Portugal: Summer's fires took heavy toll on Peneda-Gerês NP, other PAs
GERÊS, Portugal, Aug 31, 2010 (IPS) - Environmentalists are alarmed: fires have destroyed close to 100,000 hectares of forest in Portugal this summer, releasing one million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Worst of all, the forests are losing their ability to absorb carbon.
Experts say the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted is not a major concern, compared to emissions in 2008 -- the latest year for which official statistics are available -- but stress that the fact that the forested area of the country has lost three percent of its carbon-fixing capacity is definitely worrying.
Up to Aug. 15, the area burned in summer fires this year was 75,000 hectares, but since then unofficial estimates indicate that another 25,000 hectares have been devoured by the flames.
The Quercus National Association for Nature Conservation (ANCN) said estimates indicate the fires have released 1.1 million tonnes of CO2 so far in 2010, equivalent to 29 million cars being driven the 310 kilometres that separate Lisbon from the northern city of Oporto.
Quercus acknowledges that this is not a huge quantity, but underscores that this CO2 should not have been emitted; it contributes to further reducing the capacity of forested areas to absorb carbon, and is a stain on Portugal's performance under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol is an annex to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which recognises that the preservation of forested areas helps curb global warming.
In 2008, Portugal's forested areas absorbed 4.42 million tonnes of CO2.
Official statistics for 2009 are not yet available, but projections by Off7, a private company that certifies emissions, indicate a three percent loss of absorption capacity, equivalent to about 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions that the forests were unable to prevent.
Recovery of this carbon capture capacity could take decades, even if reforestation is carried out immediately, because trees take years to reach their full absorption capacity, Off7 warned.
The experts at Quercus and Off7 concur that by the time the Kyoto Protocol commitment period expires in 2012, Portugal's CO2 emissions might be 10 million tonnes higher than its permitted quota.
Added to the worrying effect on greenhouse gas emission levels, August has been a tragic month for huge protected natural areas in the centre and north of the country.
The Peneda-Gerês National Park in the extreme north of the country was one of the worst affected, with 10,000 hectares destroyed, 12 percent of its total area.
In the designated "total protection areas" within Peneda-Gerês the devastation was greater still, with 26 percent of the areas earmarked for special conservation destroyed.