The Socialist Party candidate for the presidency of the Funchal City Council warns of the high risk of fire in the areas overlooking the city, reaffirming his support for grazing as a complementary measure of land use planning and fuel load reduction.
Rui Caetano recalled the magnitude of the fires of 2016 and is apprehensive that current conditions make fires more likely. “The areas overlooking Funchal are a real powder keg, and climatic conditions are making it more difficult. Already, we are facing scorching heat and intense winds. I am seriously concerned about the risk of fire over the Funchal district,” he said.
The socialist candidate does not hide his concern about the uncontrolled increase of bush and invasive plants in the upstream areas of the city, in which most of the Madeiran population is concentrated. “The entire mountain range over Funchal is yellow due to the flowering of broom and gorse,” he said, warning that “where tourists see a reason to photograph, we see danger lurking.” As he found, the firebreaks are covered with weeds, the infrastructure for water supply by the firefighting helicopter is damaged, and firebreak roads are almost impassable due to the vegetation. Faced with this situation, many of the investments that were made in previous years, such as cleaning and reforestation, have practically disappeared. “Millions of euros of community money are supposed to have been channelled into the mountains to make them safer. Where has this money gone, and what has it been used for? He criticized.
Rui Caetano regrets that a model that has not shown results continues to be insisted on, and it is clear to all that “Madeira has lost the battle against the invaders,” with the consequences that this represents in terms of fire risk and insecurity for the territory and people.
He regretted that, out of stubbornness, the Government and local authorities looking after the island’s forests do not allow grazing in peri-urban areas, explaining that this activity should be understood as an effective and low-cost measure to reduce the fuel load and actively manage the territory, as is the case all over the world.
“Grazing is not a panacea for all ills, but it is, for sure, an economic activity that should not be neglected when all other measures of controlling invasive species and shrubs have failed,” he considered.
The PS candidate clarifies that what he defends is not the grazing of the past, with the animals loose in the mountains. “We want a grazing model aimed at fire prevention, which promotes the landscape mosaic and the safety of the territory, and this can be done by municipalities through hiring qualified personnel, with specific training in directed grazing to oversee an island project. This model already exists in several Portuguese municipalities,” said Rui Caetano, refusing the designation of controlled grazing used by the Regional Government, which is nothing more than an excuse to “say that grazing already exists, when, it is nothing more than one or two flocks wandering about without any purpose, financially supported by the Government to keep them under control and prohibit any other grazing rights.”
