'A new EU Forest Strategy: for forests and the forest sector'

Introduction: the EU Forest Strategy

In 2013, the Communication ‘A new Forest Strategy: for forests and the forest-based sector’ (‘the Strategy’) set a new EU framework to coordinate and ensure coherence in forest-related policies and enhance the contribution of forests and the forest-based sector to EU objectives. Sustainable forest management (SFM), the multifunctional role of forests, resource efficiency and global forest responsibility are its guiding principles.

An €80 million investment putting sustainability at the top of the agenda and including a wellness hotel, low-density lodges and areas for detached homes will be set within an estate on the Guadiana River.

For years the EN125 has been a dangerous road. It's already the road to death! For years there was a project to repair and upgrade it. The A22 motorway across the Algarve was built using EU-funds and was never meant to be sold off but a foreign fund now owns the concession.

A minister said maintaining the EN125 by using a contractor friendly to PS+PSD, is expensive. If they did as in Germany, where maintenance is paid by the state but controlled by the Councils, it would cost half.

Use of PV can reduce diesel consumption in energy-intensive cultivation in southern Europe, writes Pilar Sánchez Molina from PV Magazine.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese scientists have published a study about energy consumption and the environmental footprint of the use of solar-hybrid irrigation systems in olive plantations in Portugal and Morocco.

It is now five months since the Câmara Municipal de Lagoa (CML) referred the matter of Alagoas Brancas to the government bodies, APA and ICNF following a public consultation process initiated by the Câmara in April.

To date, there has been no further official communication from either the local or national government.

Folha Verde - Natural Education and Community Project

After the devastating wildfires that struck a large region of Central Portugal in October 2017, the community in the mountains surrounding Benfeita transform an old traditional Olive press building into a community and education center to rise from the ashes again.

Saturday 8th September was a day of global action in over 80 countries, to exert pressure on governments to act with urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change. This action, led by Rise for Climate, aims to flip the balance of power between civil society and politicians.

Saturday`s marches in cities all over the world will precede the Global Climate Action Summit opening in San Francisco on 12th September. The Governor of California, Jerry Brown, who is backing the summit, has said “we have to do something, and we can do it.”

Portuguese environmental organisation, ZERO, wants to halt the sale of the Herdade da Comporta Estate, once referred to as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the Espírito Santo clan and take its 12,500 hectares into State ownership.

The directors of the fund that manages Herdade da Comporta is scheduled to meet on July 27th to look at current offers for the estate but ZERO has expressed serious doubts about any hasty sale of the property.