- The hilly Barroso region of northern Portugal has been recognized for its centuries-old and “globally important” farming system that combines agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems and a valuable cultural heritage.
- But the region is also home to what’s believed to be one of Europe’s largest deposits of lithium, an element that will be critical in the ongoing clean energy transition, with EU and Portuguese officials saying mining projects in Barroso will be key to securing domestic supplies of the metal.
- Residents and environmental activists, however, warn the mines will scar the landscape, contaminate the water, erode the soil, disrupt local livelihoods, and deprive them of communal lands.
- Yet even as they continue to oppose the planned mines, the state can declare lithium projects to be of strategic public interest to force residents to lease the lands needed for the mining projects.
COVAS DO BARROSO, Portugal — In the hills of Barroso high in northeastern Portugal, the water gushes down small channels built many centuries ago, winding through a mosaic of pastures, oak and pine forests, and arable and fallow land.
Sitting on her porch overlooking a carefully kept garden full of flowers and vegetables, Aida Fernandes remembers the day she first started taking part in her village’s community-managed irrigation system. “I was 12 years old. My father got me a small hoe and told me to be careful not to fall into the water. I grew up connected to the land and was told I should take care of it,” says Fernandes, now a 45-year-old farmer.
The ancient water channels, known as levadas, divert the water flow from the mountains to the plains. The collective efforts to maintain the levadas help retain the scant water resources and distribute them throughout the rugged landscape, keeping the slopes green even in the driest months.
But the year Fernandes inherited the age-old tradition and took her share of responsibility for Covas do Barroso’s ancestral water system was also when she first encountered a researcher studying the region’s minerals.
“I was tending my family’s cows and a geologist asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Fernandes recalls. While many of her friends and neighbors migrated to look for opportunities in cities or abroad, she decided to stay. “I chose to give continuity to what I inherited from my ancestors and to stay connected to the land.”
The harmonious interconnection of agriculture, forestry and livestock pastoral production has made Barroso the only region in Portugal — and one of only eight in Europe — to be recognized by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).
“What makes this system so special is people’s strong connection to the land,” says António Machado from ADRAT, the local development association that submitted Barroso’s application for world agricultural heritage.
