By: Nuno Mamede Santos | Institute of Regenerative Planning | Terracrua Design
National Sustainability Day, observed on September 25, is an opportunity to bring people closer to the concrete problems of the territory. In the Alentejo, and particularly in the municipality of Odemira, that means talking about the montado, its importance, and the conditions needed to ensure its continuity.
Although cork production is the most recognized activity, it is far from the only one. The montado supports livestock rearing, beekeeping, the production of acorns, mushrooms and aromatic plants, hunting, and nature tourism. It protects the soil, shelters biodiversity, stores carbon and participates in regulating the water cycle. It is also a lived-in and worked landscape, associated with knowledge, professions and ways of life that continue to mark the Alentejo. Its environmental, economic and social value arises precisely from this combination.
But it is important not to romanticize it. We are not facing a natural forest that remained intact to our days. The montado is a landscape built over generations through the selection of species that regenerated spontaneously, the maintenance of cork oaks and holm oaks, the opening of clearings, grazing, agriculture and the extraction of different products.
Therefore, preserving the montado cannot mean conserving an idealized photograph of the past. Some old practices still make sense; others were developed for social, economic and environmental conditions that no longer exist. The challenge is not to choose between tradition and change, but to understand what continues to work, what has ceased to work, and what needs to be adapted.
Currently, the montado also faces several challenges. Lack of natural regeneration, aging trees, diseases, erosion, soil compaction, frequent relocations of grazing livestock, misaligned stocking rates and prolonged drought periods. These factors act together, and, therefore, there is no single cause for the decline nor a single solution.
Part of the decline of the montado may be related to this simplification. Over time, we applied a relatively uniform recipe to territories that are naturally diverse. We eliminated vegetation strata, repeatedly mobilized the soil, and carried production into areas that should have served protective, infiltrating or conserving functions.
The recovery of the montado must, therefore, begin with a joint reading of the topography, of water, of accesses, of the soil, of the vegetation and of the production system. An isolated intervention can solve a local problem and create another downstream. In this way, not all interventions require large investments. Some changes can begin with observation, planning and a gradual change in management.
Animal stocking must also be adjusted to the real capacity of the pasture and to the season. Grazing can be an important management tool, but the excessive permanence of animals in the same place compacts the soil and hinders regeneration.
In addition, it is necessary to protect natural regeneration, watercourses and riparian vegetation, avoiding the movement of machines in the most sensitive areas. These areas perform important roles of protection, infiltration and shelter.
This is not about replacing one uniform recipe with another. A montado in Odemira, under Atlantic influence, does not respond exactly as a montado in the interior of the Alentejo. Soil depth, exposure, geology, precipitation, topography and the management history should guide each decision.
Therefore, we cannot ask small farmers and landowners to undertake the regeneration of a system that provides services to all of society on their own. Protecting the soil, promoting water infiltration, conserving biodiversity, reducing fire risk and maintaining a lived-in landscape have costs. These functions must be recognized through technical support, appropriate public policies, and remuneration models that value the services provided by the territory.
It is necessary to invest in community literacy. Today there is a lot of technical information about the montado, but that information does not always reach those who make daily decisions on the ground. Small farmers and landowners receive scattered recommendations, sometimes contradictory, and do not always find spaces where they can test them against their experience.
It is here that cultural projects like “Stories in the Shade of the Montado” can play an important role.
The comic strip does not replace technical work, of course. It can, however, take the theme to schools, cafes, associations and homes where a specialized manual would hardly reach. It can explain a problem without starting with a regulation and present a practice without turning the conversation into a class.
I believe that the question “we have always done it this way; why must we do it differently now?” should not be avoided. It should be discussed with respect for the knowledge of those who work the land, but also with attention to what the territory itself is showing us.
On National Sustainability Day, the message that matters to leave is simple: the montado is not a guaranteed landscape nor a recipe to be applied uniformly. It is the result of decisions taken over generations. Its continuity will depend on the decisions we make now; on the ability to again distinguish valleys, slopes, crests and water lines; on restoring the mosaic of the landscape; and on managing each place according to the conditions and functions that are its own.
