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Montesinho Natural Park Co-Management Plan

defines 37 actions in the areas of communication, promotion of the territory and awareness for the period 2023-202

On the 24th of July, the Co-management Plan for the Montesinho Natural Park was unanimously approved by the Co-management Commission, chaired by the Municipality of Bragança, representing the two municipalities in the Park area.

Also part of the Commission are the Northern Regional Directorate of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), the Northern Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries (DRAP-N) and the Arborea Associations, Azimute, and AEPGA, the latter representing the Portuguese Confederation of Environmental Defense Associations.

After the issuance of a favorable opinion by the Strategic Council of the Natural Park of Montesinho, the Commission approved a strategic document that includes proposals for action that respond to the main needs and potential of the protected area, in the political, social, environmental, cultural, economic and territorial dimensions. in the thematic domains of communication, promotion of the territory, awareness, and training.

The Plan includes 37 actions and 86 sub-actions for a period of five years, between 2023 and 2027. These actions resulted from the contributions of the population in the various dynamics of public participation that took place throughout 2022, in different locations in the municipalities Bragança and Vinhais, particularly in the villages of the Natural Park, and through a public consultation process recently carried out.

Throughout this participatory process, there were many important opinions, perceptions, and proposals that the population and the main local actors voluntarily made themselves available to share. There were more disconcerting themes, different and sometimes contrary opinions, but there were, above all, consensual themes, highlighting, in particular, the joint will to (re)vitalize the Montesinho Natural Park, but, especially, the joint will in restoring the populations’ sense of belonging to the Park and in (re)establishing trust between people and institutions.

Through a new way of managing the Park – participatory, collaborative, committed, and close – thus emerges a mobilizing and consensual Plan between different entities that make up the Co-management Commission, local and regional partners, and the general population that inhabits it. and works in the Park, which is based on principles of safeguarding the natural and cultural heritage, as well as promoting local identity, sustainable rural and economic development, and promoting the Park as a fundamental asset for strengthening the visibility, attractiveness, and competitiveness of the territory.

We are therefore facing an important milestone in the recent history of the Montesinho Natural Park Co-Management Model, having completed the first step of a participatory process that is intended to be continuous and timeless. Therefore, as important as the elaboration is the implementation of the Co-management Plan. Here, the population will also be called upon to get involved in the most diverse actions in all key thematic and sectoral areas, as it is recognized that this territory has the human capacity for mobilization and the necessary knowledge to execute, together with the entities of the Co-management Commission, and other partners, the measures and actions proposed in the Co-management Plan.

The Montesinho Natural Park Co-Management Plan 2023-2027 can be consulted at www.cm-braganca.pt and www.cm-vinhais.pt.

4 projects running until the end of 2023 with a total investment of around 600 thousand euros

In the first quarter of 2023, four applications were approved for the Notice of the Environmental Fund aimed at improving the conditions for visiting protected areas of national scope under co-management, published at the end of July 2022, corresponding to an investment of approximately 600 thousand euros, financed up to 95% by the Environmental Fund.

Applications were submitted to a consortium made up of eight entities, involving all members of the PNM Co-Management Commission. However, the respective physical and financial execution of each of the approved projects is assumed by only one beneficiary.

The Municipality of Bragança is responsible for the INTERPRETER MONTESINHO project, which consists of the rehabilitation of the old primary school in the village of Montesinho for the creation of the Interpretative Center of the PNM. The project also includes the improvement of the natural spaces surrounding the property and the visitation by citizens with limited mobility. At the same time, visitors will be able to access the Interpretive Center through a home automation-based system that controls access, allows visitors to be counted and the time they spend there.

The Municipality of Vinhais is responsible for the improvement and rehabilitation project of structures and infrastructures of the Vinhais Biological Park, including the improvement of road access, which will allow, at the end of the interventions, better conditions of safety and comfort for visitors.

AEPGA – Association for the Study and Protection of Donkey Cattle is the beneficiary association of the MONTESINHO PARAADOS project, which includes the improvement of visitation conditions, attractiveness and dynamization of pedestrian routes in the Natural Park of Montesinho, through physical and digital means. The basic idea is to improve access, especially for people with reduced mobility, and to renew the specific signage for pedestrian routes in the village of Vilarinho de Cova de Lua, in Bragança. At the same time, a support structure for the routes will be created and a data platform and a mobile application will be designed that will allow the use of gamification.

IPB – Instituto Politécnico de Bragança is responsible for the EXPERIENCIAR MONTESINHO project, which consists of using virtual reality and augmented reality tools to promote more attractive points of interest – natural, heritage, and cultural – in different locations of the PNM, to different target audiences, using a mobile application.

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