Description

Practice abstract

Herdade da Coitadinha belongs to the Noudar Nature Park, which covers around 1000 hectares in Barrancos (South of Portugal). It is a project developed by EDIA (a public company) as a compensation measure for the impacts caused by the large Alqueva dam (full level reached for the first time in 2010,  with a catchment area of 250 km2). The work carried out on this farm is the multifunctional management of the park, integrating the areas of agroforestry, livestock, hunting, and tourism. In the area of livestock farming, the farm produces beef cattle of local breeds, as well as pigs during the winter. The farm’s main focus is nature conservation, and its current concern is to analyze the adaptation of the cork oak forest to climate change. To this end, two plots were installed, one of cork oak and the other of holm oak, both with drip irrigation, with the aim of analyzing the response of these crops to the warmer seasons. This, unfortunately, can only be replicated if there is water available. Another measure implemented was the installation of an almond grove, to enhance soil conservation and quality in the areas without trees.  In this way, new areas with tree cover were created, protect the soil, increasing biodiversity and promoting new plots for grazing. 

Context profil