The National Association of Forestry, Agricultural and Environmental Companies (ANEFA) says that, regardless of the extension of the period for clearing forest land, this year there was less demand from the owners for these works and, therefore, it fears “major catastrophes”.
"If you combine the factors observed in 2017, with regard to climate change, from all those peaks that arise from heat and wind, we will face major disasters this year, I have no doubts about that", said the president of ANEFA Pedro Serra Ramos, in declarations to Lusa news agency, considering that the clearing of forest lands is a "fundamental problem", which goes beyond the question of deadlines.
Regarding the demand for land clearing work, '2018 was clearly atypical', as a result of the large fires in 2017, but 'in 2019, there was less cleaning and in 2020 there was less cleaning, because people they don't have money”, said the representative of the forestry companies, stressing that this is a burden for the owners, with no impact on the economic profitability of the forest.
Compared to that registered in 2019, "this year the number of private individuals was clearly a much smaller number looking for companies to carry out this type of work", he revealed.
There are cases of landowners who engaged in clearing the land during the confinement period due to the Covid-19 pandemic: «we have some cases of landowners who last year had hired companies and this year they didn't, because they dealt with the matter themselves. », said Pedro Serra Ramos.
As for the demand by public owners, including municipalities, the official commented that "there are still public tenders to be launched", which makes it difficult to meet the deadline, because it is necessary to evaluate proposals and then choose who does the work.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that much of the forestry industry has sufficient 'stock' of wood in the factories, which means that there is a lot of wood that was ready to be cut and that was left uncut, which could 'have an impact on what are fires during the summer, during the hottest season», he warned.
In the context of the work of companies, there are problems associated with labor: "there is still a lack of professional resources", explained Pedro Serra Ramos, explaining that "many new companies are emerging", but that "they are not adequately prepared » to carry out these works.
In terms of prices, "there is some contradiction", with some situations of increase in values, particularly in the case of public tenders, and with new companies presenting, especially for private owners, "crushed prices with which companies that normally work in this area cannot compete».
Regarding the impact of the pandemic on the work of forestry companies, the director pointed out the difficulty in traveling outside the counties, in which «there was a ban on personnel vans on several occasions», and the increased costs in the implementation of safety standards against Covid -19, including the transport of workers and individual protection masks, which “forces companies to invest more in every job they do”.
On the extension of the deadline for clearing forest land, first from 15 March to 30 April and then to 31 May, following the exceptional and temporary measures relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, the representative underlined that “the problem is background and not properly related to the deadline for carrying out the work'.
The question is, above all, the way in which one seeks to «complete the problem of urban disorder with the obligation to carry out a cleaning that is in no way friendly to the environment or to the forest».
From the perspective of ANEFA, the legislation requires “cleaning that is not in line with the principles of biodiversity and sustainability”, which should have already been revised, in order to make the protection of peri-urban areas compatible with efficient and sustainable forest exploitation.
"As soon as we trace the areas that are forcing us to clean up around urban areas, maybe we'll come to the conclusion that we're going to lose a large part of the forest area in this country," warned Pedro Serra Ramos, adding that this area has an important meaning in the preservation of the sector.
Against the current clearing actions that "do nothing to help" forest management, the association proposes to find solutions so that the forest is more profitable and avoid situations of abandonment by the owners.
Asked about the possibility of a further extension of the deadline for land clearing, the representative said that it would be nonsense and could be "a high risk" as a result of weather conditions. This type of work, he recalled, "are prohibited at times when the risk of fire is high, so the work has to stop by law."
According to the law on the National System for the Defense of Forest Against Fire, after the deadline to ensure the management of forest fuel, which was extended until 31 May, the owners are subject to fines, in case of non-compliance, ranging from 280 and 120.000 euros.
Within the scope of Operation Safe Forest 2020, GNR has already identified 23.968 situations in non-compliance with land clearing.
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