I usually say that territories are not poor, they are poor, in a certain historical period of their existence. Furthermore, in the knowledge society, our main problems are knowledge problems or deficits.
Furthermore, in the XNUMXst century society, we are well endowed with knowledge, culture and creativity that can help to mitigate, adapt and transform a territory, no matter how remote and wild it may be.
It is, thus, also in the interior of the municipality of Loulé. In a few dozen kilometers, we pass the cosmopolitan universe of Vilamoura, full of glamorous e pastiche, to the remote and invisible universe of the old world, full of stories and memories that time has erased.
This trip through the interior of the municipality of Loulé is a metaphor for the imagery of the Serra do Caldeirão and only serves to illustrate my idea that there is a virtuous complementarity between the coast and the interior, since, obviously, we mobilize ourselves politically to solve the problem .
The Cauldron Operating System
The Algarve was almost always, as we know, read and practiced horizontally, whether on the coastline, on the EN 125, on the A22 or on the EN 124. We will, this time, try to read it vertically. So let's take an imaginary trip and imagine that:
1) The municipality of Loulé politically assumes that environmental justice and social justice are seriously undermined in the rural economy of the barrocal-serra and, in particular, in the Serra do Caldeirão; the municipality takes on this challenge as a categorical imperative, not only in the field of climate change and fundamental ecology, but also in the fields of rural economy and social solidarity;
2) The parish of Ameixial is elected as the seat of an innovative operating ecosystem for Serra do Caldeirão; this is an action-research project involving, in the first phase, the municipality of Loulé and, in a second phase, the municipalities of Caldeirão and the main regional actors who, for this purpose, will subscribe to a common application under the program of recovery that is taking place at this time and against the backdrop of a regional project on the economy of the Mediterranean diet;
3) A preventive forestry operational center is part of the Caldeirão operating system; it is not only a center for cleaning scrub and forest to prevent forest fires, but also a support unit for the preparation of forest records and for the production of biomass;
4) A functional ecology center for biodiversity and ecosystem services is part of the Caldeirão operating system; it is about rehabilitating watercourses and riparian vegetation, local endemism, protecting mountain fauna and flora, restoring ecosystems and ecosystem services (in particular, composting for soil production);
5) The Caldeirão operating system includes a space of coworking business powered by a professional internship program; it is a small incubator for business initiatives aimed at the economic and social development of the barrocal mountain range, especially in the agro-silvo-pastoral areas;
6) The Caldeirão operating system includes a pedagogical, recreational and therapeutic complex; it is a complex with a vacation and work camp, scientific and artistic residences and places to support the traveler and pilgrim on hikes and nature trails;
7) The Caldeirão operating system also includes a center for traditional arts and crafts, which is also a center for reusing resources from the circular economy and a privileged observation post for landscape arts and the architecture of landscape amenities;
8) The operating system of Caldeirão also includes an outpatient home support service in matters of food, health and safety, in the various places spread out in the mountains;
9) The Caldeirão operating system also includes a shelter for abandoned animals, but also a support center for fauna at risk and whose habitat is in the Serra do Caldeirão;
10) Finally, the Caldeirão operating system includes a tourist entertainment center; it is about reviewing the Caldeirão nature trails and its privileged observation points and organizing guided tours, in particular, the route that joins its highest peaks above 500m.
The mountain economy and the Mediterranean diet
Everything we said about the operating system of Ameixial and Caldeirão requires a power supply, that is, a network economy and minimally organized visitation.
Let us imagine, then, a mountainous economy composed of the following activities: the production of small ruminants, the Algarve goat in the first place, honey and the transhumance of bees, arbutus and wild fruits, the traditional dryland orchard, the prickly pear , citrus fruits, ornamental and edible flowers, aromatic and medicinal herbs, mushrooms, hunting and hunting products, cork and cork products, firewood and charcoal, cleaning of bushes and forests, mycological tourism, olive trees and olive oil, composting, biomass and micro-generation of energy, the provision of ecosystem services, hiking festivals, traditional gastronomy, the new Mediterranean diet. But also transformed products, digital marketing and the production of advertising and educational content associated with direct and online commerce of all these goods and services.
Let us imagine, then, that we are able to link all these activities, that we have an actor-network with enough talent to articulate knowledge, culture and creativity and, thus, generate new value chains, in such a way that Ameixial and Caldeirão become an integral part of these value chains and distinctive signs as relevant as Vilamoura or Vale do Lobo, the sites of Fonte Benemola and Rocha da Pena, the water mines and the levadas, the typical villages of the barrocal, the stelae and southwestern writing, the valleys and the traditional gardens, to name only the main ones.
Here I return to what I have already written on another occasion. Take, for example, the traditional arts of the barrocal-serra and think about what could be accomplished with some small technological and artistic innovations introduced in these activities in such a way that, from them, a productive mosaic and an intelligent network economy could be structured. and tourist visitation.
From here, we could compose a small economy of agglomeration and visitation and, with an adequate system of incentives, attract neo-rural people in search of an opportunity to the barrocal sierra.
Traditional arts and the economy of the Mediterranean diet
1. The arts of grazing the Algarve goat
2. The arts of traditional Algarve cheese making;
3. The arts of drawing cork;
4. The arts of retailing and olive picking;
5. The arts of retail and PTS picking,
6. The arts of beekeeping and honey production,
7. The arts of treading the grapes on foot;
8. The arts of arbutus distillation;
9. The arts of prickly pears;
10. The arts of collecting mycological products
11. The arts associated with pruning and grafting;
12. The arts of traditional cosmetics;
13. The arts associated with aromatic herbs;
14. The arts associated with medicinal herbs;
15. The arts of basketry and pottery;
16. The arts associated with edible flowers;
17. The arts associated with artisanal fishing;
18. The arts associated with hunting and hunting;
19. The arts of local confectionery and confectionery,
20. The arts of traditional cooking;
The economy of the Mediterranean diet has to be equated around value chains, tangible and intangible, rather than around specific products, and must bring together, in equivalent doses, knowledge, culture and creativity, as much as suffices. This is the moment of digitality, ecology and combating climate change, so special attention must be paid to biodiversity, ecosystem restoration and agroecology.
Here are some examples of value chains that need to be worked with a lot of imagination in the field, but also by digital marketing, whether through guided tours, scientific journeys, hiking festivals, educational programs for the youngest and therapeutic programs for the oldest:
– A day in the Algarvian mountain forest: picking wild fruits and distilling arbutus trees combined with mycological tourism and nature trails and the mountain gastronomy of the Mediterranean diet;
– A day in the villages of the Algarve mountains: the harvest of aromatic and medicinal herbs, their preparation and distillation, together with a visit to the apiary and guided tours of the living and museum heritage of the villages; at night, Mediterranean cuisine and evenings of music and theater in the village;
– A scientific and cultural journey in the Algarve's Barrocal Mountains: guided tours to observe the flora and fauna endemicities of the Algarve's Barrocal and Serra, combined with nature trails, literary landscapes, Mediterranean cuisine and village cultural evenings; it is important to remember that the inventory and the plan to safeguard the Mediterranean diet will oblige the creation of a line of research in this area in particular;
– A day on the hunt: preparation and participation in a hunt, cooking of game products, sessions on nature and wildlife and hunting tourism;
– A day on the cork route: the removal of cork and its industrial transformation, artistic and decorative arts associated with cork, cork products and gastronomy, edible flower picking, scientific, cultural and recreational sessions associated with mounted multifunctionality;
– A day in the pasture: grazing a herd of native goats, collecting milk and producing artisanal cheese, tasting the cuisine of the Mediterranean diet, attending cultural and recreational sessions associated with the agro-silvo-pastoral system;
– A day in the traditional dryland orchard of the barrocal mountain range in the Algarve: fig, almond and carob picking, their preparation and processing, traditional sweets crafts, workshops on traditional sweets, gastronomy of the Mediterranean diet, sessions on local crafts;
– A day in the vineyard and in the winery: knowledge of good production practices in the vineyard, the treading of grapes, the winemaking process, waste recycling, by-products, wine tasting and wine tourism, the gastronomy of the diet associated Mediterranean, cultural, technical and scientific sessions related to vineyards and wine;
– A day in the olive grove and in the mill: knowledge of good production practices in the olive grove, olive picking, the transformation process in the press, waste recycling, derived products, olive oil tasting and olive tourism, gastronomy the associated Mediterranean diet, cultural, technical and scientific sessions related to olive groves and olive oil.
These short programs can also be associated with special programs for senior tourism and tourism for groups with reduced mobility and be articulated, for example, with artistic residencies and creative and cultural production (creative and cultural weeks) and also with maintenance and treatment physical education programs adapted to special groups and recreational programs of events and evening shows of fados, theater, chamber music, singing and poetry, film and documentary, table games championships, various competitions, etc.
Final Notes
In a time of pandemic, we should review our concepts of tourism economy and rural economy and look at the whole territory in a fairer and more equitable way.
It is not, of course, about touristizing the Serra do Caldeirão, it is about being magnanimous with the forgotten and abandoned interior and taking advantage of the large volume of tourists who visit the beach and sun in the municipality of Loulé.
After the pandemic we have to think less in terms of the pure and tough “tourist business” and more in terms of the value chain of an entire region. Returning to the “old normal”, fragile in terms of environmental justice and social justice, would not be a test of intelligence.
About ten years ago, the municipality of Loulé sponsored an innovative project in rural areas with great success in the parish of Querença called “Projeto Querença”. At a good time, the Manuel Viegas Guerreiro Foundation (FMVG) welcomed this project under the enlightened direction of Eng. Luís Guerreiro, who has since died.
My suggestion to the municipality of Loulé is that they invite the FMVG, the Parish Council of Ameixial, the QRER Cooperative based in Querença and dedicated to this type of action, and jointly design a project for the coming years, within the scope of the recovery program European Union and the next Community Support Framework for 2021-2027. It would also be a simple way of paying a tribute due to Eng. Luís Guerreiro.
As I said at the beginning, this is an imaginary trip through the Serra do Caldeirão. However, I nurture the hope that the younger people, more than occasional tourists, are also travelers, but, above all, innovative agents in projects of community interest. It is our obligation to create the minimum conditions necessary for this to happen.
For nature lovers and neo-rural agro-ecology in the mountains, Ameixial and Serra do Caldeirão await your visit.
Author António Covas is a Retired Full Professor at the University of Algarve
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