ADAPTFORCHANGE

The recent expansion of the semi-arid climate in the Alentejo and the growing impact of climate change requires local adaptation. The increase of the native forest represents a strategy in the ecosystem since it increases the resiliency and ecosystem services by increasing the organic material in the soil, carbon and nitrogen, biodiversity, water infiltration, etc; and decreases susceptibility to desertification. For this reason, large areas have been reforested with native species of oak and cork oak in Alentejo, but with a low success rate.

The objective of Adapt For Change was to reduce the cost-effectiveness of reforestation through an innovative approach: the development of a model that points which areas:

1. may be readily regenerated at low cost;
2. should be subject to assisted reforestation, with the support of several techniques;
3. must be held by alternative activities because of the difficulty in the reforestation.

By tallying efforts and energy to each site through knowledge of their ecology substantially lowered the cost-effective, improving long-term survival rates.

Taking into account the involvement of stakeholders created sensitivity and technical capacity to ensure the sustainability of project activities, including soil conservation demonstration actions and planned water.

Large areas in Alentejo have been reforested in the last decades with the native species cork and holm –oaks, but experiencing a low success rate. This project intended to learn from this reforestation campaigns, from the last 40 years, to understand what methods used showed best results and success rates. Natural regeneration is an important component of the reforestation success. From the analysis of its occurrence, resulted a model (available at the website) that allows identification of specific zones in Mértola (Alentejo), where natural regeneration is favored or needs assistance to occur, and what techniques are more adequate in each case. Detailed plans are of extreme importance, namely in areas of complex topography. There is not a single “recipe” that results everywhere in the country. For a good cost/benefit relation, reforestations need to be adapted to the climate. Other results from this analysis of past reforestations are being prepared to be published in scientific peer reviewed journals, to reach a wider audience, being 3 already in preparation. Another important result from AdaptForChange is the “Mértola Climatic Change Adaptation Plan” for the sector of forests and agriculture (available at the website). It’s an innovative document in Portugal, by its methods, and for which an implementation compromise was signed (at the closing seminar) by the mayor of Mértola municipality and other decision stakeholder institutions: ADPM, ICNF, Cooperativa Agrícola do Guadiana, together with the coordinator of the AdaptForChange project. It is an instrument of management, directed at guiding forests and agriculture to a sustainable future, considering the climatic change scenarios and evaluating their impacts over the territory. It was developed in close contact with the farmers, landowners, managers and other interested stakeholders. The involvement with the community is also expected from the release of free e-books based on the project conclusions, in a simple and accessible language. The ebook themes are about good practices for semiarid regions: for soil and water conservation; for enhancing ecosystem services in reforestations; and for alternative activities in forests. These documents are planned to be updated if new information is made available.