The working meeting of the Evaluation Committee of the SustForest Plus project project, a transnational initiative by the Interreg Sudoe Programme through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), took place on 29 May 2019 within the framework of the International Conference: "Resinero exploitation: Forests with a future" held in the Portuguese municipality of Proença-a-Nova and brought together project partners from Portugal, Spain and France.
During this working session, an assessment was made of the different working groups created for the study of resin forests, focusing part of the effort on the creation of the European Resin Territories Network, on the Strategy for European Natural Resin, on the integration of resin activity in the Common Agricultural Policy, on the forest fire protection system, and on the development of a plan for the promotion of European natural resin as a sustainable product.
Another part of the work meeting was devoted to the development of strategic tools and technical and innovative solutions applied to the resination, in addition to the creation of a plan to improve the quality of work and sustainability.
The meeting of the Evaluation Committee was closed by João de Freitas, Secretary of State for Forests and Rural Development of Portugal, who stressed the importance of the protocol signed between the Instituto de Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF) y Resipinus, Associação dos Distiladores e Exploradores de Resina, which allows a hundred resiners to reconcile their activity in the forest with forest fire surveillance. Freitas stressed that this protocol is very important for Portugal and "the defense of our forests against forest fires" (...) "that the resin producers have an essential role to play in this protection because they are the guardians of this forest. Freitas added that these are small steps that contribute to the revitalisation of resin production in Portugal, but that the big step can be taken in the negotiation of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator