Over the centuries, the inhabitants of the municipality of Proença-a-Nova have taken from the resources of the land what they needed for their daily lives. Currently, even under new garments, the forest continues to be the common denominator of value-added activities, such as nature tourism, extraction of essential oils, timber, mycology, water retention, landscape or the carbon sequestration. The urgency of preserving existing biological diversity should lead to the affirmative creation of legislation to frame the benefits to be paid for maintaining forests and their biodiversity, recognizing their impact on collective well-being and providing an important source of income for those who are their guardians every day.

To reflect on these and other issues, the Municipality of Proença-a-Nova promotes, on May 22nd, the BiodivSummit, a conference focused specifically on the theme of biological diversity, which will be held at the Centro Ciência Viva da Floresta, that promot all forest resources.