Oliveira do Hospital, Portugal, Aug. 20, 2025 (Lusa) - The president and administrator of the BLC3 Association said on Wednesday that the fight against fires begins with prevention and suggested the creation of a land market, agricultural reception areas and a stimulus tax system.
"Real prevention will take more than ten years to start producing results. It's necessary to take advantage of the Bupi platform so that it's possible to contact owners and encourage the creation of a land market with a transaction value of less than €0.50 per square metre and penalisation of sales above this value in IMT [Municipal Tax on the Transfer of Property] and IS [Stamp Duty], and strong penalties for undeclared sales," said João Nunes.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the head of the BLC3 - Campus de Tecnologia e Inovação Association, based in Oliveira do Hospital, in the district of Coimbra, explained that this land market should be aware that investing more than €0.50 per square metre in agriculture and forestry "makes the payback time very long".
"This leads to a lack of interest on the part of the landowner, particularly when that time is longer than the fire cycle, which is usually seven to eight years," he warned.
According to João Nunes, a system of taxes should also be created to encourage land use, depending on the degree of fire risk and soil health.
"It doesn't make sense for those who look after the land properly to pay the same IMI [Municipal Property Tax] as those who have everything abandoned and have the same income tax benefit (none). We should create a tiered IMI, monitored annually via satellite, and a system for deducting investment and maintenance costs for ecosystems from the income tax," he said.
Consideration should also be given to creating agricultural reception areas, located on the perimeters of inland villages and towns, "where two major investments are avoided".
"The purchase of land and allowing 20-year farming programmes, with minimum areas per plot of three to ten hectares, to allow for different types of crops, and with a system of shared services: water management, technical support and the use of tractors and implements," he added.
According to the head of the BLC3 innovation centre, which develops more drought-resistant pine trees, attention should also be paid to the responsible exploitation and use of eucalyptus plantation ecosystems.
"There should be a professional licence for those who want to plant eucalyptus and social responsibility insurance. Eucalyptus trees should not be allowed to be planted in mountainous areas with slopes of more than 25% to 30%," he said.
His suggestions also include the creation of a programme for the discontinuation of mono-forest eucalyptus and maritime pine in 10% of the territory of central and northern Portugal, creating ecological strips to be managed by the private sector or by the state (via the municipality) in the absence of private interest.
CMM/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
