TECHNICAL VISITS
As part of the 8th IWFC, Technical Visits in English-speaking are available to participants upon registration. The locations for technical visits are conveniently located in and around Porto. Round-trip travel from the Conference venue to the venues is arranged for groups up to 50 participants with a minimum of 20 (each).
1) Vila Pouca de Aguiar
Monday, 15th May 2023 - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Price: 70€
(VAT included)
LIFE MARONESA is a Governance, Information and Climate Action project, which aims to implement strategies to adapt to climate change through a sustainable model of extensive livestock production.
Addresses the problem of abandonment of mountain pastures, particularly in common areas, the increase in the intensity of summer rural fires, the reduction of the stock of carbon sequestered in the organic matter of soils in mountain areas and the effective reduction of the Maronesa breed.
IIts main objective is to improve the climate resilience of livestock farms and promote increased carbon retention in soil organic matter.
The project is based on a demonstration model of agricultural and livestock practices, which have been integrated by a vanguard producer, and which will be integrated intofour replication areas, through producers who follow this exploration model.
The intervention areas are located in the 4 most representative municipalities of Solar da Raça Maronesa, Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Vila Real, Ribeira de Pena and Mondim de Basto, the region with the highest number of Maronesa cattle farms.
PROGRAM:
8:00 AM | Departure from Porto – Alfândega do Porto Congress Center
10:15 AM | Reception - Ferreirinho, Telões
10:30 AM | Visit to the Maronesa Life Project
12:45 AM | Cocktail-style lunch at Casa de Telões
2:30 PM | Departure to the Adventure Park from Ribeira de Pena
3:30 PM | Activities in the Adventure Park *
6:00 PM | Return to Porto
2) REN | Forest Defense Networks - Parque Serras do Porto
Monday, 15th May 2023 - 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Price: 30€
(VAT included)
In Portugal, REN has about 10,000 kilometres (around 36,000 hectares) of power line and gas pipeline easements, with more than 66% of these easements (23,000 hectares) in forest areas. In the last five years, REN has managed vegetation on more than 44,000 hectares (7,200 hectares in 2022). Due to the company’s relevance in defending the Forest, REN has been implementing a series of vegetation management strategies that, in addition to providing security to its infrastructure, increase the resilience of the territories to the risk of wildfires.
In addition to learning in detail about REN’s vegetation management strategy, during this initiative this technical visit will include the presentation of a system that monitors the forest through optical cameras, while simulating and predicting the fire’s behaviour (a project involving the University of Coimbra and whereness).
Additionally, we will look at a plan to enable a territory (Serras do Porto Park) to fight wildfires, based on the facilities already present on the land, with the participation of ForestWISE (collaborative laboratory that promotes the integrated management of forest and fire, based on (co)research and development
activities, knowledge transfer, and technology), Parque Serras do Porto (municipal entity that manages the land), REN (the energy infrastructure manager present in the land), and The Navigator Company (one of the world’s leading players in the pulp and paper industry and one of the largest owners of that
territory).
REN will also demonstrate two pioneering machines for clearing forests and preventing fires – the RAPTOR 100 and the RAPTOR 300, which have improved silviculture and fuel management operations and made the defence of forests against fires more effective.
About REN
REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais is the company that manages the main electricity and natural gas transmission facilities in Portugal. REN is also operating in the natural gas distribution business through the development and management of the gas distribution network in the northern coastal
region of Portugal. REN is also involved in the telecommunications business through RENTELECOM, which covers a variety of services relating to infrastructure, managed services, and consultancy. In compliance
with all required quality and safety standards, REN aims to be one of the most efficient electricity and natural gas transmission system operators in Europe. The company also holds a 42.5% stake in the share capital of Electrogas, which operates a natural gas transmission system located in central Chile,
and, in 2019, acquired Transemel, an electricity transmission company predominantly located in northern Chile.
PROGRAM:
3:00 PM | Departure for technical visit - Alfândega do Porto Congress Center
4:00 PM | Welcome – João Gaspar – REN’s Sustainable Networks and Easements and Carlos Fonseca – CTO of ForestWISE
4:10 PM | Vegetation Management: REN’s Strategy – Pedro Marques
4:25 PM | Resilience Networks of the Serras do Porto Park – Rui Pinto e Ana Sá – ForestWISE
4:40 PM | Fire Simulator – José Moreira – REN and Carlos Viegas – University of Coimbra
5:00 PM | Demonstration of forest clearing and fire prevention machines – Raptor 100 and 300 – Tomás Marques – Bermarthor
5:30 PM | Closing
6:00 PM | Return and arrival at the Alfândega do Porto Congress Center
HOW TO BE PART OF THE VISITS:
If you have already registered and wish to add the Technical Visits to your registration, please Log In. The link to your account was previously sent by email after your registration.