Lisbon (Portugal), March 21: Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Saturday announced a seven-billion-euro (8.33 billion of U.S. dollars) investment in forest preservation until the year 2030.
"It is an investment in fire-fighting and prevention equipment, but it is above all an investment in the structural transformation of our forest, which means avoiding monoculture (and) creating a landscape mosaic," he said in the city of Lousa, in central Portugal.
The forest should be considered as "a source of wealth" and something that has "added value," he stressed.
The government has promised that a large number of equipment will be acquired and distributed to forest producer organizations and inter-municipal communities for both fire fighting and forest maintenance.
Source: Xinhua