Portugal

It is nine years since the university lecturer Rob Hopkins(1) started a movement of change, in the small Irish town of Kinsale. The movement has been expanding ever since and today it is established or being established in several hundred cities. Monchique was the first place in the Algarve to join and create a small group to spearhead the project in December 2011. The project functions on the basis of trust, which means small localised groups, and 250 members at most. ECO123 spoke to one of the activists, Lesley Martin, who told us that she prefers to progress step by …

To find out more about the ‘Transition Movement’ in Beja, ECO123 interviewed the facilitator Pedro Franco. An agricultural engineer by profession, he does consultancy work in agricultural projects and permaculture design at the ‘Centre of Excellence for the Enhancement of Mediterranean Resources’(1). The movement in Beja is at an embryonic stage: it has 29 members and aims to make transition happen by adopting a “slowly but surely” approach. ECO123: What is the ‘Transition Movement’? Pedro Franco: Above all, it’s a civic, civil and apolitical movement. It is a group of people who are aware of a situation in the near …

Elichristie After almost five decades of dictatorship, Portugal began to avidly absorb international influences as from the mid-1970s. And, like many of the companies holding alternative ideas, Elichristi was launched as an idea towards the end of the 1970s when its founder José da Costa decided to put into practice the ecological ideas he defended. At the beginning of the 1980s, José moved to Lisbon in order to set up the first company producing natural and organic products in Portugal, which, beyond various other experiments, was also the first to launch tofu (also known as soya cheese) onto the national …

Mushrooms, parsley and onion béchamel sauce Parsley béchamel sauce Ingredients: Infusion: 450 ml of milk 20 gr finely chopped onion 3 Szechuan peppers 3 coriander seeds Roux: 35 gr butter 35 gr flour 55 gr parsley Method: Place all the infusion ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil on a medium heat. On boiling, remove and cover the pan with Clingfilm to seal in the steam and leave to stand for 20 minutes. In another pan, fully melt the 35 gr of butter and, when taking on a slightly golden colour, combine the flour and continue stirring to …

Museum of Cuttlefish It is impossible to think about cuttlefish without immediately conjuring up the city of Setúbal. Every region has its own particular gastronomy and Setúbal is no exception to that rule. Whilst Lisbon has its grilled sardines, Porto has its tripe à moda do Porto and, when thinking about cuttlefish, and especially fried cuttlefish, we think of Setúbal. However, thus far there was no place to do justice to the presence of cuttlefish in the historical, cultural and economic traditions of the region. Located on Avenida Luísa Todi, right in the heart of Setúbal, the Museum of Cuttlefish …

The term organic agriculture frequently gets applied to the production of food without recourse to any synthetic chemical products such as fertilisers and pesticides. At Agrobio, a pioneer in the Portuguese organic agriculture sector, this dimension only plays a small role given that factors such as crop rotation, the bond between man and the earth and appropriately grasping the prevailing ecosystem all prove of equal importance. To this organisation, this holistic approach to farming represents the most sustainable means of producing food exactly because it “provides a bridge between knowledge on the past and the sustainable utilisation of technology,” Board …

Felt is a 100% natural material made through compacting woollen threads through a rolling method. Whether done manually or industrially, the technique requires the utilisation of rolls to press and aggregate the fibres, forming a cloth without ever really requiring any weaving. This is a truly ancestral form of producing clothing and fashion accessories with the earliest felt remains ever discovered dating back to 600 BC and found in Altai (Mongolia). To better understand the processes involved, its economic and ecological viability, ECO123 spoke to Maria Custódio, an artist and artisan who turns felt into her form of expression. Based …

Portugal, throughout all of its extent – rural, urban, inland, coastal – confronts the marks of its recent past. The option favouring property and construction (especially of residential properties) and the tertiary economic sector has left a deep legacy. One of the clearest and most serious involves the effective abandoning and subsequent degradation of a huge quantity of spaces and constructions. The cessation of many of the productive activities in the rural hinterland forced the total or effective disappearance of many communities. The uncontrolled and unplanned construction of new habitation in the major urban centres, and especially on their peripheries, …

António Ferreira is the entrepreneur responsible for Pedralva Village tourism project. Following a dozen years working in publicity and strategic planning, and somewhat “fed up with the uninteresting world and selling things that were just not necessary”, he decided to take a new path in life. Already aware of the region and its tourism potential, in visiting Pedralva Village, he discovered the opportunity he had been searching for. He set up a company with four friends and advanced with the project. And, as he said, “here we still are”. ECO123: What added value did the Pedralva Village restoration generate? António …

Gil da Silva Canha sits on Funchal Municipal Council and the councillor responsible for urbanism, directly supervising this and other projects. ECO123: How would you evaluate the restoration project for the Santa Maria historical centre? Gil da Silva Canha: I believe it grew weaker as the recovery of a historical neighbourhoods requires a general plan of action and thus far no such plan has ever been drafted. What was done involved sporadic and individual interventions.