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LPN slams forest fire prevention strategy
LPN, the Portuguese league for the protection of Nature, considers that “very little has been done” to prevent forest fires – and is heavily critical of the delay in going ahead with the classification of ownership of land and properties (finding out who is really responsible for keeping their estate/ property in good shape).
Edition 639 (12 Aug 2010), 
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“The fire issue should be taken seriously”, LPN’s Joaquim Sande Silva told Lusa news agency. The environmentalist said there should be a system created that punishes people who ignore country byelaws – particularly when it comes to lighting bonfires, burning stubble, setting off fireworks, dropping cigarettes or not cleaning land around rural dwellings.
Sande Silva was also very critical of the lack of intervention by local authorities and cooperatives, neither of which are “working on the ground. What we see is an almost galloping increase in the amount of combustible material” in and around rural properties, he adds.
“There are a number of areas that burned in 2003 and 2005 which have been left untended by the owners and which, in the meantime, have attracted a veritable blanket of combustible material”.
It’s hardly surprising therefore to hear of the huge number of fires all over the country over the last few (extremely hot) days. Forests in Portugal cover roughly 3.4 million hectares of land – almost 40 per cent of national territory.
