Social Mapping of Vilar Maior (Pocket knives' Lands)

As part of a mission between the Societies and Environmental Sustainability Research Line of the Centre for Functional Ecology at the University of Coimbra (SESrg-CFE/UC) and its extension at the Open University, and the Bocaina Observatory for Sustainable and Healthy Territories (OTSS) of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), and in conjunction with ongoing projects in the Serra da Gata/Malcata cross-border territory, this territorialised report describes the process of implementing Participatory Social Mapping with local agents and communities, which will inform the socio-ecological diagnosis aimed at ecological transition, health promotion and well-being, as well as possible future joint projects in the territory. This initiative involves liaising with CFE projects taking place in the cross-border territory of the Sierras de la Gata (Spain) and Malcata (Portugal) and aims to test, on national territory, the Social Mapping methodology that the OTSS has widely developed as part of the ‘Peoples Project’, which highlights the territories, identities and traditions of 64 traditional communities.