Nature and wildlife are coming back to the Great Côa Valley. An unprecedented, large-scale opportunity exists here today for the rewilding of this beautiful area in Portugal. The abandonment of a big part of the valley has brought a new opportunity for rewilding and the comeback of wildlife.
Montados, mountain ranges and river gorges are popular with cliff loving animals such as vultures and eagles, together with river valleys inhabited by otters and pond turtles. On the poorer soils on granite bedrock, the landscape is dominated by very small land holdings that have had cultivation based on olives, almonds, and cereals – which are now also increasingly being abandoned.
The Greater Côa Valley has attracted new, young people, for whom it provides business opportunities based on these wild values, local products and culture, thereby contributing to its future. The Greater Côa Valley is ecologically connected to similar natural, wild areas in other parts of Western and Northern Iberia, through the Natura 2000 network, and the rewilding team actively works also with this connectivity.
The ecological integrity of this vast Mediterranean ecosystem has been restored in this rewilding area in Portugal, in particular in the Greater Côa Calley in Portugal. At the same time, large parts of it have become much wilder than before.
In the Greater Côa Valley, Rewilding Europe works with the recently established Rewilding Portugal. The organization is working to achieve the shared goal of making Portugal a wilder place. Rewilding Portugal has thus established itself as an innovative and inspirational initiative that resonates with many national and international sectors.
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