{"id":2043,"date":"2018-10-15T18:44:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T17:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conteudos.xl.pt\/altri-news\/?p=2043"},"modified":"2020-05-21T17:36:36","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T16:36:36","slug":"the-future-depends-on-active-forest-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conteudos.xl.pt\/altri-news\/en\/the-future-depends-on-active-forest-management\/","title":{"rendered":"The future depends on active forest management","raw":"The future depends on active forest management"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMore wood!\u201d This line was repeated countless times by Groucho Marx as he conducted a coal-fired steam train. The 1940 film Go West<\/em> shows how Harpo and Chico destroy all of the train\u2019s cars, leaving only the metal cage. All of the wood was consumed.<\/p>\n

The pulp and paper industry needs to produce more lumber but, as satirised in the film, this raw material does not simply appear out of nowhere. It is a scarce resource that, in the case of our industry, needs to be produced and managed in a sustainable manner, at a competitive price, in compliance with all legal and environmental regulations. This is Altriflorestal\u2019s mission, a company that manages 82 thousand hectares of forest, from the Algarve to Minho; an area segmented into four regions: North, Middle Tejo, West and Beira Interior.<\/p>\n

In order to accomplish this mission, Miguel Silveira, CEO of Altriflorestal, explains the four major strategic goals for the company: to improve forest management; increase the forest area managed; make operations and processes more efficient; and focus unequivocally on training and sharing knowledge among stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\"Miguel
Miguel Silveira, director of Altriflorestal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Legal restrictions on the use of eucalyptus in new forest areas create the first major challenge in forest management. The CEO explains that when they want to increase productivity in Altri manufacturing plants, the logic is to \u201cproduce the greatest quantity of pulp at the lowest cost\u201d in a manner that is sustainable for the forest. In the case of Altriflorestal, the factory is the forest and production is the cubic metres per physical unit area. \u201cSince that physical unit is limited in legal terms, it cannot grow; there is a great deal of pressure to increase productivity in the current production area.\u201d<\/p>\n

This maximisation of the existing production area begins with plant selection. Selection takes place at Viveiros do Furadouro, a nursery that has been working on a program to genetically improve plants for the past 60 years, using cutting edge technology and know-how acquired in the field. The nursery is owned by Altriflorestal and carries out research and development on plants with a greater capacity to adapt to the types of soil where they will be used. The objective? To take the greatest advantage of the plant\u2019s genetic factor.<\/p>\n

\"Viveiros
Viveiros do Furadouro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using genetically enhanced plants to produce pulp is important, but it\u2019s not enough. \u201cPlanting trees with the best genetic material in less fertile soils does not produce great results.\u201d This is easy to understand. To obtain good results, these initiatives must be \u201caccompanied by good forestry practises that include, for instance, fertilisers, in order to guarantee the best conditions for plant development\u201d. In order to explore this subject further, four years ago Altriflorestal initiated a fertilisation program with tests in various regions in the country, to specifically adapt fertilisation to each location. At the moment, the company is moving towards precision forestry, improving procedural efficiency, consuming fertilisers more efficiently, guaranteeing that the result maximises productivity as much as possible.<\/p>\n

Minimising production losses of raw material<\/h3>\n

Another aspect that is being developed to reduce production losses is fighting pests and disease like the eucalyptus weevil, a pest that afflicts eucalyptus trees and affects productivity in some parts of Portugal. \u201cOur research is developing effective methods to fight this pest, reconciling them with the development of the plants\u2019 genetic features. Everything is carried out with a great focus on productivity\u201d, concludes Miguel Silveira.<\/p>\n

Aside from the threat of the eucalyptus weevil, other factors also cause production losses, such as fires or drought. We cannot emphasise enough that the pulp and paper industry does not use burnt timber. Factories do not want to risk introducing charcoal in the production line.<\/p>\n

In order to avoid losing raw materials, fire prevention is initially carried out using an Altriflorestal mechanism that is implemented every year to control vegetation in a forest area between 15 and 20 thousand hectares. This work includes creating or clearing paths, firebreaks and water points.<\/p>\n

\"The
The forest is the factory of Altriflorestal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furthermore, during the fire season, a large portion of Altriflorestal staff spread throughout the country collaborates actively with Afocelca teams (ACE and The Navigator Company), to fight fires.<\/p>\n

The raw materials used by Altri result from the production area managed by Altriflorestal and timber purchased from third parties. Fires are always a problem in our industry. If the burnt areas were replanted, they would only start to provide lumber after 11 or 12 years. If we look at the annual timber production curve, this will present a drop over the next years. Miguel Silveira states that in two or three years this scenario may become serious for the eucalyptus-based pulp and paper industry, although this is not the segment that suffered from the most fires.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>

People don\u2019t always understand this, but fires are the worst thing that can happen to the eucalyptus industry<\/h3><\/div><\/blockquote>\n

More forest under active management<\/h3>\n

One way to minimise the impact and propensity of forest fires is to have more managed eucalyptus areas. Last year Miguel Silveira accompanied some of the major fire-fighting operations, helping support Altriflorestal staff that is carrying out extraordinary work with Afocelca night and day. One of the most notable aspects in these situations was the amount of unmanaged areas outside of Altriflorestal\u2019s management. According to the CEO, when a fire reaches an unmanaged area, it is terribly difficult to control. \u201cFrom what I saw and heard from people, they stated unequivocally that they prefer to fight a fire within the areas managed by pulp and paper companies because it is less intense.\u201d Miguel Silveira justifies his statement. \u201cWhen vegetation is controlled, the roads and paths are in good condition. Fire fighting is much simpler and it facilitates the whole operation. We know the paths, we have water points to refill, places to get out if necessary, we know the location\u2019s exit strategy, everything is planned before initiating fire fighting in the managed area\u201d, he explains, noting that if we increased the forest area managed in Portugal, whether by pulp and paper companies or landowners, it would make everything much easier.<\/p>\n

He also states that many forest owners don\u2019t develop management tasks, most likely due to the small size of their properties. Silveira believes that an alternative to overcome this difficulty could be to expand or promote the area actively managed by pulp and paper companies, including small landowners in these sites.<\/p>\n

The Melhor Eucalipto (Better Eucalyptus<\/em>) project, developed in partnership with Celpa, aims to help \/show landowners that it is good for everyone to manage eucalyptus and forest areas. This is good for the environment, for fire prevention and productivity. \u201cThis is the only way to achieve a balance between the economic, social and environmental elements. The project focuses on these three pillars, which are indivisible\u201d, says Miguel Silveira.<\/p>\n

\"Separador\"<\/div>

The idea is to show that you can increase revenue and reduce the risk of losing your investment due to fires. A conservative estimate demonstrates that productivity in this area can be increased by about 10 to 15%.<\/h3><\/div><\/blockquote>\n

Forest management implies actively controlling large areas. Residual forest biomass is used to produce power in the group\u2019s power plants. Therefore, Altriflorestal enables landowners to dispose of biomass resulting from their forestry activities, thereby reducing the fuel load and consequently the risk of forest fires. Altriflorestal recently signed a collaboration agreement with a Municipal Council and Association of Forest Producers, in order to create parks to receive forest biomass in the centre of Portugal, thereby facilitating the collection of biomass resulting from forestry. This model will also be implemented in other regions of the country, in locations where the fuel load and logistics require it.<\/p>\n

Increasing procedural and operational efficiency<\/h3>\n

As with everything in life, there is almost always room for improvement, and Altriflorestal has always strived to increase its procedural and operational efficiency.<\/p>\n

Therefore, like in other companies in the sector, Altriflorestal outsources all services associated with forestry. We do not have our own teams. We do not have our own machines. The company\u2019s only resources are team leaders who manage operations in the field and oversee the outsourced services and their efficiency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen service providers start to work for us, we provide training and safety guidelines to begin building efficiency\u201d, says Miguel Silveira. To achieve that objective, the company has a series of mechanisms that materialise into projects. Those initiatives help identify the challenges and improvements that need to be applied in each area of operation. Regarding work safety, the company developed an initiative that involved adapting a truck with a mobile training unit that travels to work sites to provide training on safety measures that must be adopted on the work front. This initiative led to a decrease in work-related accidents below the national average in the forestry sector.<\/p>\n

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