PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Over recent decades there have been recurrent wildfires in Europe which have been especially harmful in Southern Europe. Portugal in particular has one of the highest forest fire risk rates in Europe. This risk is further aggravated by climate change projections which predict an increase in temperatures and extended dry periods, resulting in more frequent droughts, heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
The situation is even more concerning both in protected areas surrounding villages and in urban areas with high visitor rates, such as the Cascais area of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park (SCNP-C). SCNP is a Natura 2000 site (Sintra/Cascais site PTCON0008) which includes the UNESCO Sintra World Heritage Cultural Landscape due to both its historic, cultural and social heritage and its natural and semi-natural landscapes.
At the same time, the SNPC-C has seen declining interest by landowners who are increasingly abandoning their land, leading to a rise in unmanaged areas and the accumulation of fuel vegetation, thus raising vulnerability to wildfires. This vulnerability is higher in the southern Cascais area due to the foehn effect. In all, burnt areas have increased in the SCNP-C and large wildfires are becoming recurrent - up to three times in six years in some areas.
Furthermore, this recurrence of wildfires has contributed to an increase in both shrub vegetation and areas occupied by invasive alien species - especially acacia - which in turn contributes to land being abandoned.
OBJECTIVES
To increase the resilience of the SCNP-C to heatwaves and droughts and reduce its vulnerability to wildfires, pests and diseases, floods and soil erosion. By implementing suitable silvo-pastoral management measures on different land cover types, it also aims to safeguard and restore natural and seminatural habitats, contributing to the preservation of fauna and flora species currently threatened by climate change.
In order to achieve those overall objectives, the project aims to:
Promote the adaptation of the SCNP-C to climate change pressures through landscape management, by creating mosaics of forest and grazing which foster the natural control of fuel vegetation and contribute to reducing vegetation in the landscape, thus increasing its resilience.
Develop mechanisms for social and economic enhancement and promotion by reactivating grazing systems and promoting ecotourism in a circular economy model.
At the local Cascais Indigenous Plant Seed Bank, produce adapted plants and varieties more resilient to climate change, using local native seeds or other genetic resources.
Restore degraded riparian galleries by controlling invasive alien species; planting native species; re-profiling run-off water lines; creating wetlands; fostering ecological corridors; minimising the impacts of droughts and floods; and promoting the discontinuation of landscape vegetation.
Support the sustainable reduction of the vegetation load in areas of dense scrubland through rotational grazing with native livestock, thus reducing vulnerability to severe wildfires and improving the conservation of habitats and endemic species.
Create strategic areas of reduced vegetation around rural villages in the SCNP-C and main roads crossing the park to reduce its vulnerability to severe wildfires and to facilitate firefighting, while maintaining and valuing conservation and biodiversity and making them compatible with outdoor nature activities.
Promote participatory approaches and knowledge transfer events to encourage, engage, inform and raise awareness of landowners, local communities, nature users and other stakeholders for the implementation of climate change adaptation actions, influencing decision-makers and policymakers to foster replication.
RESULTS
During the project and the following five years, the project expects to achieve the following results and impacts:
Increase the carbon sequestration rate through sustainable silvo-pastoral management.
Reduce the wildfire risk in the SCNP-C (over 500 ha) by decreasing shrub biomass and invasive alien species area and increasing landscape mosaics.
Convert at least 350 ha of dense scrubland areas into pastures and grazing with regionally and nationally endangered species of goats, donkeys and horses, thus preserving their gene pool.
Implement at least four ha and manage a total of 70 ha of forage crops.
Manage at least 40 ha of natural pastures.
Restore 61 ha of riparian galleries and wetlands by controlling invasive alien species, planting native species, and naturalising and reprofiling run-off water lines.
Manage at least 338 ha of native forest and 36 ha of arborescent matorral.
Manage 59 ha of dunes.
Decrease vegetation management costs by 36%, converting manual and mechanical interventions into natural vegetation management through silvo-pastoral techniques.
Reduce the burnt area and firefighting costs resulting from wildfires.
Contribute to minimising the impact of pests and diseases (e.g. the European gipsy moth Lymantria dispar L.) by promoting vegetation discontinuity and reducing the extension of continuous areas with the same land use.
Promote positive impacts on the conservation of flora and fauna species and habitats (6210 and 5210, among others) protected by the Habitats Directive, including at least four protected endemic plant species (Dianthus cintranus, Armeria pseudoarmeria, Omphalodes kuzinskyanae, Juncus valvatus).
Engage private landowners in the SCNP-C in implimenting and replicating project actions, impacts and results through the creation of a joint collaborative management area (ZIF – Zona de Intervenção Florestal) complemented by a Forest Management Plan (PGF – Plano de Gestão Florestal) until 2039, in order to guarantee the continuous implementation of actions after project-end.
