The Government made the procedure used in responding to the fire that devastated 26 thousand hectares of forest and scrub in Serra do Caldeirão in July into law. A resolution of the Council of Ministers last week decrees that, in the future, in case of major fires, a personalized response will be given, like the one given in Tavira and São Brás de Alportel.
For the victims of this fire that occurred in the Algarve, the determination that “priority, within the scope of the Proder program, will have to be given to the analysis and decision of agricultural and forestry projects located in the areas most affected by the fires”.
At a time when there are only a few days to go before the deadline for applications for the extraordinary line opened by the European Union's Proder program for post-fire stabilization actions, there are already many victims who are starting to think about the future, namely about restoring the productive fabric.
A process that also goes through the EU's Low Density Areas Development Programme, but which depends on a more complicated validation process, carried out by the services of the Ministry of Agriculture. The survey of damages was carried out in the meantime, estimated at 10 million, and "a survey of the burned area by the ICNB and the Regional Forestry Directorate" has also been carried out, according to the mayor of São Brás de Alportel António Eusébio.
This resolution of the Council of Ministers does not bring news, as far as São Brás and Tavira are concerned, because, as you can see in the Diário da República in which it was published, it is the same text as the decree issued on 20 September past, signed by the Prime Minister.
"Since then, we have been working together with the Government" and many of the things that the new law stipulates have already been done, he said, including coordination with various ministries, damage assessment, payment of emergency social support and the creation of a post-fire stabilization hotline.
Haste is bad adviser in post-fire reforestation
After a catastrophe like the one that occurred in Serra do Caldeirão, people's will to recover what they have lost is natural, but this is not always advisable when we talk about forests, especially cork oak forests. In the view of the technician of the Serra do Caldeirão Forestry Producers Association (APFSC) Carla Cristo, when it comes to reforestation, you have to wait a little before investing.
The application period for the Proder line, which supports the replacement of the productive fabric, is always open, with victims depending on the formal recognition of this condition in order to access support, which has a 75% co-payment rate. But any project that includes the forest area must take into account the stabilization work that will be carried out and the natural regeneration that will occur, in some cases.
«In technical terms, it is not recommended to go ahead with the replacement in areas of Sobreiral. At least one or two cycles should be expected, as these trees often recover. In areas that previously only had forest, it will be worth investing,” said Carla Cristo.
In either case, you should always do Post-Fire Stabilization first, to figure out exactly what to do next. "Right now, we are very committed to the applications for stabilization, since the deadline is October 31", revealed the technician from APFSC. "But people interested in submitting candidacies for the replacement of the productive fabric have already appeared here," he added.
What is certain is that, once victims are recognized as such, they have a very long period to apply. “The victims of the fires of 204 can still apply today”, he explained.
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