“There’s a lot of work to be done. We need to focus on urgent and high-risk projects, starting with soil retention to prevent landslides and water contamination,” said Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho today.
The minister spoke after a meeting held in Trancoso with local mayors to identify necessary emergency measures and review ongoing work by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).
“The APA is already working in various locations alongside the ICNF. I visited several projects this week. There’s a vast fire-affected area, involving critical rivers like the Douro, Mondego, and Tagus tributaries, requiring urgent action,” she stated.
It was decided at the Trancoso meeting to hold work sessions next week with APA and ICNF with plans and projects ready to commence immediately, the minister announced.
Carvalho noted that while no specific financial allocation has been set yet, these interventions must go ahead, “regardless of the financial allocation.”
“We must immediately identify the most urgent needs before accounting for available funds, opening contracts, and examining case by case with APA, ICNF, or Environmental Fund financing as needed,” she conveyed to the mayors.
The Environment and Energy Minister emphasized the need to quickly deploy municipal resources, Civil Protection, APA, and ICNF to begin planning and executing as rapidly as possible.
“We recognize we cannot address everything at once. We must identify what is most urgent and dangerous and prioritize those,” she asserted.
The bureaucratic burden of these processes will be reduced under a decree-law effective August 24, which streamlines procedures, the minister highlighted.
Carvalho acknowledged potential challenges such as shortages of companies, workforce, and technical support, emphasizing the need to focus on the most urgent, high-risk areas using all possible means to prevent ash from contaminating watercourses.
A program contract for areas affected by large fires, involving municipalities, APA, ICNF, and the Climate Agency, is slated for later.
These agreements will target urgent initiatives for roads, signage, removal of burnt material, nature restoration, and deploying technical resources for early fire detection.
“But we have a little more time for that contract,” the minister remarked.
