Livre’s sole MP, Ruy Tavares, defended on Wednesday that in the current state of the nation “there is no time to waste” and warned that “there will be no favors for those who miss opportunities” while pushing for forestry reform.
In his intervention in the first round of the state-of-the-nation debate, Ruy Tavares made a concrete proposal within the framework of forest reform.
“Forest reform will only work if it is carried out from the point of view of who owns half a hectare of land. Livre wants to offer local eco-production associations, very simple associations, less rigid than cooperatives, which any owner can join and easily act as a government interlocutor,” he said.
For the MP and founder of Livre, this would be the best way for smallholders to cut costs and gain easier access to European subsidies by asking the government if it is ready to accompany this “bottom-up reform that will allow the population to help fight fires.”
In his response, the Prime Minister stated that the current legal framework “allows all kinds of associations between producers, between producers and municipalities for the management of common land.”
“Today everything is possible, there is a fact that is fundamental today: this is really forest accounting,” he said.
The prime minister emphasized that for historical reasons the forest register had never advanced above the north of Tahoe, “and even during the 48 hours of the dictatorship, there was no courage to move into the center and northern region.”
“I am not saying that it is easier to do this under a dictatorship than under a democracy, but what is being done today is historically very difficult,” he said.
António Costa agreed with the position of Rui Tavares regarding the benefits of the owners’ association.
“Until we understand that without association we will not achieve economic scale that creates value that motivates protection and pays what is needed to maintain the forest, we will not understand how forest reform is carried out,” he defended.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
