Who Are We?
We are a group of local residents and landowners in the region of Benfeita in the Serra do Açor. We’re a diverse community of families and individuals, young and old, Portuguese and immigrants, but we’re all firmly focused on community and environmental regeneration.
We want to restore this beloved land to health in ways that benefit all life here for many generations to come.
The variety of our backgrounds gives us an extensive repertoire of skills, professions and experience. When we put these together with the traditional knowledge of the local population, we are a force to be reckoned with!
Above all, we want to eliminate the structural inflexibility plaguing rural economies where the population is shackled to environmental abuse for the sake of satisfying basic needs.
ArBOR
What Do We Do?
We want to help catalyse the shift from environmental degeneration to environmental regeneration.
This ecosystem in which all our lives here are embedded is damaged, degrading and desertifying. We want to stop the decline and transform it into a state of vitality, rich diversity and resilience. And with it our human communities, livelihoods and children’s futures.
The principle drivers of environmental degradation and destruction are common across the world: deforestation, industrial agricultural methods, pollution, urbanisation, over-extraction, exploitation and waste that’s choking our lands and seas.
All of this can be changed. We don’t have to live this way. And neither do we have to return to a past of poverty and backbreakingly hard work to live in tune with natural systems as part of them.
Branch out from Our Tree
One of the principle reasons we created ArBOR was to act as an umbrella organisation for all manner of regenerative initiatives in this area. Anyone can bring a project to us and branch out from our tree.
If you have connections to this area and a brilliant idea for developing a particular project for the benefit of the environment and communities here, this is your chance!
Active Projects
We’re only at the beginning, but we’re already involved in some environmental regeneration projects. See what we’re doing …
REFORESTING OF THE COMMONLANDS
A reforestation project of deciduous tree species in partnership with the Pai Das Donas Commonlands Governing Board, the Pai das Donas Improvements Commission, and the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).
We start planting in December. See our Facebook event page or our News section. Come and join us ! And keep up with our progress below.
LOCAL SEEDBANK
Local communities in these valleys have been saving and exchanging seeds for generations and those of us who have moved here do the same, often bringing new varieties and new food plant species with us.
We want to increase access and availability by creating a community seedbank of these varieties for free exchange throughout the area on a bring-one-take-one basis.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGEBANK
We have a wealth of deep local knowledge – of nature, of the lands, of agriculture, shepherding, traditional construction, of terraces and water lines – much of it multigenerational, amongst the local population of these valleys. We will be starting a project to collect and record as much of it as we can before it’s lost
5700
TREES PLANTED
10
HECTARES OF FOREST
9
PLANTING DAYS
Project Members
As well as the projects of the association, we have project members – projects in these valleys whose work is aligned with our regenerative objectives. See what they’re doing …
NEWS
News about our activities and projects and more general articles about inspiring regenerative initiatives in other places, commentaries and reports on forest or regional policy, etc.
RESOURCES
Over time, we’ve collected resources – videos, articles, etc – which have inspired us to do what we do in the area of environmental regeneration.
We share some of them here.
We hope you’re inspired by them too.
Join us
You don’t need to live in this region to join us. We welcome members – individual or collective – from anywhere who support our objectives and what we do. You can register online.
ArBOR INTERNSHIPS
ArBOR is accredited with the EU’s Erasmus+ and ESC schemes. Come and help us regenerate our communities and environment! Interns can work on the association’s projects and also with our project members.
Join our Mailing List!
HEADQUARTERS
Rua da Capela 36
3305-037 Pai das Donas
Coimbra, Portugal