The forest has been present for centuries in the Portuguese economy, whether in the furniture and paper pulp industry, or in the production of cork in which Portugal is a world leader. Its financial and environmental relevance is substantial and, while the world is facing times of climate uncertainty, it is important that the sector knows how to adapt to the new reality without ceasing to generate added value.
“Portugal has a strategic location with export potential and has the innovation power to rapidly expand its bio-based industrial activities” believes Adelaide Alves, R&D director at Sonae Arauco. In this field, “the pine row”, for example, is one of the best cases of “sustainable and circular bioeconomy”, as “it starts with the use of raw materials of sustainable origin and, in a circular approach, closes the cycle with the reuse of wood by-products and with the recycling of wood residues”, he explains.
The use of renewable raw materials to replace those of fossil origin, with the contribution of innovation to accelerate the climate transition, is the new focus of the sector that will be under analysis at the event “Bioeconomia de Base Florestal”, which brings together Navigator and Expresso to understand what challenges and steps Portuguese companies are taking.
“In our case, there is no cork industry without valuing the entire value chain, starting right away with the forest”, guarantees Eduardo Soares, Executive Director and Director of Innovation and Project Management at Amorim Cork Composites, for whom “fundamentally, we have to be able to use natural materials to perform the same type of functions that fossil materials perform in order to be a credible and technologically competitive alternative”.
“I fear that Portugal, as a country, is grossly neglecting the work that needs to be done in our planted forests. We have fallen into the simplistic (and somewhat populist) temptation of looking at the forest only in its dimension as a carbon sink, forgetting that its importance goes far beyond that role”, believes Francisco Gomes da Silva
In the opinion of Francisco Gomes da Silva, professor at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, it is important to focus attention “on the knowledge and technological capacity, which we have in our country, to recover the potential of the most abandoned areas of our forest”, not least because “it is true that there are difficulties, such as fragmentation and the small size of the forest property in the center and north country, there are many successful cases”.
We fear thatguarantee that the bioeconomy and its products come from a sustainable forest management base and that the ecosystem is preserved at the time of cutting”, to “ensure that the products have a new entry into the economy. Otherwise, they end up in the waste system and we don’t want that”, maintains the pro-rector of Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Júlia Seixas. Which reveals confidence in the largest companies in the sector but, on the other hand, reveals “concern” with small producers because “often they do not have enough literacy or financial structure to carry forward different management models”. Here the role of public policies may be important, which “are evolving in the right direction”.
tons of materials are mined worldwide, a figure that is almost four times higher than 50 years ago. More than 90% of these materials end up being discarded, that is, less than 10% return to the production process
Topics to explore at the conference that you can learn more about in detail below.
What is it?
The “Forest-Based Bioeconomy” event is part of the “Let’s Talk About Sustainability” project and is an initiative that brings together Navigator and Expresso withwith the objective of debating the fundamental role of planted forests in the transition from a linear and fossil economy to a sustainable circular bioeconomy, based on renewable, recyclable and biodegradable forestry products and solutions, favorable to nature and neutral to the climate.
When, where and what time?
March 21, Tuesday, at the Impresa Group building, from 10 am.
Who will be attending?
- Jori Ringman, CEO of CEPI
- Emídio Gomes, Rector of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro
- Francisco Gomes da Silva, professor at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia
- Júlia Seixas, Pro-Rector of the New University of Lisbon
- Luís Mira, general secretary of CAP – Confederation of Farmers of Portugal
- Adelaide Alves, Director of R&D at Sonae Arauco
- Carlos Pascoal Neto, director of RAIZ
- Eduardo Soares, Executive Director and Director of Innovation and Project Management at Amorim Cork Composites
- Gabriel Sousa, Director of Innovation and Technological Development at Altri
- José Oliveira, Director of Sales, Marketing and Innovation at DS Smith Packaging
- António Redondo, CEO of The Navigator Company
- João Paulo Catarino, Secretary of State for the Conservation of Nature and Forests
Why is this meeting central?
Because when you add the pressure of population growth, climate change and the degradation of soils and ecosystems, it becomes evident that the future of humanity depends on change. It is therefore important to discuss the virtues and challenges of the circular bioeconomy, which combines the principles of “bioeconomy” with those of the “circular economy”, in an economic model in which forests, plants, animals and microorganisms will be at the origin of bioproducts, and the resources will be managed over the long term, in a continuous and circular fashion.
How can I watch?
Click here.
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