Quercus, an environmentalist association, accused Ikea of planning to build a new store on 40 hectares of land classified as protected agricultural land in the Algarve region of Portugal. Quercus urged local authorities not to rezone the protected land for private commercial use and suggested Ikea consider alternative locations instead of developing in restricted areas, as the Swedish company plans a large store and shopping center in Loulé, Algarve that will create 3,000 jobs.

1. REALLY??!!!!!! DON’T TELL ME!!!!!!!! SEE NEXT PAGE

2. Quercus accused Ikea of willing to build in National Reserve Pedro Luis Vieira January 5, 2010 Quercus accused yesterday Ikea of willing to build a new store in Algarve in land classified as Agricultural Reserve Nacional (RAN) and requested the CCDR Algarve defense for this planning. According to the website of environmentalist association, Quercus convey the land in question reach 40 hectares and is located in soils of the RAN, in Alfarrobeira, near the motorway. This time, Quercus states that "hopes that the public authorities do not allow the decommissioning of land in the RAN or promote change in the Plano Director Municipal de Loulé to promote a private interest, and have not been studied alternative locations." Moreover, the environmental association suggests that the Swedish group do not insist on building infrastructure in conditioned areas, "when there are alternatives that should be considered in selecting locations for investment." It is recalled that Ikea plans to invest over 200 million euros in a store and shopping Inter Ikea in Loulé in the Algarve, which will create 3000 direct jobs.