BLC3 – Campus de Tecnologia e Inovação
BLC3 is a non-profit research and innovation association based in Oliveira do Hospital, with hubs in Alfândega da Fé and Ourique, focused on…
Cork Oak & Montado
The montado (Portugal's cork oak savanna) is one of Europe's richest man-made ecosystems. Projects like Herdade do Freixo do Meio keep it alive as a working, biodiverse landscape.
Projects in this focus
Floradata
Floradata is a Porto-based environmental consultancy specialising in biodiversity, ecology, landscape, forestry and risk management, with 15…
AIM Forest
AIM Forest is a natural capital investment platform developing sustainable, irrigated cork oak forestry projects in southern Portugal, combi…
Carvalhal (RH Florestal)
Carvalhal is a 220-hectare forest property near Penha Garcia, Idanha-a-Nova, managed by RH Florestal since 2019, combining cork oak, holm oa…
Reserva do Vale Velho
On a 100-hectare former farm in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, Reserva do Vale Velho combines organic farming, rewilding and archaeology…
RWSW Rewilding Sudoeste
RWSW Rewilding Sudoeste is a non-profit association founded in 2021 and based in Aljezur. It works to protect and develop native forests and…
Parque de Natureza de Noudar
Parque de Natureza de Noudar is a 151-hectare conservation and nature tourism project near Barrancos, Alentejo, created by EDIA as an enviro…
Quercus – Associação Nacional de Conservação da Natureza
Founded in 1985, Quercus is Portugal's largest independent environmental NGO, working on nature conservation and environmental defence natio…
Eternal Forest
Eternal Forest is a long-term art and ecology project founded in 2018 by artist and poet Evgenia Emets, working towards a global network of …
Cork oak and the montado
The montado is a made landscape that behaves like a wild one: widely spaced cork and holm oaks over pasture and cereal, grazed by pigs, sheep and cattle, harvested for cork every nine years. It supports a species richness closer to a savanna than to a plantation, and Portugal holds the largest area of it in the world.
It is also under pressure, from ageing trees, from drought, and from the arithmetic that makes eucalyptus pay faster. Herdade do Freixo do Meio is among the estates keeping it working rather than picturesque.
Cork is harvested without felling the tree, which is what makes the whole system possible. See also the agroforestry and habitat restoration focuses. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.