APCOR says the “short-term damage will be difficult to offset”.
The Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) on Tuesday expressed “deep concern” about the felling of more than 1,800 cork oaks to build the Morgavel Wind Farm in Sines.
“The decision to authorize the felling of 1,821 cork oaks causes great concern among the agents of the sector, due to the direct and indirect impact it will have on the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina, but above all because the short-term damage will be difficult to compensate for as they are adult trees”, can be read in a statement released this Tuesday.
APCOR stresses that the concern is aggravated by the fact that this decision will increase the number of cork oaks felled, which since 2011 has reached 35 thousand.
The association guarantees that it has been alerting the Government to this problem, asking “that possible balances or alternatives between the construction of the infrastructure and the preservation of these cork oak stands be evaluated, thus being able to reverse the decision now taken”.
The statement also quotes the secretary general of APCOR, João Rui Ferreira, who recalls the “assumed national objective” of preserving the cork oak as a national symbol, since this aligns “with the national strategy of carbon neutrality, biodiversity conservation, preservation of native species, combating desertification”. These are reasons, he says, “for the surprise and concern of this decision”.
APCOR recalls that, in 2022, Portugal strengthened its position as world leader in the transformation and export of cork products, “reaching historic export figures to more than 100 countries, for a total value exceeding 1,200 million euros”. In the first half of this year, “a new record for the value of exports” was exceeded.
The Government justified the authorization of the felling with the “essential public utility of the Morgavel Wind Farm and the 400 kV power line interconnecting to the Sines substation”.
Following criticism, EDP Renováveis said that the compensation plan for the felling of cork oaks at the Morgavel wind farm provides for the planting of around 42,000 trees and shrubs, including 30,000 cork oaks.
