The Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Environment, through the Regional Directorate for Rural Development, will open the first phase for the submission of applications to the investment measures for the development of forest areas and the improvement of the viability of forests under PRORURAL +. The application period will take place between September 1 and November 30.

 Under the terms of the ordinance published today in the Official Journal, the amount of support varies between 75% and 85% of the total eligible cost of investment projects.

 Included in the Rural Development Programme in force until 2020, these support measures aim to contribute the proper management of territories, the mitigation of erosion phenomena produced by concentration of flows and to the increase of biodiversity.

 Encouraging technological innovation and the improvement of production, processing and marketing in the forestry sector are other goals of these support measures.

 The support requests and the required documents certifying the eligibility of applicants should be submitted through the electronic form available on the PRORURAL + Portal at http://proruralmais.azores.gov.pt. The submission of applications is authenticated with the identification code provided for that purpose.