Abstract
The montado is a silvo pastoral system, and the dominant land-use in the region of Alentejo (Portugal). It bears high nature, socio-economic, and landscape values, shaping the strong cultural identity of the region. Despite these values, it has been under decay over the last decades, indicating the inefficiency of current governance strategies. In this paper, we argue how three main discourses can be found that underpin different governance strategies in the montado: The heritage discourse, the modern production discourse, and the land stewardship discourse. These discourses frame farmers’ decisions, though not always explicitly. The discourse analysis is grounded on an analysis of the relevant literature and research results from diverse projects, including an analysis of media representation of the montado since the 1990s, participatory observations, and 30 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. Each of the three discourses identified are characterized in terms of key farming developments and defining elements, their time-scopes, the ways in which they are perceived by society, their measures of success, and underpinning institutions and power mechanisms. We argue that these discourses co-exist today, and this is a cause of increased tensions in montado governance strategies, hindering more effective and sustainable potential alternatives for the system.
Highlights
Adopting a discursive approach will help us discern which elements of the system are prone to end up in conflict or in synergy with the remaining ones. It adds the social worldview component of decision-making to other perspectives already undertaken by other authors examining the montado, including: Landscape preferences [9,10]; governance and management regimes [15] and their relation to land-cover [3]; economic policies [27]; and tensions arising from public policy implementation [28]
The analysis undertaken identified and examined the three main discourses that currently co-exist on the governance the montado, each one having at its core one of the three fundamental aspects of the social reproduction of this silvo-pastoral system: The historical and heritage value, the production role, and the environmental benefits
By adopting a discourse analysis perspective, we revealed a novel perspective on the background of factors that uphold current governance practices, contributing to a better understanding of the contradictions found among the aims stated by farmers and among these and their practices
Summary
The Portuguese Montado: A Multi-Functional and Valuable Agro-Ecosystem. Multi-functional agro-ecosystems, including the Portuguese montado, are human-managed land systems that are at the foundation of multiple ecosystem services, including agricultural production, regulating bio-geochemical and ecosystem cycles and, supporting human well-being [1]. Agro-ecosystems have been considered in relation to ‘natural’ objects, like bio-diversity, soil, water, or air. The effects of social constructions, such as organization, concepts, research practices, and expert language, are increasingly acknowledged in their role for policies and decision-making [2]. This shifts the focus in agro-ecosystems towards improved disentanglement of the balance between their ecological and socio-economic aspects
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