The Portuguese Government takes the initiative in the integration of resin workers in the monitoring and detection of forest fires
03 Jun 2019 2:50 PM
  • incendios
  • Resipinus
  • ICNF
  • Portugal
Alt

On 29 May, a protocol was signed between Resipinus (the Portuguese Association of Resin Distillers and Exploiters) and the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, for the financial support and inclusion of resin producers in the monitoring and detection of forest fires in the 2019/2020 season. This protocol also supports the acquisition of small intervention kits to deal with fire and collaboration in subsequent actions. The protocol was signed in the presence of João de Freitas, Secretary of State for Forests of Portugal and João Lobo, Mayor of Proença-a-a-Nova, taking advantage of the International Conference "Resinero harvesting: Forests with a future", which took place between 29 and 31 May 2019 in the Municipality of Proença-a-Nova (Portugal) within the framework of the Sust Forest Plus project, a transnational initiative by the Interreg Sudoe Programme through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

This protocol is the continuation of a proposal presented and worked for several years by Resipinus, with the aim of promoting and framing principles of productive prevention in resinous territories. The basis of this proposal is the creation of conditions so that, with due support, training and supervision, resin workers, in addition to their resin extraction activity, can effectively be an integral part of the solution to the enormous scourge of forest fires. This protocol is a first step that we hope will evolve in the future to achieve these objectives in order to create what we could call "resin zapadores", making effective the integration of this activity in forest management and taking advantage of and putting into practice the contribution that this activity can and should make to the rural development of pine forest territories.

The use of this innovative working scheme combining productive activity with the protection of forest masses could be applied to thousands of hectares of resin forests in southern Europe that are currently increasingly suffering the impact of fire, which would make it possible to gain in efficiency and resources in the fight against forest fires.

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