Acceso usuarios
Maria Antónia Almeida
The Portuguese landscape and its rural areas are the result of thousands of years of human presence, particularly since the late nineteenth century, when protectionist public policies were put in place to promote food self-sufficiency. During the Estado Novo regime, four main agricultural policies were enforced: wheat campaigns, internal colonization, agricultural hydraulic systems and reforestation. Nevertheless, there was a massive rural exodus, starting mainly in the 1960s, which resulted in the depopulation of 80 per cent of the territory. Nowadays, less than 20 per cent of the Portuguese population inhabits interior regions. This demographic change presents huge socio-economic challenges. Recently there have been new trends, based on land concentration and super intensive monoculture, which are incompatible with central and local governments’ policies and strategies to reverse depopulation. The sustainability of Portugal’s rural world, its landscape and the quality of life of its population are at risk. Four items were identified in this article: eucalyptus and pine forests, olive plantations, greenhouses and mining.
A paisaxe portuguesa e as súas zonas rurais son o resultado de miles de anos de presenza humana, sobre todo desde finais do século XIX, cando se puxeron en marcha políticas públicas proteccionistas para garantir a autosuficiencia alimentaria. Durante o réxime do Estado Novo, aplicáronse catro políticas agrícolas principais: campañas de trigo, colonización interna, hidráulica-agrícola e forestación. Con todo, produciuse un éxodo rural masivo desde os anos sesenta, o que provocou o despoboamento do 80% do territorio, onde vive menos do 20% da poboación, un cambio demográfico que presenta enormes desafíos socioeconómicos. Recentemente, hai novas tendencias, baseadas na concentración da terra e no monocultivo superintensivo, que son incompatibles coas políticas e estratexias dos gobernos centrais e locais para reverter o despoboamento. A sostibilidade do mundo rural de Portugal, a súa paisaxe e a calidade de vida da súa poboación están en perigo. Identificáronse catro ítems: bosques de eucaliptos e piñeiros, oliveirais, invernadoiros e minaría.
