Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/03/22. Dogs and residents enjoy the morning sun in the main square in Vilarinho Seco, one of the oldest villages in the Barroso region. Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso 2019/11/26. A Portuguese flag flutters on a hill overlooking the village of Covas do Barroso, where the British mining company Savannah Resources intends to make a lithium mine. The open pit would be 800 meters in diameter and a mere 500 meters distant from the village. The hills surrounding Covas do Barroso are estimated to have one of the largest lithium deposits in Portugal. . Covas do Barroso Portugal
Poertugal, Cerdedo, 2021/10/23. Paulo das Cabras takes his 300 goats and sheep to graze among the wind turbines that dot the ridges of the hills of the Barroso region. He lives in Cerdedo, a village near Covas do Barroso, where the first of several lithium mines planned for the area faces stiff resistance from residents. The mines are part of a strategy by the Portuguese government trying to attract electric car batteries manufacturers to the country, a step it claims to be necessary to fulfill the country’s decarbonization targets. The Trás os Montes region of Portugal, of which the Barroso region is part, produces 25% of the renewable energy consumed by the country. Little of the revenue generated by this industry stays there, which is the poorest region in the country. Photograph by Andre Vieira Cerdedo Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/05/03. Agostinho Gomes, a farmer in Vilarinho Seco, searches for his cows to bring them back to their pen for the night. Cattle in the Barroso grazes outside all through the year and are never given animal feed. Many of the pasture areas are collectively owned by the villages. Photograph by Andre Vieira Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/10/02. Paulo Pires, a small farmer and shepherd, inspects the exploratory holes made by British mining company Savannah to evaluate the lithium content of the underground of the hills surrounding Covas do Barroso, where it intends to open a mine. Pires lives just a few hundred meters from the site. He fears the mine will force him to move from where he lived all his life and take away from him the lifestyle he cherishes.Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Boticas, 2021/10/04. David Archer, CEO of the British mining company Savannah, inspects a core sample taken from the area where his company wants to mine for lithium in the village of Covas do Barroso. The mine faces strong opposition from residents and authorities in the region but counts with enthusiastic backing from the Portuguese government, which would like to see the country become part of the supply chain for the nascent European electric mobility industry. Photograph by Andre Vieira Boticas Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/31. Kid plays soccer behind placards on the fence of the sports court at the center of Covas do Barroso protesting against the construction of a lithium mine just a few hundred meters from the village. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Morgade 2019/12/10. José Carlos Castro, a farmer in Carvalhais, walks through a hole left in the landscape by the Mina do Beça, a decommissioned tungsten mine now mostly hidden by the vegetation. Geologists first detected the presence of lithium in the Barroso region when studying its rejects. Lusorecursos, a Portuguese mining company with a turbulent legal history, has plans for a new lithium mine in the site of the old mine. Its excavations would remove the mountain that separates Carvalhais from neighboring Morgade, Carvalhais Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/30. Nelson Gomes (left), one of the leaders of a group of residents trying to stop the construction of a lithium mine in the Covas do Barroso, argues about the mine with Napoleão Fernandes, a supporter of it. Surveys show that most residents of the Barroso are against the mines, but some think they might bring benefits to the economically depressed region. The diverging opinions are opening serious divisions in what usually are tight-knit communities where cooperation among neighbors is essential for their survival. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/05/04. Four families in Vilarinho Seco pool their labor and equipment to plant potatoes in early spring, a practice common in the Barroso. The agriculture plots are small and scattered on the mountains around the village. Most have been in production for centuries, kept fertile by alternating cultures and cattle grazing. Photograph by Andre Vieira Boticas Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/06/23. Nelson Gomes watches over his cows as they graze in the company of his dog, Fusco. Gomes, together with his wife Aida Fernandes, leads a group of residents trying to stop the construction of a lithium mine in the village. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/06/22. Aida Fernandes at a waterfall that lies inside the perimeter of the lithium mine the British company Savannah wants to make in the village. Aida is one of the leaders of a group of residents fighting the construction of the mine. The waterfall belongs to a property owned by her father and her brother, both enthusiastic supporters of the mine. The waterfall will disappear if the mine construction goes ahead. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/10/02. Paulo Pires holds a small frog he found along a stream that crosses an area where he often takes his sheep to graze and where he used to play as a child. The stream lies inside the perimeter of the lithium mine the British company Savannah wants to make in Covas do Barroso, distant just a few hundred meters from Pires home. He fears the mine will force him to move from where he lived all his life and take away from him the lifestyle he cherishes. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/09/30. João Cassote walks along a water canal that is part of the Regadio system of Covas do Barroso. The Regadio is an ancient irrigation system collectively managed by the village's residents. It is one of the main features of the agricultural model that led the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to award the Barroso region a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designation, the second awarded in Europe. Cassote is a staunch supporter of the construction of a lithium mine in Covas do Barroso and borrowed 200 thousand euros from banks to invest in equipment intending to provide support services to the mine. His sister, Aida Fernandes, is one of the leaders of a group of residents trying to stop it. If she succeeds in her efforts Cassote's investments will be lost. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/31. - Napoleão Fernandes, the informal historian of Covas do Barroso, reads from an early XIX century document stipulating the water use rights for a part of the village in the system called.Regadio, which is an ancient irrigation system collectively managed by village residents. The Regadio is at the base of the agricultural model that led the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to award the Barroso region a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designation, the second region to be awarded it in Europe. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barrosos, 2021/06/22. Paulo Pires cleans a field of potatoes with the help of his brother-in-law and his donkey, Cardoso. The mine planed for Covas do Barroso would be just 500 meters from his home and would destroy many of the fields where he takes his sheep to graze. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/05/03. Agostinho Gomes, a farmer, prepares to let his cows outside to graze. The unique farming system of the Barroso region prompted the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to award the Barroso a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designation. Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2019/12/07. Paulo Pires holds a newborn lamb in his animal shed. Pires property lies less than 500 meters from the site of a planned open-pit lithium mine next to the village. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/28. Maria Eutília Gonçalo Fernandes (left) serves snacks for the neighbors who showed up to help her harvest her potatoes. It’s a tradition of the Barroso region that residents help each other with farm work and pool the use of machines, especially during harvest season, which requires many people and resources. The possible construction of a lithium mine in the village divided its residents, with some in favor and others opposing it, putting in jeopardy the communitarian spirit essential for the survival of the village. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/28. Snacks set out by resident Maria Eutília Gonçalo Fernandes for the neighbors who showed up to help her harvest her potatoes. It’s a tradition of the Barroso region that residents help each other with farm work and pool the use of machines, especially during harvest season, which requires many people and resources. The possible construction of a lithium mine in the village divided its residents, with some in favor and others opposing it, putting in jeopardy the communitarian spirit essential for the survival of the village. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho do Barroso, 2019/05/04. Elias Coelho (right), chats with a visiting relative of a neighbor and her son in the streets of Vilarinho Seco as a group of cows arrive from the fields. Photograph by Andre Vieira Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/10/02. Paulo Pires returns home after taking his sheep to graze in a field inside the area where the British company Savannah intends to make a lithium mine, just a few hundred meters from his house. Pires fears that if the plans for the mine move forward, he'll have no alternative but to move from the village where he has lived his entire life. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/05/03. Residents in Vilarinho Seco, one of the oldest villages in the Barroso region, sing and drink after participating in a religious procession celebrating the Holy Cross. Catholic celebrations dictate part of the rhythm of life in the Barroso, with festivals and liturgical rites marking every important agriculture cycle. Photograh by Andre Vieira Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Salto, 2019/07/27. Men compete to see who can first hammer a nail all the way in a tree stump during the National Tournament for the Barrosã Cattle Breed in the city of Salto. The Barrosã, known for its small size, large horns (which can grow well over 100 cm in length), and agility in mountainous terrain is native to the Barroso region. Its meat is a delicacy increasingly popular in restaurants around Portugal. Photograph by Andre Vieira Salto Portugal
Portugal, Salto, 2019/07/27. Farmer strugles to control his bull right after it received an award at a cattle fair dedicated to the Barrosão breed in Salto. The Barrosão, known for its small size, long horns and exquisite flavour is unique to the Barroso region and a delicacy increasingly popular in restaurants around Portugal. Photograph by Andre Vieira Montalegre Portugal
Portugal, Covas dio Barroso, 2021/08/28. Aida Fernandes, helped by her daughter-in-law Ira Daniel, slaughter a few chickens to feed her family. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/28. A recently slaughtered chicken being cleaned of its feathers by Aida Fernandes, one of the leaders of a group of residents fighting the construction of the mine in their village. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/12/14. Filipe Coelho (center, bending down) prepares to dismember the three pigs he just butchered with the help of friends and neighbors. They will become ham and sausages to feed his family throughout the year. Photograph by Andre Vieira Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2019/12/08. Neighbors and friends gather in Paulo Pires’ tool shed to make sausages from the meat of the three pigs he and his friends killed in the morning. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Seco, 2019/12/14. Carla Pereira serves wine to friends and neighbors who came to help her family butcher three pigs. The hogs will become ham and sausages to feed them throughout the year. Photograph by Andre Vieira Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/10/24. Daniel Loureiro, helped by his granddaughter Silvia, steps on grapes to make wine at a shed beside his home. The wine will be consumed by his family throughout the year and used to marinate pork meat used in the manufacture of sausages. Residents of the villages in the Barroso region produce much of what they eat. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2019/11/23. Maria Emilia da Silva works dough to bake bread for her family at the centuries old village’s community oven in Covas do Barroso. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso 2019/12/14. Elias Coelho (left) cuts a loaf of homemade bread to serve to his family and neighbors who came to help with the slaughter of pigs. It's a tradition in the Barroso region that, at the beginning of winter, families slaughter pigs to make ham and sausages, which they smoke above the fireplaces in their kitchens. Photograph by Andre Vieira . Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Vilarinho Secoa, 2019/05/03. Natives of Vilarinho Seco who moved out in search of work opportunities, visiting for a few days to see relatives and attend a religious festival, reminisce about their childhood there over food and wine. Photograph by Andre Vieira Vilarinho Seco Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2019/12/07. Members of a folkloric dance group in Covas do Barroso rehearse at the village's community hall for an upcoming presentation. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/10/03. Donations in the alms collection basket after Sunday mass in the church of Covas do Barroso. The church, in the Roman style, was built in the XIII century and is one of the oldest in the Trás os Montes region of Portugal. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/27. Aida Fernandes, one of the leaders of a group of residents fighting the construction of a lithium mine in her village, tends to the vegetables and flowers garden outside her home. Fernandes is also the President of the village’s Baldio, the pasture and forest areas collectively owned and managed by the village’s residents as a cooperative. The Baldio is one of the features that distinguishes the agriculture practices of the Barroso, what prompted the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to award the region a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designation. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Covas do Barroso, 2021/08/28. Clothes hanging to dry outside a house in Covas do Barroso. In the distance are the mountains that might contain one of the largest deposits of lithium in Portugal. Photograph by Andre Vieira Covas do Barroso Portugal
Portugal, Alturas do Barroso, 2021/10/23.. The village of Alturas do Barroso in the mountains of the Barroso region of Portugal. In 2019 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations awarded the Barroso region a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) designation, the second region to be awarded it in Europe. The GIAHS designation gives recognition to areas that “are resilient systems characterized by remarkable agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge, invaluable cultures, and landscapes, sustainably managed by farmers, herders, fisherfolk, and forest people in ways that contribute to their livelihoods and food security". In 2020 the Portuguese government announced plans to give a large number of mining concessions to companies interested in exploiting mineral deposits in the region, especially lithium. Photograph by Andre Vieira Alturas do Barroso Portugal
The Barroso is one of Portugal’s most isolated areas, a region renowned for its harsh climate, rough terrain, and stunning beauty. To survive in it, locals developed a complex system of agriculture and cattle ranching that relies on the collective management of water resources and of the forest and pasture areas used by their animals.
This system has kept the soil fertile, its rivers and springs clean, the landscape unblemished, and its communitarian traditions alive.
Mining has a long history in the region, but one that does not elicit fond memories. Most mines closed years ago without leaving any prosperity, only scars in parts of the landscape that abandoned wells and tunnels, now hidden by vegetation, make it too dangerous for humans or animals to roam through.
The first of the new lithium mines waits just for a final permit from the mining authorities to start operating. It will open a pit 800 meters wide a mere 500 meters from the village of Covas do Barroso. It’ll also consume huge amounts of the water that is at the heart of the village’s unique agricultural practice, one that merited from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the GIAHS designation, which distinguishes areas "characterized by remarkable agrobiodiversity, traditional knowledge, invaluable cultures, and landscapes, sustainably managed by farmers, herders, fisherfolk, and forest people in ways that contribute to their livelihoods and food security”.
The recognition was a big booster for the image of the Barroso and its products.
Those resisting the mines (polls show a majority of residents of the Barroso oppose them) are often getting in conflict with neighbors and relatives to do so. But what they resent the most are accusations by the rest of the country of being selfish and an obstacle to progress, narrative authorities encourage. One-quarter of the energy produced in Portugal comes from their region’s rivers, dammed by hydroelectric power plants, or its landscape, dotted with hundreds of wind turbines. Little of the revenues generated benefits the area.
Other mines are soon to follow. Portugal has some of the largest lithium deposits in Europe. The government hopes to make the country part of the supply chain for the growing electric mobility industry. It recently announced an international tender for other mining concessions around the country. Many in regions that are equally rich in nature.