“The storms that hit Portugal exposed a structural fragility: many territories remain ill-prepared to respond to extreme weather events, and part of the problem lies in the choices made on the ground,” explains Natural Business Intelligence (NBI), the consultancy that launched the platform, in a statement.

The Racidi web app was created with a “simple but critical” idea: choosing the right species in the right place is a strategic necessity, because “it has become evident that between floods, landslides and destruction of infrastructure, planting without criteria can amplify risks instead of mitigating them,” the company argued.

The platform organises complex data in a “simple, clear and actionable way” and can be used both to “support municipal planning and in the recovery of areas affected by fires or storms.”

Simply select a district, municipality, and/or parish to identify the native species present, explore their ecological characteristics, and consult their degree of resilience to extreme phenomena.

“We have the knowledge and feel the responsibility to share this knowledge. Radici is our way of contributing so that everyone has access to the information necessary to make informed decisions about what to plant in a given location, taking better care of the territory and strengthening its resilience,” says NBI CEO Nuno Gaspar de Oliveira in the press release.

The consultancy, specialising in the valuation of natural capital, explains the importance of investing in nature and presents figures on the “how much it costs” of ignoring it.

The press release concludes that the platform “helps to avoid ill-informed decisions, reduces waste of resources, and promotes more effective and lasting interventions.”