The plan for the deforestation of the Alqueva Reservoir area was one of the measures, aimed at mitigating environmental impacts on the quality of the water, among those that had been outlined by the Integrated Study on Environmental Impact of the Alqueva Multipurpose Project (AMP).
The plan included the execution of surveys in order to characterize the vegetation to be removed and identify the main impact on the physiography, wildlife and cultural heritage. Various operational procedures were proposed to significantly reduce the negative aspects associated with the removal of vegetation in an area of approximately 25 thousand hectares. At the same time the framework, the organizational structure and phasing of cutting actions, logging, renewal and transport of about 1,2 million trees, as well as a considerable area of bushes and riparian galleries, was defined.
Given the sensitivity of the subject, this was the theme of five of the more than 40 works that Nemus performed for EDIA since 1998. In consortium with Chiron, Nemus developed thereafter the revisions of this plan and the plan of protection, restoration and enhancement of vegetation in the surroundings of Alqueva and Pedrogão, to compensate for the forest areas destroyed by deforestation and filling of the reservoirs.