino mentality’ of its inhabitants and the various local councils. Whilst in Monchique 80 per cent of the mixed woodland was cleared between 1990 and 2020 and replaced by highly flammable eucalyptus forests, in São Brás de Alportel everything remained the same: the various mayors have preserved their cork oak forests and the raw material cork from 1990 to the present day. Over the centuries, cork has been used to seal wine and sparkling wine bottles, as well as for insulating houses; even in the fashion industry, cork is still used time and again today. In Monchique, many residents preferred to make a quick profit by growing and selling eucalyptus. None of the arguments raised against eucalyptus in the debate were heeded.
Eucalyptus is a fast-growing tree species. Every eight years, the trunk of the eucalyptus tree is felled and harvested, and then sold to the paper mill. The people of São Brás de Alportel still have reservations about this today. Eucalyptus regrows on its own, which does save on labour. But eucalyptus is one of the most invasive tree species; once planted, it is impossible to get rid of. Even after a forest fire, the tree regrows on its own. And we’re not talking about a single tree here, but kilometres of forestry monocultures. There was resentment in many communities in the Sotavento, in the east of the Algarve, including São Brás de Alportel.
Go for a walk. On the GR 13, the Via Algarviana, you start your hike in Alcoutim and head to Balurcos, then on to Furnazinhas, Vaqueiros, Cachopo, Feiteira and Barranco do Velho. From there, you head to Cortelha via Salir and on to Alte.
What is the point of such a long-distance hike? What is its purpose? It serves as research for the journalist and would do the professor from Coimbra some good in his ivory tower of academia. Along the entire route of more than 150 km, I cannot find a single eucalyptus forest. The monocultures begin at Silves and seem to go on forever – in Monchique, in Marmelete, in Aljezur – whilst I continue along the Via Algarviana and walk the second 150 km to the South West Cape.
An attempt at an explanation
Monchique. This is where the large-scale transformation of the traditional forests began, and then the first fire broke out in the eucalyptus plantation, for the first time in 1991. Twelve years passed, and then there were fires again in 2003, in 2004, in 2016, 2018 and so on. The destruction of the remaining forests in Monchique, Silves, Portimão, Lagos, Aljezur and Odemira (in south-western Portugal) has continued unabated to this day. The residents feel as though they are living on a powder keg that could explode at any moment, as the risk of a forest fire goes hand in hand with the vast expanse of combustible and highly flammable woodland. And every now and then, someone plays with the matches.
Just as happened in 2025 in the freguesia of Bordeira. A farmer wanted to set fire to his green waste – the compost – to reduce the volume of organic matter. He reported the fire to the fire brigade by telephone, as required. However, the fire brigade advised him against setting the pile alight, as the wind coming in from the sea was set to pick up in the afternoon. ‘I’m the one in charge here,’ the farmer retorted, ignoring the authorities’ concerns. He sets the compost alight. The fire gets out of control. As a result, the inferno spreads for kilometres as far as Barão São João, setting the entire region ablaze. A small fire turns into a full-blown forest fire that cannot be extinguished for eight days, despite the massive efforts of hundreds of firefighters from across the country. Such fires happen time and again, everywhere from the north through the centre to the south of Portugal, because people are unable to assess the dangers of fire and a small blaze can easily get out of control.
It then burns for days on end, with fire-fighting aircraft operating from the air because the fire brigades cannot gain access to the wilderness. And so the fire eats its way kilometres across the countryside, destroying, amongst other things, the Mata Nacional with its precious tree plantations. One square kilometre of forest in flames is responsible for the emission of 20,000 tonnes of CO₂. Climate change?
Last week, Greenpeace presented a long-awaited analysis, which it had produced in collaboration with the University of Coimbra and which ECO123 does not wish to withhold from its readers. The report was authored by Professor Emeritus Domingos Xavier Veigas of CEIF, the Centro de Estudos sobre Incêndios Florestais at the University of Coimbra. For the first time, all available data spanning a period of more than 80 years has been analysed and presented to the public at a press conference in Lisbon.
ECO123 is taking this report as an opportunity to run a three-part series on the topic of forest fires and the potential solutions proposed by Greenpeace.
When approaching this issue, one should bear in mind that Portugal is a country where ownership of forests and land is not always clearly defined in legal terms. Consequently, around 90 per cent of forest and agricultural land is owned by private individuals or companies; the state owns less than five per cent of forest land, whilst a further five per cent is managed by local communities under a mixed public-private system. The ownership structure in Portugal is unprecedented. In no other European country does the state have so little influence over the protection of its forests. This is because they do not belong to it.
Private landholdings are highly fragmented, meaning that their average size is very small and insufficient for profitable management; in some parts of the country, due to the division of land resulting from inheritance proceedings, the boundaries and ownership of some plots are not clearly defined. Consequently, the management of forest areas is neither particularly efficient nor uniform; larger plots in the south of Portugal or those owned by paper producers are better managed and tend to be less at risk of fire…
In Portugal, nine per cent of the country’s land area is covered by the national network of protected areas (including nature parks) (Florestas, 2025), and 21.2 per cent of the national territory is designated as part of the Natura 2000 network for the protection of biodiversity and the landscape (Directorate-General for the Environment, 2025). Portugal once boasted a rich biodiversity. This changed between 1990 and the present day due to the commercial exploitation of its forests. The transformation…
However, some species and habitats, particularly in marine areas, remain inadequately protected. Portugal has recently decided to designate further marine areas. Furthermore, Portugal must adopt management plans for the areas already designated, setting out site-specific conservation objectives and measures and providing the necessary technical, human and financial resources. This is merely lip service, as Greenpeace itself knows.
Wherever native forests comprising cork oaks, carob trees, stone pines, chestnut trees and traditional olive groves, amongst others, have been cleared and replaced with eucalyptus monocultures, ECO 123 has identified an area of around 10,000 km² within the national territory (excluding islands) totalling 90,000 km², the area of private monocultures planted with eucalyptus amounts to around 12 per cent. Traditional tree species are those that grow sustainably – trees that are well-adapted to the water scarcity in the south of the Iberian Peninsula – in contrast to invasive tree species such as eucalyptus (native to Australia) which, when planted along watercourses, consume water insatiably and deprive all other tree species of water. Their roots penetrate the soil quickly and deeply within a short time, and the trunks easily reach an average height of around two metres within two years. Impressive.
Monchique is known for its springs and water resources, and is famous for its mineral water from Caldas de Monchique, which has a pH of 9.5 and is alkaline. As recently as 30 years ago, the water was drawn to the surface from a depth of 300 metres; later, from a depth of 400 metres. By 2025, the depth had already reached 950 metres. By recognising the connections and asking the right questions – such as why the water table has dropped so significantly – one logically arrives at the point where, with due caution, one considers sustainable forestry that prioritises cork oaks and chestnut trees, knowing that these tree species are undemanding and help protect water reserves.
The Climate
Climate change in Portugal, with heatwaves and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, is no longer a rarity in summer. Despite heavy winter rainfall, in Monchique and the Western Algarve, meteorologists expect at least 50 to 60 days of rain during the winter months. Normally, this would replenish the water reserves and maintain a balance, were it not for the agricultural land used for growing tropical fruits – from avocados to mangoes (Lagos, Silves) – and for tree crops that draw water from the soil. What is still missing from the Greenpeace report, on closer examination, is a botanical perspective. For alongside the staples of forestry – the cultivation of eucalyptus, in the wake of the forest fires, another invasive tree species has taken root – one that Greenpeace appears to be ignoring – the Australian acacia, a pioneer plant that sows its own seeds into the ground where all traditional tree cultivation has been reduced to ashes: Acacias and mimosas are so invasive that even the ICNF has so far not dared to provide a detailed analysis – and thus guidance on how to combat these invasive tree species and how to get rid of them. For anyone who attempts to tackle an acacia or mimosa with a chainsaw has already lost. Within a very short time – within a year – these invasive tree species simply grow back and multiply by the thousands, without anyone having planted a single one.
The issue of forest fires must be completely reassessed, rewritten and, above all, re-examined in the context of nature as a whole. This is the first part of the new ECO123 Series 2026. In forthcoming issues, we will focus on the other, diverse aspects of our living environment. Forest fires are just one topic within the wider context of nature and its conservation, which we are trying to understand better. That is why, whilst a linear approach is useful when examining forest fires in Portugal over an 80-year timeline, it is not solution-oriented, as it requires a wide range of different scientific disciplines and Mechanisms are required to understand, slow down and reverse climate change…
Greenpeace Portugal petition: https://www.greenpeace.pt/como-ajudar/peticoes/incendios/
