Portugal’s forests are expanding faster than anywhere else in Europe, but the country’s rapid growth is coming at a steep environmental cost. Now, new Eurostat figures obtained by Euronews show the EU’s overall forest cover is increasing only marginally, up 0.1% year‑on‑year, with Ireland leading the way at 1.2% once losses from logging, fires, drought and pests are taken into account.
And while Estonia, Bulgaria and France also posted modest gains, Portugal stands in a league of its own. Last year, its forest area grew by 11%, far outpacing every other EU member state — a surge driven by years of reforestation and the country’s relatively young eucalyptus plantations, which underpin Portugal’s powerful pulp and paper industry.
But that growth has come at a heavy price.
The fast‑growing species contains highly flammable oils that dramatically increase wildfire risk, and its water‑hungry roots dry out soils and intensify drought impacts. “Eucalyptus is more dangerous than other trees,” said João Branco, president of the environmental group Quercus, speaking to Politico about the species’ role in Portugal’s devastating 2017 fires.
“The leaves and the bark are very flammable, strips of bark hang off the trunks and are carried by the wind, spreading the flames,” Branco, a forestry engineer, added. “Large parts of the centre and north of the country are almost completely covered by eucalyptus, and it contributes to this type of fire.”
Native to Australia, eucalyptus was first introduced in Europe as an ornamental plant in the 18th century. It thrived in Portugal, where it was later used in reforestation and erosion control, and expanded rapidly from the mid‑20th century as demand for paper and pulp surged.
And the consequences of that expansion are now becoming increasingly visible. Last year, Portugal lost 263,000 hectares of forest and woodland to wildfire — the highest proportion of any EU member state, according to data from Copernicus. Now, policymakers are trying to shift the landscape away from monocultures and toward more resilient native species with the country’s nature conservation authority, ICNF, beginning to distribute more than 100,000 native trees and shrubs, including holm oak, cork oak, maritime pine, ash and rosemary.
