Use and assessment of the ‘new’ rural functions by land- users and landowners of the Montado in Southern Portugal

The aim of the study presented here is to contribute to knowledge about how the Montado supports ‘new’ rural functions, connected to leisure and recreation activities, and how these can be improved. The Montado is an agrosilvopastoral system dominant in Southern Portugal. Due to its various types of uses, the Montado is recognizedly a multifunctional landscape, though future management conditions are still to be defined. In order to ensure the development of rural areas, knowledge about the present state of ‘new’ functions is needed. While the issue can be tackled from different perspectives, the research presented here surveyed the use and the assessment that different land-users and landowners make of ‘new’ rural functions. A qualitative survey was carried out through 204 personal interviews with different types of land-users (rural and urban inhabitants, workers, tourists, hunters, mushroom pickers and bee-keepers) and 28 interviews with landowners. The interviewees responded to questions about the activities they carry out in the Montado, as well as existing difficulties and also possible improvements related with their activities. The landowners were asked to describe the current incorporation of ‘new’ functions in the management of their farms and their motivations to do so. Results reveal that there is a variety of ‘new’ rural functions in the Montado, such as walking, hunting, mushroom picking and beekeeping. As to the main difficulties, problems were identified regarding access to private properties, a feeling of lack of security due to no information regarding wild cattle, hunting and fire and lack of facilities promoting orientation, such as the signposting of walking paths and tourist information. For landowners, inclusion of ‘new’ functions in their estate management was mainly influenced by economic motivation. Most landowners included hunting in the management of their estates. Few landowners perceived the ‘new’ activities as being no more than a complication for the purely productive management of their properties. The present study highlights several aspects that are important for the successful inclusion of ‘new’ rural functions in the management of Montado private properties. Namely, the economic benefits that ‘new’ rural functions bring to landowners, the fact that qualified help is needed for landowners in the implementation process, and the importance of a clear definition of rights and responsibilities of landusers and landowners with regard to the functions mentioned.