The Liberal Initiative Party (IL) asked the Minister of the Interior how the government uses algorithms to prevent and extinguish fires and whether the information obtained is used to declare a state of emergency.
In a letter signed by eight deputies of the party and addressed to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, but addressed to Patricia Gaspar, the party emphasizes that the area burnt in Portugal in 2022 is close to 100,000 hectares, thus being “the most country in Europe with the highest percentage of burned territory (about 1%), according to the European monitoring system Copernicus.
“It should be remembered, for example, that in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park alone, more than 25,000 hectares burned down,” they say in the party.
They point out that the Minister of the Interior recently mentioned, based on “research at the disposal of the Ministry,” that “algorithms say that the burned area (…) should be 30% larger.”
For the Liberal Initiative, this is “valuable scientific information” and it is important to clarify how the data of the algorithms is used, “and what predictions can be made on the basis of them in terms of planning and extinguishing fires.”
In eight questions, deputies want to know if the algorithms were developed by groups of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whether the information obtained is used to determine emergency situations, or whether the algorithms allow making forecasts of the fire area for the entire region during the fire season.
They also ask if the information generated by the algorithms is shared with other organizations, what fire area forecasts are used for available time periods and areas, if the MIA intends to share the algorithms with other countries, and finally, if there are conditions to develop algorithms to have a more accurate information in the future.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
