The last funds of the Community Support Framework (CSF) 2007/13, managed by the Proder program, continue to be allocated and will also contribute to afforestation projects.
The Algarve was not left out and submitted more than two dozen applications for European funds for afforestation projects, part of which, in the burned area of Serra do Caldeirão, in 2012.
The announcement was made by the minister of Agriculture Assunção Cristas, on the sidelines of a visit she made to areas burned in the fire that destroyed around 26 thousand hectares of forest and bush, in the municipalities of Tavira and São Brás de Alportel, in 2012.
“In the transitional regulation [of the Proder], a one-week application period for forestry measures has just been opened and 26 projects from the Algarve have entered. In total, there were 1247 projects, with an associated investment amount of 168 million euros”, revealed the minister, figures that “reveal the dynamics” of this sector in Portugal.
Within the scope of Proder, which ran from 2007 to 2013 (it can run until 2015), many projects have been supported so far in this area. In the case of Tavira and São Brás de Alportel, in the case of post-fire emergency measures, there were several interventions “supported at 100%”, in addition to others that have “a very significant contribution” from community funds.
So far, in addition to post-fire stabilization measures, 700 hectares of the burned zone have been reforested, with cork oaks and strawberry trees, projects fully supported by Proder. “I don't have the right number, but it will certainly be several million. I saw several plaques and, on one of them, I distinctly remember seeing an intervention budgeted at XNUMX euros,” said Assunção Cristas.
The minister added that the objective remains to replant five thousand hectares of forest stands. “I remember that five thousand hectares of settlements burned. The rest was, essentially, bushes», he assured.
From 2016 onwards, community support for the reforestation of burnt areas will exclusively form part of the 2020 Rural Development Plan, which is awaiting approval in Brussels.
«There will be increases for interventions made through ZIF or Forest Producers' Organizations, valuing what is done integrated by groups of producers. It will also include other important measures, such as advice on forest management and for innovation measures.
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