According to Lusa, "Recovering poor soils and planting native species adapted to the prevailing conditions, climate and soils of the International Tagus are two of the many activities planned from the Zambujo reCover project, which will help the ecological restoration of more than 150 hectares of Zambujo, a forest property located near the border with Spain," explained this business group.

The Zambujo reCover initiative aims to increase the environmental value of natural and semi-natural forest habitats on the Navigator property located in Idanha-a-Nova, in the PNTI and in the Special Protection Zone of the International Tagus, Erges and Ponsul, an area classified as Natura 2000 Network.

The ecological restoration on the Zambujo property is equivalent to about 150 football fields.

The project took its first steps in 2022, but it is in 2023 that most of the interventions on the ground will take place.

Cited in the document, Nuno Rico, the head of Biodiversity Conservation at 'The Navigator Company', said that tree species adapted to aridity and drought will be planted, which have intensified in that part of the country, especially the holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia).

"This property was already identified by 'The Navigator Company' as having several High Conservation Value Areas, for integrating several protected habitats, which are in a favorable state, and for having escarpments covered with vegetation that provide an important environmental service, soil retention," he said.

In addition to the planting of native trees, and the densification of existing holm oaks, previous experimental actions will be developed to improve soil quality and minimize the risk of erosion, which will later be the subject of study with a view to identifying good practices.

The activities are planned so as not to interfere with the rhythms of the various species of fauna present in the Zambujo, including protected birds that take refuge, feed and nest here.

Promoted by The Navigator Company in partnership with RAIZ – Forest and Paper Research Institute, the initiative has an overall budget of 225,774.79 euros and is funded by the COMPETE 2020 Program under the measure "Support for climate transition/Resilience of territories to risk: Combating desertification through reforestation and actions that promote increased carbon and nutrient fixation in the soil".

The business group is dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of paper in Portugal and owns a large forest area.

In the district of Castelo Branco, in addition to forest properties, there is in Vila Velha de Ródão an industrial unit dedicated to the production of tissue paper.

This tissue plant is the most efficient in the Iberian Peninsula and the second in Europe, linked by pipeline to the pulp producer, a fact that translates into the reduction of environmental impacts and gains in economy and efficiency of the process.

It is a factory built from scratch, which integrates processing lines and two modern and sophisticated tissue paper production machines, built in 2009 and 2015, respectively, with a common production capacity of 60,000 tons.