Paul do Boquilobo - Caracterização da Reserva da Biosfera

Reservation Characterization

The Paul do Boquilobo Biosphere Reserve (RBPB) is a 1st Generation Reserve, classified since 1981 by Unesco, having been the first Portuguese area to be integrated into the World Network of Biosphere Reserves at national level.

Located in the district of Santarém, the RNPB is distributed between two municipalities, Golegã and Torres Novas, which correspond to two regions, O Alentejo and Centro, as well as two sub-regions, Lezíria do Tejo and Médio Tejo.

Occupying the municipalities of Torres Novas and Golegã, the RBPB covers an area of 5,896 ha, integrating the localities of Golegã, Riachos, Azinhaga, Pombalinho and Boquilobo, covering a total population of 8,450 inhabitants translated into 3,919 families. Of the population covered by the RBPB, 10% are employed in the primary sector, 20% in the secondary sector and 70% in the tertiary sector.

The RBPB is divided into three distinct zones, with specific characteristics and functions:

Nuclear Zone- is an area whose main function is to conserve biodiversity. It corresponds to the areas of total protection and partial protection   of the Paul do Boquilobo Nature Reserve, which was acquired by the State. It is characterized by comprising mostly permanently flooded areas framed by natural and semi-natural plant formations, with restricted access, intended for nature conservation and scientific research, having important functions in flood control  during the winter and storage of water during the summer.

Buffer Zones - zones established around the nuclear zone with the aim of minimizing the impact on these and promoting the quality of life of populations, especially traditional communities. It accompanies the main water courses, valuing the riverside forest as an element of biodiversity and landscape enhancement. Safeguards the existence of alvercas and associated vegetation and other areas of interest in terms of nature conservation. They are fundamental areas in terms of water circulation, functioning as ecological corridors for various species. They contribute to the maintenance and enhancement of the landscape as an identity factor of the territory. They also correspond to areas of socio-environmental interest, temporarily flooded or non-flooded areas, with natural and semi-natural plant formations or diverse hardwood stands. They are mainly dedicated to forest production and pastures, without prejudice to also covering easily flooded agricultural areas. They are privileged spaces for the development of recreational activities linked to the enjoyment of natural values and also to the development of activities related to environmental education. These areas could encourage the development of certain craft activities such as the collection of aromatic or medicinal plants or basket weaving.

Transition Zones - Agricultural areas, in which the use of soil and water takes into account the sustainability of natural resources with special emphasis on water resources and the repercussions on previous areas.

It is intended that these areas are exemplary models of the compatibility of natural values with the maintenance of an innovative and economically rewarding agriculture. The fact that these areas are included within the limits of the Biosphere Reserve represents a positive differentiation factor for agricultural products, giving them an imprint of quality.

I also included urban agglomerations that represent marks in the human occupation of these territories, both nowadays and in historical terms.

Influence area

Municipality of Golegã

Golegã is a Portuguese village belonging to the District of Santarém, with about 3,700 inhabitants. It is the seat of a small municipality with an area of 84.32 km² and 5,913 inhabitants (2011), subdivided into 3 parishes. The municipality is limited to the northeast by the municipality of Vila Nova da Barquinha, to the east and southeast by Chamusca, to the west by Santarém and to the northwest by Torres Novas and Entroncamento.

Since 2002, Golegã has been part of the statistical  (NUTS II) region of Alentejo and the statistical  (NUTS III) sub-region of Lezíria do Tejo; it continues, however, to form part of the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, which maintained the designation of the former NUTS II with the same name.

Until 2013, the municipality of Golegã consisted of only two parishes, covering an area of 76.62 km². That year, as part of a reorganization of parishes that took place on the mainland, a third parish (Pombalinho) was added, transferred from the municipality of Santarém.

It is located in a region of fertile soil, irrigated by the two rivers that border it, the Tagus River and the tributary River Almonda. This fact determined the choice for the settlement of the village and benefited from the beginning its economic development, based on agriculture.

After the Christian reconquest of the territory by King D. Afonso Henriques, in the 16th century. XII, this region was handed over to the Order of Knights of the Temple for cultivation. The memory of those times remains in the history of Quinta da Cardiga.

Still in the century. In the 12th century, as it is on the road that connected Tomar to Santarém, an inn was built here, at the behest of a woman from Galicia. The place then became known as Venda da Galega. The company's success and the regional agricultural characteristics were the stimulus for the subsequent commercial and agricultural development and for the settlement of the population. It was the name Galega that would originate the word Golegã.

Before being elevated to town by D. João III, in 1534, his royal predecessor, D. Manuel I, also invested in the locality, marking the fact with work carried out in the Mother Church.

The connection to agricultural activity encouraged the holding of fairs and markets. During the century In the 18th century, the festivities in honor of São Martinho, on 11 November, were preferred by horse breeders to proudly display their purebred animals in equestrian competitions and competitions. The event, which gradually gained importance, is the antecedent of the current National Horse Fair, of great national relevance in the equestrian specialty. Special attention deserves the national and regional ex-libris, the Lusitano Horse.

In addition to its county seat, the parishes or towns of Pombalinho and Azinhaga form an integral part of the RBPB.

Location of Azinhaga

Azinhaga is The oldest known document of Azinhaga is the charter granted by D. Sancho II, so its existence dates back to the beginnings of Portuguese nationality. If its name, Azinhaga or Azenhaga, comes from the Arabic الزنقة az-zanqa (the term zanqa preceded by the definite article) which means narrow path, tight alley between hills, heaths or ditches, then its antiquity is more remote and transfers to times prior to the founding of the Kingdom.

As it grew, the town followed the natural direction of the Almonda River. However, it was forced to suspend its development, as it was located in the middle of a swamp, almost a small island.

The development of the place is due to three reasons: the beginning of the draining of the swamps with the consequent use of the land for agriculture and pastoralism, especially those of the Infantado, under the guidance of Prince D. Fernando; the evolution achieved in the use of the Tagus by authorizing, in the various ports, the increase in the number of ferries for transport between the banks and/or the capital, of passengers, cattle and goods; and, still, although of lesser importance, the more frequent use of the Lisbon-Coimbra royal road which, passing close to the parish, crossed the Almonda through an existing bridge a short distance from the current one.

Following the crisis of 1383-1385, the Master of Avis, like D. João I of Portugal, paid his debts. With the caption "and better if there was better" the new king presented Dr. João das Regras with the rich property of Paul do Boquilobo, at the gates of Azinhaga.

In 1609, the place had 100 neighbors, which, according to technicians, corresponds to around 400-500 inhabitants. With the epic of the Discoveries over, the people demanded space to settle down. The king, always seen as an intruder, legislated that "the navigability of the great rivers such as the Tagus, the Mondego and the Douro should be carried out with the intention of stimulating trade for the benefit of the interior regions". Therefore, steps were taken to regularize the branches of the river, limiting the alvercas and programmed opening of the ditches, thus conquering land for cultivation and, on the other hand, starting the retreat of the ailments associated with marshy regions.

At the end of the 18th century, Azinhaga "had a population of 1500 inhabitants" and, as a rural parish, its taxable income was perhaps the highest in the country. This development was ensured by the large Quintas das Casas de Lavoura, of which the properties of Rafael da Cunha, of the Serrão de Faria family, who settled in the village five hundred years ago, and of the Counts of Rio Maior stood out.

Perhaps the most important fact for the establishment of Azinhaga as it is today was, at the end of the Civil War between D. Miguel and D. Pedro, the latter decided that the lands of the Infantado would be divided by the people, who hit hard. Thus, with the royal blessing, a company was created which was given the name "Companhia das Lezírias do Tejo e Sado".

Having always belonged to the "Terms of Santarém" and, later, to its municipality, detached from it, the rich and prosperous parish of Azinhaga was included in the new municipality of Golegã by decree of November 21, 1895.

Location of Pombalinho

Pombalinho is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Golegã, with an area of 7.7 km² and 448 inhabitants (2011). Density: 58.2 inhabitants/km².

Located on the right bank of the Tagus River, south of the village of Golegã, the parish of Pombalinho is eight kilometers from the county seat. It was in antiquity an important Roman town on the edge of Santarém. Former parish of Santa Cruz do Pombal, it began to be called, from the 16th century onwards. XVIII, by Pombalinho, to distinguish it from other villages with the same name, especially the village of Pombal.

Until the administrative reform of 2013, this parish belonged to the municipality of Santarém, having been transferred to the neighboring municipality of Golegã.

The baron of Pombalinho, António de Araújo Vasques da Cunha Porto Carrero, was mentioned in the Viagens na Minha Terra by Almeida Garrett.

Municipality of Torres Novas

The municipality of Torres Novas has an area of 270 km2 and an approximate population of 36,338 inhabitants. Integrated in the district of Santarém and in the Médio Tejo sub-region, it is limited to the northwest by the municipality of Ourém, to the east by Tomar, Vila Nova da Barquinha and Entroncamento, to the southeast by Golegã, to the south by Santarém and to the west by Alcanena.

The recent administrative organization divides it into ten parishes, three of which are covered by the RB, namely: União das parishes of Brogueira, Parceiros de Igreja and Alcorochel; Union of the parishes of Torres Novas (Santa Maria, Salvador and Santiago) and Riachos.

The region has been appealing since ancient times, with man leaving traces of his presence since the Paleolithic in places located on the edge of the karst network of the Almonda river, such as the caves of Buraca da Moura and Oliveira or Lapa da Bugalheira.

Later, in the early days of Roman rule, Cardílio and Avita became owners of one of the several “villae” existing in the area, Vila Cardílio, which would be classified as a National Monument in 1967. This Lusitanian-Roman village was inhabited in the 1st century to the 4th century AD and among its ruins, colorful mosaic panels, coins, sculptures were recovered, along with the Latin inscription that in one interpretation wishes the couple happiness in their “villa da torre”, an expression associated with a plausible origin of the toponym Torres Novas .

From the 12th century, the territory then known as Turris began to take on its current contours, with the expulsion of the Arab invaders by the troops of D. Afonso Henriques (1148) and the foundation of the municipality in the charter assigned to 1 October 1190 by D. Sancho I. The castle, which in the meantime had fallen into ruins, was rebuilt by order of this sovereign and, later, by D. Fernando I following the wars fought with the kings of Castile. The fortification withstood time and would only be subject to a new reconstruction program six centuries later, when it already held the classification of National Monument, awarded in 1910.

During the Middle Ages, the surrounding area experienced strong demographic and economic growth, receiving the Charter of Feira in 1263 and becoming part of the domains of Queen Santa Isabel of Aragon in 1304, by donation from her husband, King D. Denis. In the following centuries, it would assert itself as a meeting place for the courts and historical moments, such as the marriage oath between the infants D. Beatriz and D. Henrique, sons of D. Fernando I and D. João I of Castile ( 1380), the establishment of the regency of D. Leonor of Aragão, due to the death of her husband D. Duarte I and the minority of her son D. Afonso V (1438) and the decision to hold the Cortes at intervals of one decade so to generate closeness between kings and their subjects (1525).

The village had D. Isabel de Avis as grantee in the first half of the 15th century and received a new charter in the reign of D. Manuel I (1510). In the following decade, D. João de Lencastre would hold the title of first Marquis of Torres Novas, together with that of Duke of Aveiro, both extinct in 1759 by sentence due to the supposed involvement of D. José Mascarenhas da Silva e Lencastre in the attempt of regicide of D. José I. The monarch survived and it would be his daughter, Queen D. Maria I, who granted permission to Henrique Meuron and David Suabe to install the Fábrica das Chitas (1783), destroyed by the troops of General Massena in the third French invasion (1810).

The economic fabric developed throughout the 19th century and among the most successful cases are the founding of the Almonda Paper Factory (1818), the constitution of the Torres Novas Spinning Company (1845), as well as the creation from the carrier João Clara & Companhia (Irmãos) Lda. which, at the time of its nationalization (1975) was called Clara Transportes - SARL and accumulated the largest market share in the country with the second largest in the Iberian Peninsula.

The inauguration of the railway line from Torres Novas to Alcanena in 1893, in turn, was the protagonist of one of the most curious and troubled episodes in the business history of the region. The “Boy Train”, so nicknamed due to the small size of the composition, was operated by the Companhia de Caminhos de Ferro de Torres Novas a Alcanena - SARL (belonging to the Baron of Matosinhos) and circulated, for most of the route, on a gauge track narrow set over roads. The multiple derailments earned it a second name, that of “Rata Cega”, and would contribute to the closure of the line three years after its creation. The 20th century arrived in the meantime and the memory of the railway tracks was diluted in the growing regional affirmation of the municipality that determined the elevation of Torres Novas to the status of city in 1985.

The areas of productive specialization with greater municipal relevance belong to the wood processing industries (particularly paper, in addition to the manufacture of furniture, sawmills and carpentry), agri-food (relevance of olive oil), metallurgy and metalworking (transport materials), textiles, construction materials, along with services in the areas of transport of people and goods.

The council's companies and companies stand out in the wholesale and retail trade sector, followed by consultancy, technical and similar service providers and those linked to construction activities. The employed population shows values with a similar trend, in which the tertiary and secondary sectors stand out, above 70% and 25%, respectively.

Location of Riachos

The origin of the village of Riachos dates back to the first decades of the 16th century, with the settlement of scattered couples resulting from the settlement of agricultural workers from the fields of Almonda. The ancient toponymy accounts for this genesis of the settlement and the very implantation of the settlement (couples of creeks, small streams, ditches, etc.).

Only in the middle of the 20th century, however, did the people of Riach, now tenants or even landowners, overcome their primitive condition as agricultural wage earners on the large farms and owners of the Almonda fields. In the 70s of the 19th century, there was still not a single owner of the fields of Cordas or Murtal from Rio de Janeiro.

The arrival of the railway, still in the previous decade, made it possible to break the geographic isolation and the exclusively agricultural matrix of the village, which in the following 100 years saw its economy extend to transforming activities and industry, with particular emphasis on agro-industry (olive oil, tomatoes, alcohol), metallurgy or transport.

For this reason, in the mid-1960s, the rural economy began to lose ground, while factories and workshops also began to lose their lustre, heralding the current times in which Riachos, now a village with about of 4300 inhabitants (2011 census) and transformed into an urban periphery, saw all its traditional and emblematic companies and workshops close and the population dedicated to agriculture reduced to 62 people, including owners, tenants and workers, just 2.8 % of the employed population (against 400 people employed in the secondary sector and 1600 in services).

However, rurality was erected as an identity emblem of the people of Riachos and the Agricultural Museum of Riachos, which has developed a relevant community and socio-cultural role, as well as the folkloric ranch “Os Camponeses”, one of the most distinguished in the region, constitute the flags most notorious in Rio de Janeiro's culture.

Location of Boquilobo

Boquilobo is a small village in the historic parish of Brogueira (Torres Novas), today united in the Union of Parishes of Brogueira, Parceiros da Igreja and Alcorochel. Its settlement is ancient and there are references to it from the beginning of the 16th century, and is linked to the agricultural colonization of the fields of Almonda.

The small settlement, actually the expansion of an old couple, resulted from the settlement of salaried workers from the large nearby farms and never exceeded a few hundred inhabitants. Today, the village has about a hundred inhabitants and is identified, above all, because there is a small memorial to Humberto Delgado, a hero of the resistance to the Salazar regime and who was a native of Boquilobo.

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Economic Activities

The main economic activities carried out within the RBPB are directly linked to the primary sector of our economy - Agriculture.

The area where the RBPB develops is an exceptional area for the development of agricultural practice due to the high quality of the soil (alluvium) and the wide availability of water resources. Historically, the populations of this region have always been closely linked to agricultural activity, and this relationship continues to this day. 

The entire region of the Tagus Valley is excellent for agricultural practice. 

All agricultural activity takes place in the RBPB Transition Zone in accordance with good agricultural and environmental practices, taking advantage of and capitalizing on the biodiversity present in the Nuclear and Buffer Zones.

As the weight of arable land is high (more than 2/3 of the Useful Agricultural Area  - SAL) and, among annual crops, cereals (mainly maize) stand out, occupying 40 % of UAA, although potatoes, extensive horticultural crops and industrial crops also have a very significant weight (12%). In terms of productive specialization, farms specializing in arable crops, extensive horticulture or other extensive crops dominate (half of UAA).

Irrigation occupies more than 80% of the UAA, with a much higher weight in arable land.

For these areas, it is recommended that farmers use good agricultural and environmental practices to ensure that all agricultural land, especially those that are not used for productive purposes, are maintained in good agricultural and environmental conditions, seeking to prevent its abandonment. Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions are organized according to the following objectives:

Erosion, organic matter and soil structure;
Minimum level of maintenance;
Water protection and management.

Still associated with agriculture, there is livestock activity, through the creation of animals in an extensive regime, where horses are present with some preponderance. The economy linked to horses and equestrian tourism is of great importance to local society, having its maximum exponent with the National Horse Fair, around the time of São Martinho in Golegã.

In agricultural terms, the agents, have a perspective of creation, maintenance and economic, social and environmental sustainability, having as a challenge a new rurality in which, alongside the competitiveness of the sector, environmental valorization is guaranteed, the diversification of the economy, the inclusion society and the preservation of rurality.

Another relevant and emerging economic activity is the existing tourist activity associated with Nature Tourism, Cultural, Equestrian Tourism, Tourism in Rural Areas. Taking into account the definition of tourist resources as “goods that, due to their natural, cultural or recreational characteristics, have the capacity to motivate tourist visits and enjoyment”, the RBPB presents itself as a space with high potential to assert itself as a sustainable tourist destination. . 