Partner experience / Sustainability and forestry
José Miguel Medeiros, President and CEO, FlorestGal, 2018 to 2021.
Stage: Public forestry company led
José Miguel Medeiros was the first President and CEO of FlorestGal, Portugal’s first public forestry company, and turned a scattered state estate into a managed forest business with a long-term plan.
The first work to commission.FlorestGal, wholly owned by the state holding Parpública, manages and develops forest land across mainland Portugal. The government placed its headquarters in Figueiró dos Vinhos, in the Pinhal Interior, under its program for the interior of the country.
As President and CEO he grouped the 86 properties into 18 management units, submitted their forest management plans and obtained recognition as a forest management entity from the nature conservation institute (ICNF). He opened the headquarters with the Prime Minister on 20 March 2019. He set out a multifunctional model: aggregate smallholdings into units large enough to manage, plant native species, and earn from grazing, beekeeping, hunting, nature tourism and renewable energy as well as timber. The company commissioned a business plan to 2060 from PwC, built on management’s assumptions, and began afforestation projects with municipalities and commoners’ councils. As part of its public mission, the company launched projects on about 3,000 hectares burned in 2017, in the municipalities hit by the fires.
Projects from FlorestGal’s own records during his term. The status is the one the documents give: many were proposals and protocols, not finished plantings.
Figueiró dos Vinhos · 2018 to 2019 · Done
Grouped the estate into 18 management units with forest management plans, secured ICNF recognition as a forest management entity, wrote the procedures manual and introduced management by objectives. About 350 km of firebreaks and forest roads were worked in 2018 and 2019.
Inauguration speech, 20 March 2019; corporate presentation, March 2020
National · 2019 · Delivered
A forty-year plan for the company, with a carbon assessment of the estate, prepared by PwC with the management team. It set three growth routes: buying or leasing new land, renewable energy on unproductive ground, and conservation forest funded by private sponsors.
FlorestGal business plan 2020 to 2060, PwC, October 2019 (confidential; not published here)
Castelo Branco and Idanha-a-Nova · 2019 to 2020 · Protocol signed
A protocol with ICNF to replace eucalyptus on FlorestGal land inside the Tejo Internacional Natural Park with mixed cork oak and holm oak, with feeding stations for vultures and other carrion birds. 556 hectares under the protocol.
Corporate presentation, March 2020
Pedrógão Grande, Figueiró dos Vinhos, Castanheira de Pera and neighboring towns · 2019 to 2020 · Being set up
With the Pinhais do Zêzere development association, private, municipal and parish plots pooled into one unit: timber with beekeeping, grazing and nature tourism, on native species suited to the area. 317 hectares mapped by March 2020.
Inauguration speech; corporate presentation, March 2020
Pampilhosa da Serra · 2020 · Proposal
An afforestation design with the municipality and the commoners’ councils for 945 hectares: production pine below 700 meters, black pine and Douglas fir above, native broadleaves, and the restoration of riverside woodland.
Corporate presentation, March 2020
Penacova · 2020 · Proposal
On 159 hectares of municipal land: grazed fuel breaks, cork oak with strawberry tree, stone pine and a conservation area, designed with the Câmara Municipal de Penacova.
Corporate presentation, March 2020
Quinta das Charas, Mogadouro · 2020 · Planned
The company’s first replanting on its own estate: eucalyptus removed and mixed cork oak and Pyrenean oak planted across 70 of the property’s 119 hectares.
Corporate presentation, March 2020
Figueiró dos Vinhos, Pedrógão Grande, Monchique · 2019
Protocols with the FICAPE cooperative and the APFLOR association for technical support and for bringing smallholder plots into management, and with the Portuguese strawberry tree cooperative to revive the crop on FlorestGal’s Monchique property.
Inauguration speech, 20 March 2019
About 13,900 hectares
under FlorestGal’s direct management in March 2020: 12,831 owned and 1,044 on long lease
86
properties in 26 municipalities, grouped into 18 management units
About 3,000 hectares
burned in 2017, where the company launched projects in the municipalities hit by the fires
A forestry business case begins with the land, its uses and the responsibilities attached to it. José Miguel brings the experience of building a public forest manager from its first board meeting to General Value’s land assessments, management structures and institutional work, with Amândio Costa on financial modeling.
Led by: José Miguel Medeiros
The questionWhat is this land, who holds it, and which uses should be examined?
The outputAn assessment of the property, ownership and uses, with the information and specialist work needed for a management decision.
Led by: José Miguel Medeiros
The questionHow can fragmented land be managed together?
The outputOptions for management agreements and structures, with ownership arrangements, operating tasks and responsibilities named.
Led by: José Miguel Medeiros, with Amândio Costa on financial modeling
The questionDo the proposed uses, costs and income support the project?
The outputA forestry business case and financial model, starting with a pilot and stating the assumptions for production and environmental services.
Institutional strategy, public affairs and forestry project structuring.
Meet the people: José Miguel Medeiros
