DEADLINE FOR CLEARING FOREST LAND EXTENDED TO JUNE 15

The government has extended by another 15 days, until June 15, 2025, the deadline for owners to clear forest and agricultural land around buildings and infrastructures, as requested by the sector´s associations. And he called on the owners of the respective land to clear it “as soon as possible”, but taking into account safety conditions.

The decision was taken after consultation with AGIF - the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires, the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), the National Republican Guard, the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere and Infraestruturas de Portugal.

“However, the weather conditions of recent months have limited the periods available for carrying out fuel management work, also creating conditions for greater net primary production of ecosystems, with the consequent greater accumulation of fuel,” the order now published states.

However, the government added, “the danger of rural fire forecast until the end of the initially defined period, May 31, conditions, in a large part of the national territory, the carrying out of work and other fuel management activities”.

In addition, “the extension of the deadline under analysis is also subject to the constraints determined by Decree-Law 82/2021, of October 13,” in “municipalities where there is a ‘very high’ or ‘maximum’ level of rural fire danger.”


How can land be cleared?

Owners with land less than 50 meters from residential buildings or economic activities will have to carry out fuel management in a strip 50 meters wide in forest territories, or 10 meters wide in agricultural territories.

Between February 16 and April 30, the GNR, as part of the Safe Forest Campaign 2025, aimed at preventing forest fires, flagged “10,417 plots of land that could be in breach due to lack of fuel management,” said the security force´s communications division.

Fuel management aims to reduce plant and woody material in order to hinder the spread and intensity of fire around homes and settlements in rural areas, with most of the alerts coming from the districts of Leiria (2,606), Bragança (1,162), Santarém (941), Coimbra (818) and Viseu (798).






Source: https://www.idealista.pt/