Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Nature and Biodiversity Protection Programme
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation's Nature and Biodiversity Protection Programme provides core funding to eight environmental NGOs across P…
Land Stewardship & Trusts
Holding land in trust for the long term: the montado agroforestry of Herdade do Freixo do Meio, Eternal Forest's thousand-year sanctuaries, and conservation charities like MONTIS and Faia Brava. Ownership as a promise to the future.
Projects in this focus
IPR — Instituto de Planeamento Regenerativo
IPR — Instituto de Planeamento Regenerativo is a Southern Portugal-based technical organisation that designs and implements regenerative ter…
Reservas da Biosfera de Portugal
Reservas da Biosfera de Portugal is a digital territorial platform that showcases Portugal's 13 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, promoting their n…
Floradata
Floradata is a Porto-based environmental consultancy specialising in biodiversity, ecology, landscape, forestry and risk management, with 15…
NBI - Natural Business Intelligence
NBI – Natural Business Intelligence is a Portuguese consultancy specialised in biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural capital, helping…
Ocean Alive
Ocean Alive is Portugal's first cooperative dedicated to ocean protection, working with coastal and fishing communities to conserve seagrass…
Regen Waves
Regen Waves is a non-profit movement regenerating the Arrábida bioregion in Portugal through native 'superforests', community-led Regen Walk…
Palombar
Founded in 2000, Palombar is a Portuguese environmental NGO based in Vimioso (Bragança) dedicated to conserving nature and rural heritage in…
Pangea Trust
Pangea Trust is transforming a thousand-acre estate in Alentejo into Europe's first large-scale elephant sanctuary. The project provides a n…
Parque de Natureza de Noudar
Parque de Natureza de Noudar is a 151-hectare conservation and nature tourism project near Barrancos, created by EDIA as an environmental of…
A Rocha Portugal
A Rocha Portugal is a Christian environmental NGO founded in 1983, based at the Cruzinha field study centre and bird observatory in the Alga…
FAPAS – Associação Portuguesa para a Conservação da Biodiversidade
FAPAS is a long-standing Portuguese NGO dedicated to biodiversity conservation, managing protected natural areas and running educational and…
OArborista
OArborista is a certified arboriculture company based in Sesimbra and Lisbon, led by professional arborist Ruben Oliveira with over 15 years…
VERDE - Associação para a Conservação Integrada da Natureza
VERDE is a Portuguese nature conservation association based in Lousada that protects old-growth trees, supports biodiversity, and offers car…
Faia Brava – Associação de Conservação da Natureza
Faia Brava – Associação de Conservação da Natureza is a Portuguese environmental NGO with over 25 years of history, pioneering the recogniti…
MONTIS – Associação de Conservação da Natureza
MONTIS is a Portuguese environmental NGO founded in 2014 and headquartered in Vouzela, Viseu, that manages 313 hectares across 38 properties…
Reflorestar Portugal
Reflorestar Portugal is a non-profit NGO dedicated to ecological regeneration, biodiverse reforestation, and agroforestry across Portugal, e…
Terra Agora
Fundação Terra Agora is a Portuguese public-interest foundation pioneering a new land stewardship model in which donated land is permanently…
Eternal Forest
Eternal Forest is a long-term art and ecology initiative founded in 2018 by artist and poet Evgenia Emets, dedicated to creating a global ne…
Rewilding Portugal
Rewilding Portugal is a non-profit association dedicated to making Portugal a wilder place by restoring ecosystems and wildlife corridors, w…
Land stewardship and trusts in Portugal
Buying land is the easy part; keeping a promise about it after the buyer dies is the hard one. These organisations use ownership structures (foundations, associations, conservation charities) to hold ground beyond the lifespan of any single owner.
MONTIS manages several hundred hectares of restored woodland near Vouzela. Faia Brava was the first privately protected area in the country. Fundação Terra Agora works on a stewardship model out of Tomar, FAPAS and A Rocha manage protected land in the north and the Algarve, and Herdade do Freixo do Meio holds its montado under a protective statute.
Most accept donations of land as well as money, and several take on parcels nobody else wants. See also habitat restoration, rewilding and cork oak montado. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.