Some "red" numbers related to forests in Portugal.

Over the past 20 years, the economic value of forests in Portugal has known a progressive decline, which causes several social and environmental impacts.

• 67% represents the decrease in the weight of the Gross Value Added (GVA) of forestry in national GVA, ie, 1,2% in 1990 fell down to 0,4% in 2010.

• 40% concerns the reduction of the impact of forest cluster on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 2000 (3%) to 2010 (1.8%).

• € 250 million is the approximate reduction on the Net Corporate Income from forestry in the decade 2000/2010. Will be this the main reason for the progressive abandoning of woodland soils management over the past 20 years in Portugal?

• 1,5 million hectares, equivalent to the area of land abandoned in Portugal, represents the burned forest area accumulated on the last decade (2002/2012). This cumulative area corresponds to 43% of the total forest area in Portugal and 17% of the national land area.

•  € 700 million was the amount of funding spent on support for afforestation, only for one woody specie, over the past 20 years. This value could have boosted 350 thousand new hectares of this specie; however the same specie lost around 400 thousand hectares during this period. Could the public funds applied to support the afforestation have boosted the "industry" of forest fires in Portugal?

• 16 years is the period of time since the unanimous approval, in the Portuguese Parliament, of the Law on Forest Policy, published in August 1996. However, after this period the law was not yet regulated in its core measures. The regulatory process has already gone through for seven different ministers.