Sonae, Floresta Unida Foundation establish forest plantation in fire-damaged region of Mira, Portugal, plan 30-year management program

Wendy Lisney

MAIA, Portugal , November 11, 2011 (press release) – In a volunteering action, employees from all units of Sonae Indústria in Portugal will return to Mira tomorrow for a reforestation event. In association with the Floresta Unida Foundation, Sonae Indústria will return to Mira, were we were in October of 2009, for a new plantation. This time, more than double the people will participate. Over 180 volunteers and their respective families, from units were Sonae Indústria is present, will leave on the 12th of November from Maia, Mangualde, Oliveira do Hospital, Souselas, Alcanede and Castelo de Paiva and travel to Mira, district of Coimbra.

Sonae Indústria annually carries out a voluntary action in favor of reforestation, framed in its Social Responsibility Program: Program T-Shirt. This year, being it the International Year of the Forests and the European Year of Volunteering, it was decided to do two actions of reforestation during 2011, the first took place in February in the Mata do Buçaco.

The site chosen is a burned down area in the Seixo de Mira. As mentioned before, it had been intervened in during 2009 in a great project with the planting of over 20.000 trees and with the objective of recuperating soil, delay the erosion process and create a new forest area with a 30 year management program.

With this initiative, as has been happening over the past two years, Sonae Indústria aims to continue their environmentally responsible attitude, thus helping to protect the forest heritage, contribute to the sustainability of natural resources and draw attention to the importance of national forests as well as to the economic players to jointly promote more and better forests, so that it may generate value, from an environmental as well as social-economical perspective.

T-Shirt Program
Is Sonae Indústra´s Social Responsibility program in Portugal, which aims to involve the company, its employees and the local communities in activities that positively contribute to society and the environment.

The T-Shirt Program was launched in December 2007, and one of its main objectives is to complement the actions of Sonae Indústria, according to its policy of sustainable development, with social responsibility practices in an organized and systematic way and pursue actions with greater involvement of its employees and local communities where Sonae Indústria is present, highlighting the importance that the people and the environment represent for the company.

Fundação Floresta Unida (United Forest Foundation)
United Forest Foundation is a Portuguese non-profit organization that operates in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Chile, and is responsible for the largest initiative worldwide in the area of reforestation in the social responsibility context: to plant 400 million trees by 2030, with guaranteed protection of this heritage for the minimum period of 30 years. For more information about this project: www.florestaunida.com

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