Overview of the montado
In Portugal, the main agroforestry system is a traditional system called Montado. It is characterised by low density trees combined with agriculture or pastoral activities. The main tree species encountered in the Montado are cork oak (Quercus suber L) and/or holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia L). Mixed stands with a combination of these species are also common. Cork oak based Montado areas are included in the Portuguese National Forest Inventory (NFI) as part of the cork oak and holm oak forest area, which occupies 736,775 ha and 331,179 ha respectively (AFN, 2010). There are substantial variations in the management of the understorey ranging from forest systems (cork in cork oak systems) to agrosilvopastoral systems (cork, sweet acorns, animal and/or crop production together). The majority of the Montado area is in the south-east of Portugal, although there are some areas in the north of the country.
The cork oak
Cork oaks can live up to 200 years and have a unique feature: they produce cork! The cork is the bark of the tree that, in this case, works as a natural barrier against fire, a common element in cork oak distribution range. Cork can be extracted periodically in a sustainable manner without damaging the trees.
Cork oak trees are evergreen, the leaves are green on the upper side and whitish below. The fruit, better known as acorn grows between November and January.
Cork oak forests are a very special ecosystem, like the vineyards of the Douro Valley or the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. They have a delicate balance, and it is an ecosystem that only exists in the Mediterranean basin, particularly in the regions to the south of the Iberian Peninsula, with Atlantic influence, as is the case of Portugal. The trees grow from sea level up to an altitude of 500 meters,
Portugal concentrates 34 percent of the world’s area of cork oak forests, corresponding to an area of 736 thousand hectares and 23 per cent of the national forest. Portugal has the world’s largest area of cork oak montado.
The cork is the national tree of Portugal and several management practices, regarding the tree and montados, are legislated by the national parliament.
More information here
The montado system is under threat
Actually, there are different threats and drivers of change to this system, threatening the ecosystem as we know it. These include rural abandonment, increasing tree mortality, reduced natural regeneration, unsuitable management practices, pests and diseases, depreciation of cork market value, overgrazing, air pollution and climate change.
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Useful information
Montado and Mosaic Systems in Portugal
https://www.agforward.eu/index.php/en/montado-in-portugal.html
Modelling livestock carrying capacity in montados
06 Modelling livestock carrying capacity in montados (501.9 KiB)
MONTADO – Conservation and valorisation of Montado
Forestry systems for combatting desertification
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=search.dspPage&n_proj_id=1056&docType=pdf
Montado
http://ecopotential-project.eu/site-studies/protected-areas/36-montado-systems.html
UNESCO – Montado, Cultural Landscape
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6210/
Pinto-Correia, T., Ribeiro, N. & Sá-Sousa, P. Introducing the montado, the cork and holm oak agroforestry system of Southern Portugal. Agroforest Syst 82, 99 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-011-9388-1
Website links
The Environmental brochure
The Environmental brochure is a support that explains importance of the “montado” (cork oak forest) and it’s ecosystem to the environment. CO2 retention, fauna and flora, hydrologic regulation and soil conservation are some of the contents that you may find.
http://www.filcork.pt/ [in Portuguese]
Filcork is dedicated to the problems of the whole chain independently of particular interests, presenting itself as a credible and effective institutional interlocutor in defending the interests of cork.
http://www.unac.pt/ [in Portuguese]
UNAC – Union of Farmers’ Organizations for the Development of the Moor, was founded in December 1989, with the area of social intervention in the municipalities located in the south of the Tagus, which are included in the area commonly known as the “Moor”.
However, the adhesion of new associations, all of them with a forest object, caused UNAC to change its name and object, undergoing a profound strategic change and reorientation. A new position was adopted on the strategic themes of action, which became the defence of private property rights, the economic enhancement of forest spaces, the integration of forest spaces in rural development and the socioeconomic valorisation of the forest space and its owner in the environmental function. Coordination and the relationship between the Associations, the training of human resources and the synergy between the means of the various associations were also considered essential.
Thus began in 2002 the implementation of a strategy with the objective of creating an associative structure that represented the interests of agroforestry spaces in the Mediterranean region, UNAC – Union of the Mediterranean Forest, in order to respect and promote its new object.
Currently, UNAC represents the interests of forest producers in the Portuguese Mediterranean area with national and European institutions, through a technical-political intervention strategy. It monitors and analyzes all processes and initiatives with relevance and interest for its members, such as rural, forest, environmental and fiscal policies.
