From 20 to 21 March, LIFE Maronesa was chosen as the host project for the annual meeting dedicated to the national projects of the European Union’s LIFE programme. This year, the event also included an exceptional delegation of Italian projects such as LIFE Fagesos, Natural Agro and Entrack.
On the morning of the 20th, our project manager, Henrique Mira Godinho, had the opportunity to give a general presentation of the project, the actions planned in the application and also the new initiatives created through its implementation.
After lunch, in the company of scientific coordinator Carlos Aguiar, the two guided the delegation of around 50 participants to the village of Lamas de Ôlo to meet two of the project’s cattle breeders, Heitor Fernandes and Rafael Costa, and the area of intervention in the Lamas de ÔLo and Dornelas common lands.
The field trip was divided into two parts, the first in the private areas of the hay meadows, where breeder Heitor Fernandes gave an overview of the adaptation of the traditional methods of managing these lands with the project’s current modern techniques. The second part culminated with a visit to the village’s collective marginal lands, where breeder Rafael Costa explained the particularities that distinguish maronesa cattle and the behaviour and some management techniques currently used by the project’s breeders to boost the productivity of the extensive system in the Serra do Alvão. The team also emphasised the fundamental role of using prescribed fire in combination with herbivore grazing in the management of mountain ecosystems in the north of the country.
Also worthy of note in the report is the fact that the participants in the event had the opportunity over the two days to taste various recipes using local products, prepared by CLIMA+ brand partners, chefs Rita and João from Forno de Jales. The gastronomic highlight was the two-day lunches prepared with CLIMA+ maronesa meat.
More information about the meeting: https://apambiente.pt/programa-life/comunicacao/inter-life-pt-2025
