An ideal, perfect world?

08/08/2026 – 15/08/2026  By Uwe Heitkamp

Edition 31.2026

Is it true that after every forest fire, the next one is just around the corner? We live in Monchique, in the far south of Portugal, and, from here, we look out across the rest of Europe. In 1991, it was here that I had my first experience of a disastrous forest fire. I assumed that this wildfire was a one-off event. And yes, peace did reign for twelve years. Then, in 2003, I experienced my second wildfire, which destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of woodland across the three villages of Monchique, Alferce and Marmelete and raged for ten days. What was left behind – much like what we are currently seeing in south-west France – was dead forests, blackened tree skeletons and ash, burnt-out houses and hazardous waste. Portugal has one advantage over other European countries: we always experience these disasters a little earlier than Spain, France, Italy and Greece. Yet what do we do with our experience?

Given the fire-prone weather conditions in southern Europe during the summer months, we must always remember how important it is to think about new forests immediately after the destruction of the old one, and then begin to replant trees. We must keep a cool head and make the forest fire-resistant, so that it does not burn again in the next fire. And this means planting mixed forests: cork oaks, lime trees, beeches, elms, walnut trees, carob trees, olive trees and many other native species: under no circumstances must we plant highly flammable pine trees, eucalyptus or invasive species such as acacia and mimosa.

Forest management calls for a series of difficult tasks that many people tend to neglect. It begins with selecting the tree species and planting them, and continues with tending to the young trees, watering them and protecting them from animals that like to gnaw the young shoots at the tops of the saplings. Here in Monchique, for example, the deer will set their teeth into an apricot tree and try to nibble it away…

Combating climate change means finding the awareness and the strength, after a forest fire, to plant new trees that convert CO₂ into oxygen. Every intact forest helps to stabilise the climate – by making the impossible possible. And that’s not all: preventing forest fires, despite heatwaves and high climate risks, is part of fire prevention. Until now, preparing for climate extremes has been viewed as a thoroughly unpopular topic.

People tend to choose comfort and inaction; rarely do they choose to make a fire prevention safety plan. Emphasising the urgency of the climate crisis generally meets with little sympathy. On the contrary, if someone demands action, they are immediately accused of disrupting the economy, seeking to change consumer habits and upsetting the social balance. Must we view the forest through the lens of the profit-driven forester?

Realising that we did not want to make a commercial profit from the forest, we founded the Monchique Botanical Forest Garden in 2020. It is situated about a kilometre to the east of the EN 266, in Esgravatadouro. Unlike many other botanical gardens, which showcase exotic plants from various continents, this Botanical Forest Garden was created with the realisation that the native tree species of Monchique and the surrounding area needed to be saved from extinction following the forest fires. For us, the important thing is not commercial interest, but the protection of nature.

In 2019, following the devastating forest fire of the previous summer, a group of interested local and foreign residents began clearing and reorganising what remained of the former forest. In 2020, the cooperative ‘Esgravatadouro – Cooperativa do Ambiente, CRL’ was founded and entrusted with the task of transforming these remnants of the forest into a botanical forest garden.

Just one week before the forest fire of August 2018, I visited the ‘grandfather’ of all cork oaks in Monchique, the 2,000-year-old oak tree in Corte Grande. This ancient and beautiful tree had survived all previous fires, yet the 2018 wildfire was to put an end to this great, sturdy oak after more than 2,000 years. This tragic event served as the inspiration for our botanical garden, which is why we began to think about how we could protect it…

It all began when, following the planting of around one hundred and fifty different tree species, the board decided to install a sprinkler system across the approximately 2.5-hectare site. This fire prevention measure comprises ten high-capacity sprinklers, which, in the event of another potential fire in the forest garden, will spray around 50,000 litres of rainwater (from cisterns) using an ESPA pump. The sprinklers are arranged in such a way that they spray the whole area of the garden with jets of water against north-westerly winds, saturating the ground to smother and extinguish fires and to provide preventative support to the fire services. To this end, all the highly flammable monocultures and invasive tree species were removed from the site. In addition to the trees grown from our own seeds, particular attention is paid to native species, such as the Monchique oak (quercus canariensis), the cork oak and the carob tree. The Encarnação and Nunes families, who had managed the forest and terraces for centuries, bequeathed a natural heritage to the cooperative, which must be protected in times of climate crisis. Heat and drought have consequences, providing the ideal climatic conditions for forest fires. That is why we decided to create a comprehensive sprinkler system to protect the forest.

There is a stream that runs through the Botanical Forest Garden. It is fed by a spring and cascades down into the valley in a series of small waterfalls. In some summers, the stream can dwindle to a trickle and it almost dries up completely. But, following the autumn rains, the spring gradually begins to flow once more. Over the coming years, we will continue the work of tree-planting until 2035. The trees’ roots help to retain water in the hillside. The sprinkler system protects both new and existing trees. The aim is to plant and nurture a forest of around 1,000 different trees. A path lined with benches will wind its way through the trees, offering a place to rest and admire the sculptures. The board of the forest garden cooperative also publishes this online magazine www.eco123.info and intends to organise a Sculpture Symposium every two years to reconcile nature and culture in harmony. The board of the cooperative kindly invites you to visit the new Botanical Garden. Let the new forest inspire you…