Guardians Worldwide

Reserva Florestal Portelas is a 2-hectare protected woodland in Penamacor, Beira Baixa. Situated at the foothills of Serra Malcata, a national biodiversity and rewilding hotspot, Portelas is owned by Guardians Worldwide. The land is dedicated to the protection of native trees, native soils and biodiversity.

We are managing and stewarding Portelas Forest Reserve as an off-grid, living laboratory: a space for nature protection, regeneration and ecosocial transformation.

The forest is also a space for action research, creative exploration and outdoor education.

Our main focus at Portelas is to advance rural arraiana economy, sustainability, fire-smart habitat restoration and social regeneration in the Portuguese interior.

Reforestation
& Land regeneration

Cultural valorisation

Habitat restoration
& fire-smart design

Floresta de Portelas lies a few miles south of Serra Gardunha and Serra Malcata, which mark the ecological boundary between Northern and Southern Portugal, in a land corridor characterized by mild micro-climate and the abundance of surface water. Our aim is to steward the land for research, action and community work around reforestation and land regeneration.

The land has an elevation of 576 meters. It is part of the granite ridge of Monsanto, near the Spanish and Portuguese border.

Our Living Lab includes a small mountain stone house, a former storage site for cortiças, which we are remodelling and turning into an off-grid space for international research, placements, teaching and retreats.

Reserva Florestal Portelas

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Upcoming events

Dia de Voluntariado

Nov 21, 10:00-14:00

Penamacor

No dia 21 de novembro encontrar-nos-emos em frente ao supermercado Auchan, en Norte 233, Penamacor, às 10:00 da manhã.

O dia será dedicado principalmente à limpeza e observação do terreno. Vamos mostrar-te o espaço e, esperamos, ter oportunidade de te conhecer melhor.

Pedimos que tragas calçado adequado, calças compridas, roupa quente e luvas. Se tiveres ferramentas de jardinagem (tesouras de poda, corta-sebes, etc.), seria ótimo.

Curso Transformacional Online “Guardians”

Nov 10- Dec 15

Participe desta jornada online ao vivo de 5 semanas, a partir de 10 de novembro de 2025, explorando as mudanças climáticas sob a perspectiva do “tempo profundo”. Descubra como os eventos de extinção moldaram nosso planeta e como ocorre a recuperação — ecológica, cultural e espiritual.

Inscreva-se agora

Caminhada de Inverno Jurássica

Dezembro 6, 10am

Praia Calada Surf Club

— Membro de Assenta, Formação de Lourinhã (Ericeira)

Passeio guiado gratuito com a Guardians Worldwide Portugal

Como parte do curso online Extinção e Recuperação, junte-se a nós para uma caminhada de inverno ao longo da costa jurássica perto da Ericeira. Vamos explorar o Membro de Assenta, pertencente à Formação de Lourinhã, um local notável integrado no Geoparque Oeste, território reconhecido como Geoparque Global da UNESCO.

Durante o percurso, observaremos árvores fossilizadas, madeira queimada fossilizada, ovos de dinossauro, ossos e pegadas — testemunhos raros do mundo jurássico português, incluindo vestígios de Stegosaurus e Ankylosaurus.

📍 Ponto de Encontro: Calada Beach Surf Club
🕙 Hora: 10h00, sábado, 6 de dezembro de 2025
⏱ Duração: Aproximadamente 3 horas + almoço opcional no Beach Club (cada participante paga o seu almoço, se desejar ficar)
💰 Custo: Gratuito — lugares muito limitados, inscreva-se com antecedência!

👟 O que levar: Roupa quente e calçado adequado para caminhada

Nota: Este percurso não é adequado para pessoas com mobilidade reduzida.

A caminhada será conduzida em português pelo Dr. Nicolás Salazar Sutil, Diretor da Guardians Worldwide.

Inscreva-se agora

Floresta Portelas

The land is dominated by four different species of native oak: namely, cork oak (quercus suber), holly oak (quercus ilex), holm oak (quercus rotundifolia) and common oak (quercus robur). There are numerous smaller species on site like strawberry trees (arbutus unedo), native shrubs, as well as a variety of aromatic and medicinal plants.

The area is known for its cultural uniqueness: it is the land of cultura arraiana, or border culture, which is rich in folklore, gastronomy, seasons rituals like the Madeiro (winter bonfire) and romerias.

The area is rich in wildlife and biodiversity. The area is known as Portugal’s biodiversity and rewilding hotspot, with lynxes, wolves and bison reintroduced in neighbouring lands.

Floresta Portelas

Our Living Lab shows how an off-grid forest site can restore land while keeping human impact minimal. Solar energy, rain-water harvesting, and composting toilets create a closed, low-carbon system with near-zero reliance on external utilities.

This independence protects aquifers, avoids pollution from run-off, and leaves soils and native vegetation undisturbed, allowing pollinators, birds, and small mammals to thrive. Every element—from renewable power to food-forest plantings—serves as a hands-on classroom for visitors and local partners seeking fire-smart, climate-resilient land management.

The Living Lab is both a working forest and a proof of concept: communities can meet their own needs sustainably while regenerating ecosystems and reducing emissions.

Aliança Guardiões de Penamacor

The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) consistently ranks Portugal as Europe’s most fire- affected country, with the highest annual area of burned land per square kilometre (see also Ramos 2023). In 2025, wildfires consumed 260,000 ha of Portuguese mainland territory: five times the seasonal average. In 2017— a record-breaking year— roughly 6 percent of the country’s entire surface burned down. Since 1980, repeated fires have affected an area equivalent to 56 percent of the country’s surface area (ICNF, 2023).

In 2025, after wildfires burned 2,904 ha in Penamacor, we helped establish Aliança Guardiões de Penamacor (AGP), a cross-village alliance now stewarding over 450 ha of biodiverse territory in and around Serra da Malcata Reserve. GOP unites landowners, community members, schools, Freguesia members and forest defenders, serving as platform for participatory planning, cultural reconnection and community-based ecological governance.

What are we doing about it?

Participatory mosaic-habitat restoration, agroecology, productive fire-break design, water-retention systems, replanting of fire-resistant species and rewilding are some of the actions we are delivering to engage youth, elders, smallholders and officials in intergenerational collaboration and civic action, showing how collective stewardship can be replicated across neighbouring communities.