The first results from the pilot sites launched under the SocialForest project are beginning to emerge, and they bring good news. For example, a 74% success rate was achieved in the planting of 500 holm oaks in a plot with weakened trees, insufficient regeneration and impoverished soils, located in the Noudar Nature Park. This action is led by the Empresa de Desenvolvimento e Infraestruturas do Alqueva (EDIA), which combined different techniques to restore a declining holm oak pastureland plot. The survival of such a high percentage of planted trees is a very positive result and points to promising outcomes.
The main problem affecting holm oak pasturelands is their widespread decline, a complex phenomenon caused by a combination of factors such as climate change, poor management, pests and diseases, among others. Their degradation has serious environmental, economic and social consequences, which makes this project particularly important in the effort to avoid, minimise or reverse this situation.
This pilot action, implemented in the winter of 2025, included the following interventions: initial soil fertilisation with natural phosphates, planting of 500 holm oaks with the combined application of mycorrhizae and installation of protective tubes, placement of cactus-type protectors, pest control through the installation of specific traps for Platypus cylindrus (a beetle species that affects oaks), as well as deficit irrigation in summer (once a week for four months).
To compensate for the 26% of plants that did not survive, and with the aim of restoring this declining pastureland area, a new planting is planned for next winter.
The preliminary results reinforce the viability of a process that EDIA intends to replicate in other plots, thus contributing to progressively improving the health of the pastureland.
This pilot site in Noudar aims not only to restore a specific plot, but also to demonstrate that the model can be successfully replicated in other Iberian pasturelands, offering real solutions to combat the decline of this ecosystem. It will thus show that the recovery of the pastureland is possible if early and coordinated intervention is carried out, even under adverse conditions.
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