Deforestation

“Forests are important for two reasons – one is the carbon that is trapped in forests and released when they are felled. The other is the carbon that trees absorb from the air each year – thus mitigating some of our emissions.”(Julia Jones – Distinguished Professor and Program Head for Geography)(Julia Jones – Distinguished Professor and Program Head for Geography)

The loss of forests can also entail the loss of biodiversity in a forest. Deforestation directly affects the lives of some 1.6 billion people (source: European Commission, 2019) whose livelihoods depend on forests. For countless populations, forests are a source of food, access to drinking water and/or fuel. (fonte: Comissão Europeia, 2019) cuja subsistência depende das florestas. Para inúmeras populações, as florestas são uma fonte de alimentação, de acesso a água potável e/ou combustível.

Deforestation is one of the greatest environmental challenges and over the years it has been the object of study of several organisations that try to find and develop solutions to minimise its propagation. The main causes that contribute to this phenomenon are industrial and urban development, tourism growth, but also the increase of cultivated area, and infrastructure construction.

In Portugal, due to the fires we see every year, forest areas are becoming smaller and smaller. There are, however, some ways to minimize this reality, namely preventing fires, promoting reforestation, rehabilitating degraded forest areas and recycling.

To combat this reality, our subsidiary, BioGreenWoods (BGW)intends to be a pioneer in processes to harness 100% of the potential of a forest.

By using forest surpluses and making full use of all the gases resulting from the carbonisation process, BGW is committed to the innovative production of by-products (vegetable tar and pyrolytic extract) and non-condensable gases as energy.

Read more information on deforestation at:

https://www.wri.org/insights/2021-must-be-turning-point-forests-2020-data-shows-us-why