Portugal environmental groups contest water‑intensive farm plan and pine forest clear‑cutting

The Portuguese environmental association Quercus has demanded that the Aquaterra citrus‑farm project in Alcácer do Sal be halted, arguing that the plan to cultivate 295 hectares of intensively irrigated orchards would extract about 1.74 million m³ of groundwater per year and threaten the Sado estuary’s protected habitats. Quercus called for a negative environmental impact assessment, a technical study of the aquifer by the National Laboratory of Energy and Geology, and a public debate on water management.

Eurodeputy Catarina Martins of the Left Bloc wrote to the European Commission urging immediate action to stop large‑scale tree removal in the Pinhal de Ovar, where 363 hectares of mature pine are being cut without any environmental impact study. She described the activity as an “ecological crime” and pointed to procedural irregularities by the Portuguese Institute for Conservation of Nature and Forests. Martins asked the Commission to consider opening an infringement procedure against Portugal for breaching EU habitat‑protection directives.