Plan to clear 347 hectares of forest at Sines industrial zone opens to public comment

Public consultation runs until 12 November on a plan by aicep Global Parques, which manages the Sines Industrial and Logistics Zone, to clear 347.62 hectares of a 443-hectare site for future industrial and logistics plants. The work would be done in four phases, starting with 66 hectares, so that land is not cleared before it is needed. The area holds 3,593 cork oaks, plus mixed pine stands and eucalyptus. The impact study lists soil erosion, dust, noise and landscape change among the harms, and proposes replanting and carbon-loss compensation. It covers only the clearing; the future plants will need their own assessments.