As a result of the talks, from now on, among other new measures, the planting of eucalyptuses can only be done with prior approval from the State.
Thus far tacit agreement sufficed.
The Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture met on Tuesday at around 4pm to discuss the proposed bills put forward by the government, in a bid to achieve resolution before parliament breaks up for its customary annual summer holidays.
During the mammoth talks, which finished at around 7am the following morning, with an hour’s break for dinner, the majority of the bills proposed were approved and have been forwarded on to plenary for final and global approval.
Newspaper Diário de Notícias (DN) states forestry reform is a dossier that the Prime Minister gave “absolute priority” to, demanding parliamentary consensus, a stance backed by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who said at the end of June that he wanted a series of reforms approved before parliament’s summer recess.
This push comes following the Pedrógão Grande fire, in central Portugal, which ignited on 17 June and saw 64 people perish and a further 200 injured, as well as causing extensive material damage.
On the table were four key proposals: to change the legal regime applicable to afforestation and reforestation actions; to create a Land Bank; to change the Forest Fire Defence System; and to create a simplified cadastral information system.
Within the first proposal, to change the legal regime applicable to afforestation and reforestation actions – one of the more controversial subjects on which there has been most disagreement among left-of-centre parties – the Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture approved that “all forestry actions involving eucalyptus are subject to prior project design and authorisation by the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF)”, with the previously-required “tacit agreement” being dropped.
Within the scope of creating a simplified registry system, it was approved that “the procedure of identification, registration and listing of a building without a known owner comprises the following phases: a) Identification of the building without known owner; B) Publicising the building identified as having no known owner; C) Provisional registration and listing in the land registry of the building identified as having no known owner.”
Another seven bills regarding forestry reforms have already been approved in Parliament.
Earlier this week, Portugal’s Socialist government, in negotiations with the Left Block and the Communist Party - which form part of its support base in parliament – conceded the idea of including a phased reduction in the area on which eucalyptus is planted over the next five years, in its bill discussed on Tuesday.
According to Lusa News Agency, in the first year the legislation is in effect, the area assigned to new plantations of the species may be equivalent to the area taken out of circulation, in a ratio of one to one.
In the following year, the ratio would be just 0.9, falling over the next four years to 0.5.
“Despite the reduction in the area, production in terms of the national total may not diminish, given that it will be a matter of substituting less fertile land with terrain in areas with greater production potential”, a government official told Lusa.
The widespread planting of eucalyptus in recent decades is seen by many as a contributory factor to the increase in the area of forest destroyed by fires in recent years, along with the dispersed ownership of forested land in Portugal.
However, the species is favoured by the country’s large pulp and paper industry because it is fast-growing.
Almost half of Portugal’s forested area is blanketed with eucalyptus trees, and is possibly the most eucalyptus-dense country in Europe.
However, these trees are widely viewed as fire hazards as their oily leaves and bark are highly flammable.