The investment in the amount of 2.6 million euros is "supported by the 2020 Regional Development Program. With the funding approved, the City Council will open a public tender for the execution of all works", says the municipality in a statement sent to Lusa.

According to the municipality, the area where this project will be carried out was previously "occupied by maritime pines", that have been by the forest fire of 15 October 2017. Currently in this area there is “natural regeneration of bushes and also of some specimens of samouco and shrimp”.

The project includes the “recovery of the forest perimeter of the dunes and pine forests of Mira”, as well as “the preparation of the land to accommodate the plantation, with operations of cutting and chipping, and deposition on the ground of shrubby vegetation consisting of scrub and acacia within the intervention area”, says that municipality in the district of Coimbra.

Subsequently, the municipality plans to plant “wild pine in most of the area, and stone pine in the identified areas of the primary network”. "In addition to the urgency in recovering the important role of fixing the sands, protecting the winds and buffering sea breezes and fogs, the proposed interventions are based on the real, unequivocal and timely need to make the investment, with reasonable costs, from the perspective of cost-benefit analysis and reduction of impacts on the forest system”, the note reads.

Reforestation takes into account previously established objectives, the ecosystem's response to fire, as well as the regional guidelines for forest management contained in the Regional Forest Management Program (PROF). For the mayor of Mira, Raul Almeida, this is “one of the biggest reforestation projects in national terms and an absolute necessity for Mira”. “It is urgent to guarantee the repopulation of forests in burnt areas and protect it from soil erosion”, he concludes.