On 27 January, the LIFE Maronesa team had the pleasure of welcoming in Vila Pouca de Aguiar, representatives of the company NBI, Natural Business Intelligence, and the project Common Home of Humanity, created at the University of Porto, Centre for Legal and Economic Research with the support of the Faculty of Sciences. The guests took the traditional tour of the villages of Souto and Outeiro, starting with a visit to the Casal da Bouça farm, where they analysed the work done to improve the productivity of the hay meadows and the lessons learned through the experience of hay harvesting over the last three years by the project’s breeders.
In a second phase of the visit, the delegation travelled up the hill towards the project’s monitoring plots located in the Souto and Outeiro common land. By observing the current quality of the pastures and mountain soil after the fires of September 2024, the fundamental role of grazing and the important inclusion of prescribed fire as a complementary action of good practice in the management of these lands were analysed and recognised. The visit was aimed at the future collaboration between the three organisations in the search for opportunities to compensate mountain livestock farms for ecosystem services, such as taking advantage of the potential for carbon sequestration.
