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Cork oak mosaique landscape PORTUGAL/FAIA BRAVA NATURE RESERVE, CÔA VALLEY, DOURO The Faia Brava reserve is part of the greater Côa valley and one of the wildest areas in Portugal. Here the traditional small-scale agriculture and shepherd life is rapidly disappearing and lands are becoming abandoned. In 2011, Portugal had some 2 million hectares of abandoned farmland, and across the EU each year another million hectares of low-yield farm and pasture lands are being abandoned. This has many reasons, but mainly it seems to be because young Europeans simply don't want to be goatherds, shepherds or subsistence farmers any more, instead preferring the more comfortable life in a town or a city. The old farm and pasture lands now rapidly turn into dense bush, and a lot of species disappear that are connected to the open landscapes. The risk for devastating forest fires also increases a lot with much more dry bush matter available in the landscape. The Rewilding Europe initiative is about trying to turn these problems into opportunities instead. Can we use nature in new ways, that might be even more respectful to nature itself and at the same time more profitable for man? Especially since several of the traditional ways most obviously are not working anymore in quite large areas of Europe. The Faia Brava nature reserve is part of the Rewilding Europe initiative and it is owned and run by Associação Transumância e Natureza (ATN). The Côa valley is the largest outdoor rock carving site in Europe, with carvings dating from 35,000 years ago up to present. The main theme of these carvings is very clear: aurochs, wild horses, ibex and red deer. All of them extinct today in the area, but also all on the list for reintroduction through the Rewilding Europe initiative. Photo: Staffan Widstrand/Wild Wonders of Europe
Copyright
Staffan Widstrand / Wild Wonders of Europe info@wild-wonders.com www.wild-wonders.com
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10519x7013 / 36.3MB
Contained in galleries
Rewilding Europe/W Iberia, Portugal and Spain, Rewilding Europe Best of
Cork oak mosaique landscape PORTUGAL/FAIA BRAVA NATURE RESERVE, CÔA VALLEY, DOURO The Faia Brava reserve is part of the greater Côa valley and one of the wildest areas in Portugal. Here the traditional small-scale agriculture and shepherd life is rapidly disappearing and lands are becoming abandoned. In 2011, Portugal had some 2 million hectares of abandoned farmland, and across the EU each year another million hectares of low-yield farm and pasture lands are being abandoned. This has many reasons, but mainly it seems to be because young Europeans simply don't want to be goatherds, shepherds or subsistence farmers any more, instead preferring the more comfortable life in a town or a city. The old farm and pasture lands now rapidly turn into dense bush, and a lot of species disappear that are connected to the open landscapes. The risk for devastating forest fires also increases a lot with much more dry bush matter available in the landscape. The Rewilding Europe initiative is about trying to turn these problems into opportunities instead. Can we use nature in new ways, that might be even more respectful to nature itself and at the same time more profitable for man? Especially since several of the traditional ways most obviously are not working anymore in quite large areas of Europe. The Faia Brava nature reserve is part of the Rewilding Europe initiative and it is owned and run by Associação Transumância e Natureza (ATN). The Côa valley is the largest outdoor rock carving site in Europe, with carvings dating from 35,000 years ago up to present. The main theme of these carvings is very clear: aurochs, wild horses, ibex and red deer. All of them extinct today in the area, but also all on the list for reintroduction through the Rewilding Europe initiative. Photo: Staffan Widstrand/Wild Wonders of Europe