Without protected areas, today there would probably no longer exist a Ria Formosa as we know it and the Costa Alentejana would be a «new Algarve». This is the opinion of landscape architect Miguel Jerónimo, member of the board of the environmental association GEOTA – Spatial Planning and Environment Study Group, in an interview with Fumaça.
However, the action of protected areas is limited, believes Miguel Jerónimo. “The only resources that protected areas have is, eventually, to issue fines; make it more difficult for an investor to use certain unsustainable practices. But they keep happening».
In this interview, the GEOTA member misses on the current legislature's forest reform, nature conservation and protected area management.
In a search on the website of the Diário da República, looking for the words “slaughter of cork oaks”, during this legislature, it is possible to see that the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, jointly or separately, authorized the slaughter of at least 13.179 holm oaks and 4.321 cork oaks – more than 70% adult trees.
There is a clear fact: eight of the 13 slaughters were authorized for the construction or expansion of dams; another three for expansion of manufacturing units or industrial parks. Both holm oaks and cork oaks are protected species.
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