Program to promote R&D activities Montesinho Natural Park

Valuing the interior through knowledge from a sustainable development perspective requires scientific research and technological development that enables each region to understand its natural resources, particularly biological resources, including forests and agricultural and agroforestry systems, natural and cultural heritage, and socio-cultural dynamics, within a framework of climate change and potential biotic and abiotic risks, combining observation, experimentation and monitoring.

The Montesinho Natural Park (PNM) is a mountain area with unique characteristics, as it is the last relief in the north-east of Portugal that still belongs to the north-west of the Peninsula and borders the Iberian Meseta. It has unparalleled environmental wealth and is part of the Natura 2000 Network and the United Nations' Iberian Meseta Biosphere Reserve.

In areas where there is an interface between different natural domains, as in this case in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula and the Iberian Mediterranean plateau, the biodiversity is enormous and facilitates privileged areas for monitoring and studying climate change in depth, as well as developing mitigation measures and actions in good time. In the case of the PNM, the mountain system has a significant influence on the regional climate, as shown by the studies and monitoring work carried out in recent decades, especially within the framework of the Iberian Mountain Research Network.

With the promotion of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary R&D activities to be carried out in the Montesinho Natural Park as a benchmark, the aim is to project them into the future, developing new knowledge in various thematic areas, from a multidisciplinary scientific and cultural perspective, contributing to a new international R&D agenda on the Montesinho Natural Park, including:

1. Earth observation and knowledge, including the use of satellite information and its integration into advanced information processing and artificial intelligence systems;
2. Climate and climate change;
3. Sustainable agrarian systems, including agriculture, forestry and agroforestry systems, and the valorization of their products from a bioeconomy perspective;
4. Socio-cultural dynamics;
5. Biodiversity and biological resources, natural and cultural heritage, and sustainable regional development.

In this sense, it is determined to create an R&D Program for research in these thematic areas, in compliance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 15/2020, of March 27, integrating the scientific valorization of the Montesinho Natural Park and attracting research groups of international excellence to work in close cooperation with teams from Portuguese institutions.

Results

• 1st Edition

FCT has published a brochure presenting theselected projects, which is available in digital format.