The Areas of Integrated Landscape Management (AIGP), supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), envisioned the possibility of managing the entire defined area, including lands where owners were unknown. However, the legislation was not finalized, according to the Secretary of State for Forests, Rui Ladeira, who spoke to journalists today at the presentation of the AIGP operation in Alva, Vila Nova de Poiares, Coimbra district.
“These are complex matters, and our expectation was that all legislation would be finalized and even approved in the Assembly of the Republic so that, when we went to the field, all managing entities would have the conditions to intervene. Naturally, involving the owners, but where the owner was unknown, there could be a mechanism that would allow intervention and implementation of the management and landscape reorganization plan,” he explained when questioned by Lusa agency.
Despite this, Rui Ladeira noted that the project has “positive, very good things” and that the Government intends to execute the planned AIGPs. However, he admitted that it would be unlikely to execute any of the areas at 100%, as it would be difficult to identify all landowners in the covered areas (in the case of AIGP Alva, about 60% of the lands are identified, in a total area of more than 400 hectares).
According to the Secretary of State, “there is no legislation produced” that allows for this forced leasing, as envisioned in the AIGPs. Given the need to execute the first phase of these projects by 2026, there would not be enough time for the Government to produce the necessary legislation.
With only 12 operations approved, the Government aims to reach October with 62 AIGPs established and contracted. To achieve this, they are creating a multidisciplinary team with various specialists to ensure the progress of each project.
“The demand on this multidisciplinary government team will be brutal, to ensure the allocation of resources that are crucial and important for the territories. We want it to be executed,” he emphasized.
Rui Ladeira also stressed that if execution appears low and expectations arise that it will not be possible to meet the deadline stipulated by the PRR, the Government will “quickly act” and reprogram investments “to areas that are identified as strategic.”
