The PAN (People-Animals-Nature) and the Left Block took positions on avocado planting in the Algarve. The PAN wants an urgent hearing from the Minister of Environment and Climate Action on an illegal project in Lagos, and the blocists defend that “condition the approval of new explorations of avocado, olive groves, almonds and other crops in intensive and super intensive regime environmental, landscape and human health criteria'.
André Silva's party submitted an application for the urgent hearing of Minister João Matos Fernandes, of the Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR) of the Algarve, of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), of the Nature Protection Service and the Environment (SEPNA) of the GNR, IGAMAOT and the Portuguese Environment Agency on an illegal plantation of avocados in Lagos.
At issue is an agricultural project for the production of avocados in an area of 128 hectares, developed by the company Frutineves, in the municipality of Lagos, implemented on the ground between June 2018 and August 2019.
According to the PAN, “in December 2018, an inspection was carried out, in the course of complaints presented by the Environmental Protection Nucleus of Portimão of the GNR's SEPNA, which resulted in a notification of an environmental infraction to Frutineves. On May 8, 2019, a new inspection action was carried out, with the existence of illegal preparation of the land for planting avocado trees in areas covered by REN that were not intervened in the last inspection action. concluded that Frutineves has not complied with the notification resulting from the first inspection action».
"We are faced with a situation in which the project promoter has not complied with the legal obligations and notifications from the authorities and in which, just one year after having illegally implemented the project, it presents an environmental impact study, legally required, in order to start the project, an act of distortion that reflects the dire state of agricultural and environmental policies in Portugal», says André Silva, deputy of the Parliamentary Group of the PAN.
In recent decades, according to the PAN, "the country has witnessed a profound change in the Algarve landscape, which has been subject to a growing conversion of traditional dryland crops into intensive plantations."
“The preservation of natural and environmental values, as well as the preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, must be above any economic interest. Taking into account the number of existing plants, it is estimated that underground water consumption exceeds 1 million liters of water per day, which is unsustainable, especially in periods of drought and taking into account that in the surrounding area there are other plantations and a field of golf», reinforces Margarida Maurício, PAN deputy in the Municipal Assembly of Lagos.
“The PAN has been aware of this situation for a long time. In September 2019, we accompanied the Citizens' Movement “Terra Healthy” on a visit to the site, where members of the CCDR Algarve and the GNR confirmed the embargo on the growth of the plantation in the REN area, despite not having authorization to stop the work that was being done. ongoing. We now know that, as a penalty for violating the embargo, the owner paid only 12 thousand euros! So the crime seems to pay off», concludes the municipal deputy.
As for the Left Block, it recommended the Government to "establish a moratorium regime, preventing the installation of new avocado, olive, almond and other crops in an intensive and super-intensive regime".
In addition, the blocists want “the approval of new explorations of avocado, olive groves, almonds and other crops in an intensive and super intensive regime to be made conditional on environmental, landscape and human health criteria, namely the preservation of water, soil and biodiversity , and the protection of the health of the inhabitants of the villages adjacent to the areas where this type of culture has been proliferating».
The BE also recommends that the Government “establishes that the planting or replanting of avocado, olive, almond and other crops in intensive and super intensive conditions in areas larger than 50 hectares or which, being smaller, are integrated in contiguous patches with dimension more than 50 hectares, is preceded by an environmental impact assessment'.
For the blocistas, it is also important to «create and implement, by the end of 2022, an action plan for the ecological transition of national agriculture».
Given the case of the Algarve, BE emphasizes that “intensive avocado farms are multiplying throughout the region, fostering export agribusiness”.
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