Speaking to journalists, Maria da Graça Carvalho emphasized that, personally, she does not favor cutting down any trees and urged investors to find locations for future projects that do not require tree cutting.
The minister noted that “there are several projects from the past deemed of national interest, where private investments were made, and therefore, the Portuguese State is a state of good standing,” with the Government upholding “all commitments that are on the table.”
“Now, what I say to future investors is to, by all means, try to find locations that do not require the felling of cork oak trees, because the number of projects and authorizations for felling cork oaks we receive here remains considerable,” she emphasized.
The minister pointed out that “there are many places in Portugal where there are no cork oak trees,” and thus encourages “an effort to find the most suitable locations also from an environmental point of view.”
Graça Carvalho highlighted that the Government considers it a priority “to increase the number of trees and forests in the country,” having recently launched a pact for the forest proposing “to substantially increase the number of trees in Portugal, both in forests and urban areas.”
The minister also noted that there are criteria from a previous government workgroup indicating under what conditions the felling of trees such as cork oaks can occur.
According to the minister, for each mature tree felled, the requirement is to plant five new trees, and for each young tree, three new trees.
“Therefore, an accounting must be done, compensation is required, and it needs to be monitored that this compensation occurs,” she said, emphasizing that “this control is indeed in place by the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.”
In a decree published on March 11 in the Diário da República, signed by the Minister for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Forests, the Government declared the construction of three solar parks (Corteses, Quinta do Vale, and São Fipo) as of “indispensable public utility” on a property known as Quinta do Vale, located in the parish of Ega, municipality of Condeixa-a-Nova, Coimbra district.
It was also mentioned that the company Anadia Green SA intends to install the three solar parks on a 12.31-hectare area of private land and has requested authorization to fell 1,070 cork oaks (970 young cork oaks and 100 mature cork oaks), with the agreement to plant about 7,400 trees of the same species in Marvão, in the Portalegre district.
