Sustainable Living

Ecosystems & Biodiversity

The projects giving land back to nature: Rewilding Portugal in the north-east, MONTIS restoring hillsides near Vouzela, ALMARGEM defending the Algarve's natural heritage, and the Biggest Mini Forest movement planting food forests across the country. Rewilding, agroforestry and the montado at the centre.

70 Projects

Projects in this theme

Ecosystem restoration and biodiversity in Portugal

Portugal has lost a great deal of its native cover to eucalyptus plantations, abandonment and fire. The projects here work on the other side of that: putting land back into a state that can hold water, carbon and species.

Rewilding Portugal works in the north-east, in the Greater Côa Valley. MONTIS restores hillsides near Vouzela. ALMARGEM defends the Algarve's natural heritage. The Biggest Mini Forest movement plants dense mini-forests around the country. And running through much of it is the montado, the cork oak landscape that is farmed and wild at once, and that most of Europe does not have.

Use the focus filter for rewilding, habitat restoration, agroforestry, cork oak and montado, tree planting, pollinator support, seed saving and exchange, wetland protection, marine conservation, and land stewardship and trusts. Several of these organisations run planting days and depend on volunteers to do it. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.