Valor económico do solo: perspectivas pública e privada

Having in mind that the majority of human beings do not take consciousness how fundamental soil is for their survi - val, nor how men action can lead to soil dilapidation, this works tries to call attention for its real value. Concisely, the main objectives of this paper are: to show clearly the most relevant soil functions; to analyze how soil management can influence positive or negatively soil capacity of production; to present a methodology for private soil assessment , making clear that privates valuate almost exclusively the soil capacity to produce market goods and ser - vices; to stress that many goods and services have global public effects; to emphasize that society ought to recognize soil multifunctionality and must try to impute some value to all those goods and services although some of them have no market value, at present. The paper concludes that: (1) without productive soil life on earth, as we know it, would be impossible; (2) although it is almost impossible to assess the real value of all goods and services produced by the soil, it is of great importance to develop appropriate methodologies to do so, in order to improve cost-benefit analysis helping to take correct decisions regarding the sustainable use of the soil.

Challenges for a shared European countryside of uncertain future. Towards a modern community based landscape perspective

This paper addresses current changes in the highly diverse European landscape, and the way these transitions are being treated in policy and landscape management in the fragmented, heterogeneous and dynamic context of today’s Europe. It appears that intersecting driving forces are increasing the complexity of European landscapes and causing polarising developments in agricultural land use, biodiversity conservation and cultural landscape management. On the one hand, multifunctional rural landscapes, especially in peri-urban regions, provide services and functions that serve the citizens in their demand for identity, support their sense of belonging and offer opportunities for recreation and involvement in practical landscape management. On the other hand, industrial agricultural production on increasingly large farms produces food, feed, fibre and energy to serve expanding international markets with rural live ability and accessibility as a minor issue. The intermediate areas of traditionally dominant small and family farms in Europe seem to be gradually declining in profitability. The paper discusses the potential of a governance approach that can cope with the requirement of optimising land-sharing conditions and community-based landscape development, while adapting to global market conditions.

Papel das medidas agro-ambientais na gestão da paisagem rural no concelho de Marvão no PNSSM

As paisagens rurais portuguesas construídas e mantidas ao longo dos tempos por sistemas agrícolas tradicionais, estão hoje ameaçadas por motivos tão diversos como o envelhecimento da população, o abandono rural, a intensificação, a homogeneização dos sistemas de produção e a perda de competitividade. Mas apesar destes problemas, estas paisagens agrícolas, suportam ainda várias funções não produtivas, nomeadamente, constituem, um importante suporte de biodiversidade, pelo que a sua manutenção é importante para a conservação destes habitats e espécies. Eventualmente novas formas de gestão destas paisagens devem ser criadas, nomeadamente com base na combinação de várias funções numa perspectiva de multifuncionalidade, através de uma adaptação e integração de políticas públicas. Estando actualmente em discussão o novo programa de Desenvolvimento Rural e a definição das futuras Medidas Agro-Ambientais, e a gestão e o financiamento da Rede Natura 2000, estamos portanto num momento crítico para decisões futuras, que terão forçosamente que interligar, a agricultura, o ambiente e desenvolvimento das zonas rurais portuguesas. Com o intuito de melhor compreender estas problemáticas, em particular, as transformações em curso na paisagem rural, o papel das Medidas Agro-Ambientais e apresentar possíveis soluções, foi efectuado este estudo de caso no concelho de Marvão, concelho típico das áreas marginais agrícolas do interior sul de Portugal. ABSTRACT; The Portuguese rural landscapes built up and kept throughout the times by traditional agricultural systems, are today threatened by so diverse reasons as the ageing of the population, the agricultural abandonment, the intensification, the homogenization of the production systems and the loss of competitiveness. But despite these problems. These agricultural landscapes still support a multitude of non-commodity functions, and particularly they still constitute an important support of biodiversity and thus their maintenance is important for the conservation of these habitats and species. Probably new management forms must be created based on the combination of various functions and the adaptation and integration of public policies. Being currently in discussion the new program of Rural Development and the definition of the future Agri-Environmental Measures, and the management and the financing of the Natura 2000 Network, we are therefore at a critical moment for future decisions that will forcibly have to establish connections, between the agriculture, the environment and the development of the portuguese agricultural areas. With the intention of better understanding these problems and questions, , the transformations taking place in Portuguese peripheric rural areas, and in particular role of the Agri-Environmental Measures, and also for presenting possible solutions, a case study was analyzed in municipality of Marvão, characteristic of the agricultural marginal areas of the interior Southern Portugal.

How can the land managers and his multi-stakeholder network at the farm level influence the multifunctional transitions pathways?

The changing role of agriculture is at the core of transition pathways in many rural areas. Productivism, post-productivism and multifunctionality have been targeted towards a possible conceptualization of the transition happening in rural areas. The factors of change, including productivist and post-productivist trends, are combined in various ways and have gone in quite diverse directions and intensities, in individual regions and localities. Even, in the same holding, productivist and post-productivist strategies can co-exist spatially, temporally, structurally, leading to a higher complexity in changing patterns. In south Portugal extensive landscapes, dominated by traditionally managed agro-forestry systems under a fuzzy land use pattern, multifunctionality at the farm level is indeed conducted by different stakeholders whose interests may or not converge: a multifunctional land management may indeed incorporate post-productivist and productivist agents. These stakeholders act under different levels of ownership, management and use, reflecting a particular land management dynamic, in which different interests may exist, from commercial production to a variety of other functions (hunting, bee-keeping, subsistence farming, etc.), influencing management at the farm level and its supposed transition trajectory. This multistakeholder dynamic is composed by the main land-manager (the one who takes the main decisions), sub land-managers (land-managers under the rules of the main land-manager), workers and users (locals or outsiders), whose interest and action within the holding may vary differently according to future (policy, market, etc.) trends, and therefore reflect more or less resilient systems. The goal of the proposed presentation is to describe the multi-stakeholder relations at the farm level, its spatial expression and the factors influencing the land management system resilience in face of the transition trends in place.

Emergetic evaluation of cattle rearing in a montado farm

O Montado, em Portugal, é um complexo sistema silvopastoril de uso da terra, tipicamente Mediterrânico, com diversos estratos de vegetação, incluindo sobreiro e azinheira em várias densidades, onde é frequente a criação de gado. Esta actividade pecuária beneficia das pastagens no sob-coberto, de algumas espécies arbustivas e também das bolotas que caem do coberto arbóreo, contribuindo para evitar a invasão da pastagem por matos. No entanto, dependendo da sua gestão, este gado pode comprometer a regeneração do sistema. Nos últimos 20 anos, os subsídios no âmbito da Política Agrícola Comum da União Europeia têm promovido a criação de gado bovino em detrimento de outras espécies e raças mais leves, bem como a intensificação desta produção. Esta intensificação pode impossibilitar a regeneração natural das árvores ameaçando o equilíbrio do Montado. Por esta razão é necessária uma avaliação focada na criação de gado bovino e nos seus impactos sobre o sistema. O objectivo deste estudo foi obter uma melhor compreensão do funcionamento de uma exploração silvopastoril num sistema de Montado, através da aplicação do Método de Avaliação Emergética e do cálculo de índices emergéticos. Pretende-se assim compreender a melhor forma de o gerir, bem como conceber estratégias que maximizem o fluxo de emergia na exploração. Uma comparação deste método com a avaliação económica permitiu perceber em que aspectos esta pode ser complementada pelo método da avaliação emergética. O método da avaliação emergética permite a avaliação de sistemas multifuncionais complexos à escala de uma exploração individual, fornecendo informação extra em relação à avaliação económica como a renovabilidade dos inputs do sistema, ou a quantidade de fluxos livres da natureza que é valorada por preços de mercado. Este método permite a integração das emternalidades e das externalidades à contabilização económica, transformando uma avaliação tendencialmente separada do seu sistema mais vasto, numa avaliação de um sistema em conexão com aqueles mais vastos nos quais se integra; Abstract: The Montado, in Portugal, is a complex silvo-pastoral system of land use, typically Mediterranean, with different strata of vegetation, including cork and holm oaks in various densities, and where cattle rearing is common. This stockfarm benefits from the herbaceous layer under the trees, as well as from some species in the shrub layer, and also from the acorns faling down from the tree cover, while contributing to prevent the invasion of pastures by shrubs. Nevertheless, depending on its management, livestock can affect the system regeneration. Over the past 20 years, subsidies of the European Union's common agricultural policy have promoted the cattle rearing at expense of other lighter species and breeds, as well as its intensification. This intensification may impair the natural regeneration of trees threatening the balance of the Montado. Therefore an assessment focused on cattle and their impact on the system is required. The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the functioning of a silvo-pastoral farm in a Montado system, by applying the emergy evaluation method and through the calculation of emergy indices. It is intended to understand the best way to manage and design strategies that maximize the emergy flow on the farm. A comparison of this method with the economic evaluation allowed to realize in what aspects it can be complemented by the emergy evaluation method. The emergy evaluation method alows the assessment of complex multi-functional systems at the scale of an individual farm, providing extra information in relation to economic avaluation as the renewability of the inputs to a system and the amount of free flows of nature that is valued by market prices. This method allows the integration of the emternalities and the externalities to the economic accounting, transforming an evaluation tended separated from its wider system, in an evaluation of a system in connection with the larger ones on which it is incorporated.

Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal

The Mediterranean silvo-pastoral system known as Montado, in Portugal, is a complex land use system composed of an open tree stratum in various densities and an herbaceous layer, used for livestock grazing. Livestock also profit from the acorns, and the grazing contributes to avoid shrub encroachment. In the last 20 years, subsidies from the European Union have greatly promoted cattle rearing in this system and the introduction of heavy breeds, at the expense of sheep, goats or the native cattle breeds. The balance of the traditional system is thus threatened, and a precise assessment of the balance between the different components of the system, therefore is highly needed. The goal of this study was to gain a better under- standing of a Montado farm system with cattle rearing as the major economic activity by applying the emergy evaluation method to calculate indices of yield, investment, environmental loading and sustainability. By integrating different ecosystem components, the emergy evaluation method allows a comprehensive evaluation of this complex and multifunctional system at the scale of an individual farm. This method provides a set of indices that can help us understand the system and design management strategies that maximize emergy flow in the farm. In this paper, we apply the emergy evaluation method to a Montado farm with cattle rearing, as a way to gain a better understanding of this system at the farm scale. The value for the transformity of veal (2.66E?06 sej J-1) is slightly higher, when compared to other systems producing protein. That means that the investment of nature and man in this product was higher and it requires a premium price on the market. The renewa- bility for Holm Oaks Farm (49 %), lower than for other similar systems, supports the assumption that this is a farm in which, comparing with others, the number of purchased inputs in relation to renewable inputs provided by nature, is higher. The Emergy Investment Ratio is 0.91 for cattle rearing compared to a value of 0.49 for cork and 0.43 for firewood harvesting, making it clear that cattle rearing is a more labor demanding activity comparing with extractive activities as cork and firewood harvesting.