RURAL GEOLOGY specialists are calling for more funds for national programmes aimed at stemming the tide of people abandoning Portugal’s interior.
The aim is to attract communities back into the Portuguese countryside. It is estimated that one third of national territory is affected by depopulation.
“It is necessary that national programmes have sufficient funding to combat depopulation and keep people in the interior of the country, especially in rural areas,” said Eugénio Sequeira, President of the Nature Protection League.
Particularly hard hit is the rural Alentejo region, where around 180,000 inhabitants – one-third of the population – are living on 10 euros or less per day according to the findings of a conference in Beja on Alentejo: Inequality, Poverty, and Isolation.
