Good morning. Today brings dinosaur footprints, replanted hillsides and a lively debate about water, with plenty of small, hopeful moments along the way.
The Pedreira do Galinha quarry holds more than a thousand footprints left by dinosaurs that walked across muddy ground in what is now the Serra de Aire, around 175 million years ago. The site was declared the Ourém/Torres Novas Dinosaur Footprints Natural Monument in 1996. Thirty years on, it is still protected, and a programme of activities marking the anniversary is planned to continue until 2027.
The Portuguese government has approved a new Special Programme for the Peneda-Gerês National Park, updating the rules for managing and protecting the area. The aim is to balance nature conservation with the needs of residents, municipalities and local businesses. The park's geographical boundaries are redrawn, and procedures are simplified for maintaining tracks, fire-prevention infrastructure and essential public services such as water, sanitation and telecoms. Traditional farming, grazing and forestry are secured, nature tourism is promoted, and renewable energy for self-consumption and the restoration of existing buildings are made easier. Coordination between the nature and forests institute (ICNF) and the municipalities is strengthened.
The Environment and Energy Minister has ordered the Portuguese Environment Agency to design a scheme directing part of the rents and financial payments from future hydropower concessions to environmental recovery in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park. The agency has 90 days to propose the clauses and the share of revenue involved. Of 22 hydraulic schemes in the park, 14 have concessions ending on 9 October 2028, and a new, preferably bundled tender is planned for 2027. The money would go into the Environmental Fund, backing ecosystem recovery, water resources, wildfire risk reduction and climate adaptation.
On 9 November the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro hosts the closing seminar of the Interreg REFLORESTA project, organised by Quercus in Vila Real. After three years, Portuguese and Spanish partners will present new models for assessing wildfire vulnerability and for predicting post-fire erosion on slopes, plus land-management plans tested in burned pilot areas. A round table covers recovery techniques, from restoring watercourses to reducing erosion risk. In the afternoon, participants visit a burned site in Alijó to watch drone seeding. Attendance is free but requires registration.
On 8 November, the parish of Entre Ambos-os-Rios, in Ponte da Barca, hosts a community day to help restore the Serra Amarela after the wildfires that hit the area. The local cultural, recreational and sports association is bringing residents, associations and partners together again to continue replanting and environmental awareness work. Replanting starts at 10:00 from the parish council building. In the afternoon, the social centre serves a traditional chestnut feast, including vegetarian options, followed by a presentation of the project with Reflorestar Portugal, a show and folk music. Registration is through an online form.
The Forest Research Centre (CEF) at Lisbon's Instituto Superior de Agronomia has completed fifty years of multidisciplinary work. Forest-based activity makes up 4.6% of Portuguese GDP and employs 90,000 people. Highlights include a unique library of cork samples from over a thousand monitored trees, two international patents on cork processing, new Australian parasitoids against the eucalyptus snout beetle, and chestnut rootstocks resistant to ink disease. Researchers now use drones, satellites, lidar and AI, and offer free online simulators for managing six tree species. Future work will focus on anticipating climate threats and restoring degraded ecosystems.
The Plant Pathology Laboratory "Veríssimo de Almeida" at Lisbon's agronomy institute (ISA) helps farmers, nurseries, firms and councils trace the causes of plant problems. In one case it traced seedling losses at a baby-leaf grower to insects surviving in the cultivation trays; in another, with INIAV, it found a nematode new to the Iberian Peninsula in Amaryllis bulbs. In 2019 it identified a lawn bug not yet recorded in Europe, supporting the official report to Brussels. It also assesses urban tree health and stability for councils including Lisbon, Cascais and Sintra, and trains students and professionals.
The 17th UN biodiversity conference closed in Yerevan, Armenia, with roughly 200 countries agreeing to speed up work on the 2030 goals, acknowledging that nearly all are behind schedule. Delegates ordered a global review of the Kunming-Montreal framework, which sets 23 targets including protecting 30% of land and oceans. A separate text dealt with who pays, though talks to expand the donor list beyond its 2006 version were left voluntary. Decisions on the Cali Fund, which would charge firms using genetic data, were put off to 2028. Environmental groups called the outcome modest, and France's ecology minister said it fell short. Ecuador will host the next conference in 2028.
A researcher from MARE-ARNET and INIAV, I.P. led an educational field trip for students on 7 October, National Day of Castles. The visit was part of the Emc2 Project, which explores the coastal habitats of the white crowberry, and was co-organised by the Sagres Fortress.
Six environmental organisations have taken legal action in the Beja Administrative and Tax Court against an intensive tangerine plantation planned for the Murta and Monte Novo estates. They argue that the project, now 260 hectares after being cut from an original 700, could draw almost twice the water the municipality's public network supplied in 2023. The authorised volume is unchanged, and the aquifer already loses more water than it recovers. The national geology laboratory advised against approval, and the municipality opposes the project. The groups are crowdfunding the case and may seek an injunction.
Two Socialist Party MPs for Faro, Luís Graça and Vítor Guerreiro, say construction of the Algarve desalination plant must not stop and that the government must guarantee it. Their stand follows the embargo announced by Albufeira's mayor, Rui Cristina of Chega, who cites an alleged breach of the municipal master plan. The MPs argue that an administrative or formal flaw should not have halted the works, and that an extraordinary meeting of the municipal assembly could have fixed the problem. They call the plant essential to water security in a region exposed to drought and climate change. The environment minister has promised to resolve the situation, and the MPs now want action.
A government order published in the Diário da República defines a protection perimeter around the "Furo Antas" borehole in Rubiães-Antas, Paredes de Coura, which supplies drinking water to 257 people at an average of about 64 cubic metres a day. The rules take effect on Tuesday. The aim is to limit pollution from rainwater runoff, irrigation surplus and washing water, and to allow warning systems for accidental contamination. The Portuguese Environment Agency proposed the boundaries using studies from Águas do Alto Minho, the operator, and the underlying water body is rated in good overall status.
Ambiolhão, the water and sanitation operator in Olhão, is carrying out a €7.65 million programme to renew supply and sewerage networks. About €3.72 million of that qualifies for funding under Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan, in the water supply component. The works cover 25.2 kilometres: 17.7 km of mains and 7.5 km of household connection branches, spread across Olhão, Quelfes, Armona Island and several other localities. The company says the aim is to cut water losses, make the networks more efficient and make supply more reliable. It is already planning further work on its main reservoirs and trunk pipes, to improve storage, distribution and security of supply.
The Coimbra Metropolitan Region has been chosen to lead Water Sensitive Territories, one of 25 networks approved from 90 applications under the URBACT IV programme. Seven partners are involved: Coimbra, Elche in Spain, Shijak in Albania, Lille in France, Enschede in the Netherlands, Kalocsa in Hungary and Akamas in Cyprus. Running until April 2029, the network will share good practice, identify solutions, carry out pilot interventions and draw up integrated action plans. Priorities include water in urban planning, green and blue infrastructure, nature-based solutions and community participation. It builds on the region's earlier coordination of a water-focused thematic partnership under the EU Urban Agenda.
Marta Pinto Coelho, a board member at Porto's water and energy utility, argues that the pipes, reservoirs, pumping stations and sensors beneath city streets work so well that people rarely understand them, and that what goes unseen is seldom protected. She recalls how the Water Pavilion, opened at Expo'98 in Lisbon and rebuilt in Porto, used interaction rather than display panels to teach about water. With drought, climate change, micropollutants and biodiversity now at stake, she proposes that its next step be to show how a city functions through water: supply routes, quality laboratories, repair crews and smart systems that anticipate leaks and extreme events.
Researchers from Portugal, China and Germany met at the Coimbra Agricultural School on 9 October to discuss using less water in farming. They concluded that precision irrigation needs soil and plant sensors, remote sensing and drone imagery read together, alongside soil conservation such as direct seeding, ground cover and more organic matter. The main difficulty is interpreting the combined data. Controlling soil salinisation, reusing drainage water, tracking microplastics in irrigation water and trialling algae-based fertilisers were also on the agenda. Priorities include automation and real-time monitoring, and the six institutions plan further scientific cooperation.
Luís Santos Pereira, a retired full professor at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), received the "Personalidade do Regadio" award at the 11th National Irrigation and Drainage Congress in Beja. The prize, presented by the irrigation technology centre COTR, recognises decades of research and work promoting irrigation in Portugal. The congress, themed around water for future production, brought together specialists, researchers, farmers and other bodies to discuss water efficiency, technological innovation and the sustainability of water resources in agriculture. ISA congratulated its former professor and highlighted the institution's role in advancing scientific knowledge and sustainable farming.
BioSmart – Soluções Ambientais has again been awarded the job of transporting clarification sludge from Águas do Algarve's water treatment plants. The contract is worth €450,516 and runs for 24 months, with a possible 12-month extension up to a maximum of 36. It covers three lots: one centred on the Tavira plant in the east and two on the Alcantarilha plant in the west. Around 36,000 tonnes of sludge are expected to be moved over its lifetime. The sludge is classed as non-hazardous waste, and since 2004 it has been sent to cement kilns for recovery rather than landfill.
The number of collective self-consumption projects and renewable energy communities running in Portugal rose from 879 in January to 2,127 by September 2026, according to the Environment and Energy Ministry. Together they hold 124.1 MW of installed capacity. Individual self-consumption also grew, with over 282,000 certified installations and about 2.78 GW in early October. The ministry credits Decree-Law 130/2026, which cuts grid-operator consultations, relaxes proximity rules and eases entry and exit of participants. Public-sector projects must aim to make at least 10% of shared energy available to vulnerable consumers, and eligible schemes get a seven-year exemption from certain electricity-bill charges.
Fully electric cars made up 44.9% of new passenger-car registrations in Portugal in October, with 7,452 units, up 61.4% on a year earlier, according to ACAP figures reported by Lusa. Over the first ten months of 2026, electric models took 30.3% of the 205,507 passenger cars registered, and Tesla led with 9,673 units, ahead of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Conventional hybrids and plug-in hybrids both grew over the ten months but fell back in October, by 9.3% and 19.2%. Across all vehicle types, registrations rose 9.9% to 241,293.
Trains will run again on 15 November between Torres Vedras and Caldas da Rainha, a 41-kilometre stretch shut since 28 January after damage from storm Kristin. The Infrastructure and Housing Ministry announced the date on Monday. With it, the whole line from Figueira da Foz to Torres Vedras is back in service, after northern sections reopened in February and March. The final stretch, between Mira Sintra-Meleças and Torres Vedras, has no trains and no reopening date. Replacement buses continue on that leg, so passengers from Leiria or Marinha Grande heading to Lisbon still change to a coach at Torres Vedras.
FlixBus has extended its network to connect Aveiro with Marinha Grande. The new link joins a route that already stopped at Figueira da Foz, Nazaré and Peniche. It runs 34 times a week, and the journey takes under two hours. Tickets start at €1.99.
A photovoltaic plant called Terra Ruiva, with 53.42 MWp of capacity, is planned for about 70 hectares in Cachopo parish, Tavira, near the hamlets of Alcarias de Baixo and Amoreira. It needs a 1.5 km overhead high-voltage line to reach Tavira substation. Building it means felling 527 holm oaks and one cork oak, which the developer, a Chint Solar Portugal company, would offset by planting 1,368 holm oaks on 8.71 hectares. The developer rates soil, flora and fauna impacts as negative but minor. Construction should take 13 months, with a 30-year operating life. Comments to the environmental impact assessment are open until 9 December on participa.pt.
The Portuguese government expects to finish this year a decree-law setting the criteria for installing data centres in the country, Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho said. The rules will weigh a project's benefit to Portugal, including digital transition, jobs and contribution to GDP, alongside grid connection costs and renewable energy supply. Operators need not generate their own power but must use renewable electricity. Water use will be restricted and requires available supply, and projects will also need a positive environmental impact declaration. The minister said the text will differ from Spain's legislation. Data centres underpin artificial intelligence but consume large amounts of energy and water.
Galp says it could invest more in its Sines refinery, but only if Portuguese rules become more predictable. The plant already runs close to full capacity, so any extra output would need new works. Projects under way, including green hydrogen and a unit for sustainable aviation fuel and renewable road diesel, should meet national blending targets to 2030. Beyond that, the company says clear demand targets are missing and cites Spain, which has them to 2040. It also notes that a 100 MW electrolyser there received €150 million in aid, against €9 million in Portugal, followed by an extraordinary tax.
Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho says the government has the legal means to act if Portuguese control of the Sines refinery, the country's only one, were ever at risk. She cited a 2014 decree-law allowing non-EU investors to be refused entry to strategic assets, plus EU rules on foreign investment and critical infrastructure. Galp ended talks with Moeve on 26 October without an agreement; the deal would have given the Spanish group 80% of the refinery. Carvalho said the government monitored the talks throughout and was not the reason they failed.
Ten municipalities along the Douro and Sabor rivers have sent an open letter to the heads of EDP and Movhera, demanding payment of taxes arising from the 2020 sale of six hydroelectric dams for €2.2 billion. They put the amount owed at about €335 million, including IMT, stamp duty and IMI property tax. The mayors object to the concession holders contesting these charges in court. Five rulings in Mirandela's tax court have gone against Movhera on IMI, and the company has appealed. The councils ask both firms to settle their obligations and open an institutional dialogue.
Madeira's JPP party says the PSD and CDS have let the regular ferry link between the island and the mainland fall by the wayside. It follows confirmation in parliament that the service is not in the proposed 2027 state budget. The Government's reply to a JPP deputy, Filipe Sousa, cited difficulties with the viability of the option studied. Sousa had asked about timetable, funding and public-service obligations for next year. He argues territorial continuity justifies public investment rather than a purely commercial test, and says the Government should seek other operating models and cost-cutting ideas instead of giving up. He rejects criticism of his party's abstention on the budget.
Loulé's municipal council has formally told Environment Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho it opposes any new incineration capacity, or a major increase in waste co-incineration, in the municipality, and has asked for an urgent meeting. It wants confirmation of whether any plan exists for the CIMPOR cement plant. It also seeks an independent audit of the Salir landfill and full information on the Albufeira desalination plant's effects on the Quarteira coast. The council argues the Algarve's waste burden should be shared fairly, putting prevention and recycling first, since the region landfills 85% of its waste against a national average of 56%.
The Faro district branch of the CDS-PP welcomes the environment minister's willingness to include alternatives to incineration in the study on the Algarve's future municipal waste treatment. It insists its own circular-economy proposal be assessed too, rejecting any claim that the environmental group ZERO pioneered such alternatives. The plan envisages organic recovery plants in Silves (70,000 tonnes a year) and Serra de Espinhaço de Cão (45,000), plus units preparing waste-derived fuels in Portimão and Cortelha. The party wants comparable assumptions, cost and tariff transparency, a published timetable and the involvement of AMAL, the municipalities and independent experts.
Braga municipality, Agere and Braval have launched a mobile recycling centre, inaugurated symbolically in Adaúfe, that will visit every parish in the municipality and others in the Braval system. Six containers take paper, bulbs, empty cans, bulky items, appliances and electrical equipment, and used cooking oil. It will stay 15 days in each parish, in alphabetical order, near churches, fairs and festivals. More units are due next year, and Braval wants at least six per municipality. The city also hopes to accept small building waste, to curb dumping on public paths.
The Embalagem do Futuro project, which brings together 79 organisations across cardboard, glass, plastic, wood and other parts of the packaging value chain, wants its collaboration to outlast the project itself. It is proposing a national packaging alliance open to all materials and technologies, including the trade associations already representing producers. The idea was put to industry on 27 October at the LogiPack fair in Lisbon. The push comes as the EU packaging regulation (PPWR) imposes new recyclability, reuse and waste-reduction rules, which are hard for mostly small and medium-sized firms to meet alone. Any interested company is invited to join.
Lisbon-region waste companies Amarsul and Valorsul have opened applications for the second edition of their Open Innovation programme, with more than €150,000 to be invested in winning projects. Start-ups, universities and sector firms, Portuguese or foreign, can apply until 25 January 2027 in three categories: connected safety and AI in operations, modular pre-treatment systems for mixed municipal waste, and industrial IoT for predictive maintenance. Winners receive €3,000 and can co-develop pilots and test their solutions in the two companies' industrial operations. Shortlisted entries will be announced on 15 March, before a jury presentation in the second half of April.
Paulo Flores Ribeiro, an agricultural economist at Lisbon's Instituto Superior de Agronomia, says more farmland inside forested areas could lower wildfire risk. A survey in the Pinhal Interior found forest owners willing to hand over land, but ageing farmers reluctant to take it on because succession is uncertain. Climate modelling for the Alentejo suggests cork-oak montado could lose ground to holm oak, with irrigated olive groves expanding and stone pine shrinking. He doubts that payments tied to environmental results would suit farmers, citing the steppe-bird decline in Castro Verde, and awaits details of the EU nature credits plan.
Paulo Ramalho, vice-president of the northern regional development commission CCDR Norte, argued that farming matters well beyond food production, citing its role in rural cohesion, biodiversity and wildfire prevention. He said farmers should be paid for the ecosystem services they provide and called for stronger cooperatives and producer organisations to help small family holdings gain scale and market clout. He noted that 1,090 of roughly 2,000 approved young-farmer applications nationally come from the North, 397 of them from Trás-os-Montes. He spoke at a young farmers' meeting in Macedo de Cavaleiros on 23 October.
The Leiria Intermunicipal Community has put its sub-regional programme for integrated rural fire management out for public consultation. The plan aims to strengthen prevention, manage the land more effectively and sustainably, reduce the exposure of people and property, and improve coordination between the bodies responsible for fire management. Residents, municipalities, forest owners, organisations and other local players are invited to send written comments, suggestions or complaints by email until 15 December, so that their input can shape the programme before it is finally approved.
The COMPETE 2030 programme has launched a call for collective actions to cut emissions and improve the energy and environmental performance of small and medium-sized businesses in the Norte, Centro and Alentejo regions. It targets energy-intensive and heavily polluting sectors, backing low-carbon technologies and processes, renewable energy and training for companies. Projects should offer the potential for target groups to reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% on average. Applicants include business associations, chambers of commerce, universities, research laboratories and non-profit bodies. Applications are open on the Balcão dos Fundos portal until 5pm on 8 January 2027.
João Santos, from Quarteira, presented Portugal's Young Fisher Statute at a Food and Agriculture Organization youth assembly session in Rome, speaking on behalf of Fisheries Secretary of State Salvador Malheiro. The statute, set out in Decree-Law 6/2026 of 14 January, aims to ease the entry of young people into fishing and aquaculture and to value these professions in coastal communities. It followed more than ten years of lobbying of decision-makers by Santos, who worked 12 years as a professional fisherman in Quarteira before joining the Ministry of Agriculture and Sea. Generational renewal remains one of the sector's main challenges.
Researchers at Lisbon's Instituto Superior de Agronomia are working with food companies on sustainable products, from algae-enriched tomato pulp and cheeses to vegan mayonnaise made with microalgae. Several are already on sale. The team is tackling the sea smell and fishy taste of algae using enzymes and aroma-based food pairing. It is also testing algae and pea-protein meat analogues made by high-moisture extrusion, plus 3D-printed snacks. The lead researcher expects the scientific basis for taking extrusion to market within three years, and has co-authored a national food-sector proposal for the government.
Porto Business School has launched the Atlantic–China Futures Observatory, run through its Innovation X Hub, to make Porto a meeting point between China and Atlantic countries including Portugal, Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa. It targets clean energy, batteries and artificial intelligence, and aims to join up what the school calls fragmented cooperation between companies, universities and research centres. Three strands cover strategic research, business connections and leadership training. Early plans include monthly briefings for company boards, an annual outlook due in January 2027 and a China Innovation Week. The launch follows Portugal and China reviving their joint science and technology commission in October.
The council of Madalena do Pico, in the Azores, has put a draft tourist tax regulation out for public consultation until 3 December. Guests would pay €2 a night for up to three consecutive nights per establishment, with campsites and caravan parks charging €1. Children under 13, people with a disability of 60% or more and residents of any Azorean municipality would be exempt. The council expects around €216,000 a year, which it says would help cover waste management, cleaning, signage and upkeep of public spaces under pressure from tourism growth. Neighbouring Lajes do Pico has started a similar process.
The 2021 Census counted more than 720,000 vacant dwellings in Portugal, though only about half were actually for sale or rent. Elsewhere, non-profit associations hold roughly 30% of Dutch homes, and in Vienna over 40% are public or cooperative. Portugal's public stock is just 2%. The Fundação Âncora plans to restore buildings granted by councils and social bodies, aiming for 1,000 homes in five years, while Une-Idades pairs older people with spare rooms with students needing affordable lodging. Three steps are proposed: state and local authorities supplying land, rules and incentives; funders accepting longer horizons; and social organisations turning to idle property.
The Azores regional government says 72% of 241 newly built homes allocated under its rent-to-buy scheme went to people and households aged up to 35, chosen by public tender. The regime, regulated in 2025, lets tenants buy after a year, with rent paid deducted from the sale price. Monthly rents run from 288 euros for a one-bedroom to 644 euros for a four-bedroom, well below market levels. Seventy per cent of beneficiaries are households with dependants, 15% single-parent and 13% include a person with a disability. The government says it has put over 138 million euros into housing since 2021.
Ourique's council is pushing ahead with its Local Housing Strategy as demand outstrips supply. A recent tender for six municipal homes drew more than forty eligible applications. The council has already refurbished 39 homes in the Bairro do Rosal and is finishing new units in the former Casa dos Médicos, while four two-bedroom flats are under construction in the old Social Security building. It aims to reach forty municipal homes by the end of the term and plans two new housing developments, one on land already bought and rezoned. Mayor Marcelo Guerreiro also wants private investment and says central government funding is needed, especially for low-density areas.
The Bloco de Esquerda has surveyed 63 streets in Beja and counted 366 vacant units, of which 278 are homes and 89 are shuttered shops. It estimates around 500 units are empty once unsurveyed areas are included. The party blames the PSD-PCP council for failing to deal with housing shortages and decay in the historic centre, where rents are among the highest in the interior. To fix this, it wants a public municipal construction company focused on rehabilitation and minor repairs. The party argues this would give the council direct labour, new jobs and a way to regulate the local market, since several council rehabilitation tenders went unanswered.
Anadia Municipality's executive has approved a public call to allocate 21 homes in the Urbanização do Fojo, on Rua Costa da Igreja in Sangalhos. Eight apartments will be let under supported rent, with applications ranked by classification, while the other 13 will be let at affordable rent and awarded by draw. Applications are open until 10 December.
The Algarve 2030 programme has opened a funding call for projects that increase housing capacity for displaced higher-education students. Money can go to building new university residences or to rehabilitating and converting existing buildings. The aim is to widen access to higher education and cut the costs of attending, easing financial barriers for young people. The University of the Algarve, municipalities and other relevant public and associative bodies may apply. Applications are submitted through the Balcão dos Fundos portal and close at 18:00 on 30 June 2027.
Beja's municipality has joined 39 other Portuguese local authorities in signing the Charter of Commitment for Universal Accessibility, run by Associação Salvador with the Institute of Cities and Towns with Mobility. The council undertakes to build accessibility into its policies and works, covering public spaces, buildings, transport and services, so that people with disabilities or reduced mobility can move around on equal terms. The association will give signatory councils technical support and encourage the sharing of good practice. Accessibility also matters for older people, those with temporary mobility problems and families with pushchairs. The test now is turning the pledge into real improvements, such as obstacle-free pavements, accessible crossings and adapted public buildings.
The Semana de Ambiente 2026 begins on 19 November at the LNEC Congress Centre in Lisbon, and places are running short. It combines three conferences: the 21st Water Expo Conference (19-20 November), the 14th Energy Forum (23-24 November) and the 20th Waste Forum (25-26 November). Topics include new hydroelectric concessions, wholesale water tariffs, licensing of energy projects, storage, the biomethane market, the TERRA+ strategy and the Volta system. The Minister for Environment and Energy and two Secretaries of State are due to take part, setting out government priorities for the coming year.
The Navigator Company is holding a new edition of its Sustainability Forum on 4 November at 14:30, in the auditorium of its Setúbal industrial complex. The theme is the climate-nature nexus and how it reshapes risk management, adaptation and resilience for territories and organisations, following recent years of extreme weather. Speakers include a NOVA University of Lisbon scientist, a forest-management specialist from the FSC board, and a Suzano executive presenting on climate scenarios in Brazilian industry. A round table with academic and sector voices from Portugal and Spain will discuss preparedness for climate risks. Chief executive António Redondo opens the session.
The city of Guarda will host the second World Congress of Inland Tourism on 18 and 19 November at its Municipal Theatre. The event aims to examine the challenges and future of tourist destinations, paying particular attention to inland areas of Portugal and Spain. More than 45 speakers and participants from 18 countries are expected to take part over the two days.
The Liga para a Protecção da Natureza (LPN) took part in the 32nd Pedagogical Days of Environmental Education, held in Bragança from 15 to 18 October 2026. The event was organised by the environmental education association ASPEA, the Polytechnic University of Bragança and the municipality, and drew around 180 researchers, teachers, students and civil society groups. LPN board member Ruben Oliveira spoke on a panel about education and local territories, while a teacher seconded to LPN presented a paper on mobile technologies in field trips. Discussions highlighted traditional knowledge, family farming, agroecology and short supply chains as tools for local cohesion.
The University of Minho has launched the first edition of an annual award named after Álvaro Laborinho Lúcio, the jurist, writer and former justice minister who died in 2025. It recognises students, alumni, staff and groups from the academic community whose work advances active citizenship, inclusion and human rights. Nominations run from 2 November to 11 December 2026. The winner receives a diploma and €2,500, which must fund a social, educational, cultural, environmental or community project, or be donated to a body working in those areas. The result will be announced on University Day, 17 February 2027.
The Terras sem Sombra festival returns to Castelo de Vide on 7 and 8 November with music, heritage and biodiversity on the programme. The centrepiece is a Saturday evening concert by Poland's Hornet Quartet, four horn soloists from Polish symphony orchestras, in the Convento de São Francisco church, playing works by Lutosławski, Debussy and others. Earlier that day, art historians lead a walk through the town's wayside shrines and chapels. On Sunday, biologist Carlos Vila-Viçosa guides a walk in the Serra de São Mamede, which holds around 800 plant species, to study its oak woodlands. All activities are free to attend.
The Escola Profissional de Alte is running a guided walk of about 10 kilometres, called Veredas Ribeirinhas d'Alte, on Sunday 29 November. The route follows an old footpath beside the Ribeira de Alte, passing the Cascata do Vigário waterfall, the Fonte Grande and Fonte Pequena springs and the village itself, including its open-air street art gallery. The organisers present it as a way to understand the geological character of the area, which lies within the Algarvensis Geopark, a UNESCO Global Geopark. Walkers finish with a meal at the school. Registration is open online or through the school's tourism coordinator.
About 700 native trees were planted on Saturday morning on common land in the parish of Fontoura, in Valença. The planting took place at the Baldio dos Azevinheiros, on a former motocross track, and was organised by the company MAAP – MA Automotive Portugal as a team-building activity for its employees. A thousand trees had been planned, but the site's characteristics and available area did not allow all of them to go in. The remainder will replace trees that died in areas planted in earlier years. Civil Protection, parish council workers, local associations and volunteers helped with the preparation and with food for the participants.
About 30 volunteers cleaned Praia da Vieira beach and gathered 423 kilos of marine waste, plus a large quantity of wood, according to the civic movement One Piece After Another. The haul included ropes, octopus pots, fishing nets, plastic and glass bottles, polystyrene, light bulbs and bottle caps. The movement organised the clean-up with the Visit Praia da Vieira group, and a tractor from Companha O Lusitano helped with the work. Before it began, participants were briefed on changing consumption and waste-disposal habits, and on what to do when an animal is found stranded on the sand.
The municipality of Paredes has expanded its network of household used cooking oil collection bins, installing 30 new ones across the parishes since September. The aim is to bring collection points closer to residents and make recycling easier. Residents let the oil cool, pour it into a tightly closed plastic bottle and drop it in a bin. From there the company EcoMovimento takes over and sends the waste for recovery. Badly discarded cooking oil can seriously harm the environment, and the recovered oil is meant to be turned into energy solutions, contributing to the circular economy.
Queijaria Guilherme, a dairy based in the municipality of Serpa in the Baixo Alentejo, took first place in two categories at the Queijos de Portugal 2026 competition: sheep's-milk requeijão and Serpa PDO cheese. The contest, run by the national dairy industry association ANIL, drew 236 products from 55 companies across 29 categories, judged by dairy and food specialists. The Serpa PDO category was new this year, alongside a separate one for Serra da Estrela PDO. Winners were honoured at a ceremony in Vila Nova de Gaia on 28 October. The dairy, founded in 2001, makes its cheeses by traditional methods.
The Azorean Emigration Museum in Ribeira Grande now offers virtual guided tours made specifically for children, using audio and animated video in Portuguese, English, French and German. The council says about a quarter of the museum's tourist visitors are children, which prompted the move. The tours explore why so many Azoreans left the islands, where they went, how they travelled and the hardships they met. The museum, set in a former nineteenth-century fish market, opened in 2005 and has received more than 60,000 visitors. The municipality describes the tours as an investment in heritage education and in making the museum more accessible.
A former passenger bus in Alvares, in the municipality of Góis, has been converted into tourist accommodation. The vehicle is 12 metres long and sleeps up to three people. Inside it has a kitchen, a living area and a bathroom. It is listed on Airbnb and offers an unusual option for a short break in the interior of Portugal's Centro region, set in the middle of the countryside.
Ando Living has opened Comporta Villas, a private retreat set among the pine forests and sandy beaches of the Alentejo coast. The development presents itself as a new way of experiencing Comporta, a stretch of coastline that has become one of Portugal's best-known upmarket holiday destinations.
American actor Jeremy Allen White, best known for the series The Bear and the US version of Shameless, has been in Lisbon. During the visit he bought items from Bordalo Pinheiro, the Portuguese ceramics brand.
