As part of the coordination activities for the DRYAD project, the coordinators visited the Portuguese partners between 19 and 21 January 2026. During this period, the DRYAD consortium (Grant Agreement ID: 101156076) carried out a series of meetings and field activities within Demonstration Region 3 (DR3 – Alentejo).
The mission, part of the project’s ongoing coordination activities, aimed to reinforce collaboration, review progress on the implementation of Nature‑based Solutions (NbS), and assess developments across two pilot demonstration areas (PDAs) in the region.
The visit began on 19 January with a project meeting at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) in Lisbon, bringing together national partners from IST‑ID (CERENA), LNEG, ISA and UNAC. Discussions focused on the status of NbS activities in DR3, technical developments in monitoring and modelling, wildfire‑risk mitigation strategies, and upcoming operational and reporting milestones.
Field activities followed over the next two days. On 20 January, the consortium travelled to Companhia das Lezírias (PDA1), where they visited the EC tower used for carbon modelling, ongoing NbS, and several monitoring infrastructures. These activities offered first-hand insight into the progress of NbS interventions and the installation of sensor networks supporting DRYAD’s monitoring strategy. In the afternoon, the delegation moved to Évora for a technical meeting at Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Alentejo (CCDR-A), including presentations on policies linked to NbS, preparations for the upcoming General Assembly, and insights from UNAC on the implementation of NbS in the Montado landscape.
On 21 January, partners visited the second Portuguese demonstration area in Vila Viçosa (PDA2). The field session focused on the installation of sensors and other on‑site monitoring equipment, as well as discussions on modelling and the technical components of the PDA. After concluding the DR3 programme, the coordination team continued towards Spain to proceed with the next phase of project meetings.
