The Regional Government calculates on the International Day of Forests the trees that were planted in the mountains of Madeira, in the last 5 years. The objectives are: to make the forest more resilient to fires and floods, offering greater security to the population; increase water availability and maintain the identity of our landscape.
The Regional Government has already planted 522 hectares, the equivalent of 522 football fields, in the last 5 years, having introduced 37.8216 plants in this area, most of which are indigenous, with emphasis on Loureiro, Massaroco, Til, Faia das Ilhas, Urze, Uveira da Serra among others. At the moment, interventions are underway that aim to reforest another 178 hectares in three different areas and where another 27.4923 plants will be placed.
To these figures, which total public investment of more than 3.3 M €, are added 40,020 more plants, spread over 32 hectares, taking into account the projects already approved and which will be executed in the coming years.
In addition to afforestation in the areas of public management, the regional secretary for the Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Susana Prada recalls that «the Autonomous Region of Madeira also relies on private initiative, through projects approved under community programs, namely o PRODERAM, the majority of which are 100% reimbursed, and which already represent more than 23 million investments, already made or in the process of being made in the forest, in the last 5 years, with the purpose of recovering the forestry potential of the intervention areas » .
With this partnership between public and private management, the aim is to make a forest more resilient to fire through correct forest management, based on the cleaning of land, eradication and the planting of leafy and indigenous species.
These measures also help to prevent alluviums, since, as we know, vegetation stops soil erosion, in addition to contributing to increase water availability, increasing water collection and infiltration, namely through fog (hidden precipitation).
For all this afforestation work, the forest nurseries form the basis of the entire afforestation process, as they fill the need for plants inherent to the afforestation process. The adequate and rational production of plants in those spaces is, within the framework of a coherent forest policy, a basic pillar for its success. The production units under the responsibility of the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation, numbering five (Salons in Porto Santo, Pico das Pedras in Santana, Santa in Porto Moniz, Casa Velha in Santo da Serra and Matur in Machico), are spaces intended for the production of plants that will be used in afforestation and patchwork works, in the densification of already existing stands and in actions of ornamental utility.