Developing the Montado and the Dehesa in an innovative and sustainable way - this is the main objective of the LIFE project "Montado & Climate: A need to Adapt".

This 5-year project will implement the ILU (Integrated Land Use) model, which aims to support farmers in 11 pilot areas in Spain and Portugal to develop mechanisms for adapting to the effects that climate change is having in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the Montado / Dehesa areas. The aim is to enrich the management systems of these ecosystems through the use of new tools and technologies that will be articulated with local communities/local products, ecoservices and biodiversity. The farmers in these pilot areas will not only take part in the project, but will also be opinion leaders in their communities and among other farmers who show a desire to implement the ILU system on their properties, with these components of publicising and disseminating the system at a national level being one of the project's main goals.

This initiative has a total budget of €3,439,571 and is co-financed by the European Union through the LIFE Programme, which has been supporting projects in the areas of nature and environmental conservation and recently opened the LIFE+ Climate Action sub-programme for actions against climate change.

The project's partners are: Forestry Service Group, National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research, Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, University of Évora, ICNF - Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests IP, University of Extremadura, TerraSIG, Lda, Mediterranean Forest Union, Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company, Consejeria de Medio Ambiente y Ordenacion del Territorio, Explotaciones Agropecuarias La Rinconada SL, Dehesa del Guijo S.A, Ayuntamineto de VillasBuenas de Gata, Grupo Casablanca - Cáparra SL, Sociedade Agrícola do Freixo do Meio, Lda and ANSUB - Associação dos Produtores Florestais do Vale do Sado.