Baldios are wide areas, integrated in extensive farming systems, historically held and managed by local communities for animal grazing and other extractive activities in support of their livelihoods. This land tenure regime persisted despite successive political and socioeconomic changes that threatened its communitarian nature, profoundly influencing the socioeconomic structure of rural areas. Today, use and possession of the baldios by the local communities is safeguarded by formal legal rights. In 2007 an agri-environmental scheme (AES) designed for managing the pastures in the baldios was proposed to the commoners of two protected areas. While one was successfully implemented and is still active, the other was discontinued. This study focuses on the Peneda-Gerês National Park experience, where the AES was widely adopted, aiming to understand the effects of its implementation on local dynamics for management of baldios, looking at its social and cultural benefits, particularly regarding local capacity for collective action. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in all the baldios in the park, and a period of stay in one of the villages allowed an opportunity for deeper analysis. Other stakeholders were also interviewed (e.g., state institutions). We argue that the benefits of this scheme went beyond the direct monetary payouts, playing an important role in the revitalization of local institutions. Moreover, we conclude that in depopulated and aging rural areas, top-down site-specific agri-environmental schemes that rely on existing social and institutional structures to operate are critical to recover and/or recreate institutions and practices for local collective landscape management.

中文翻译：

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葡萄牙北部公共牧场管理农业环境计划的成果：社会效益和对当地集体行动能力的影响


Baldios 是广阔的地区，融入了粗放的农业系统，历史上由当地社区持有和管理，用于动物放牧和其他采掘活动，以支持他们的生计。尽管连续的政治和社会经济变化威胁到其公社主义性质，深刻影响了农村地区的社会经济结构，但这种土地所有制制度仍然存在。今天，当地社区对 baldios 的使用和拥有受到正式合法权利的保障。2007 年，向两个保护区的平民提出了一项旨在管理 Baldios 牧场的农业环境计划 （AES）。虽然一个已成功实施并且仍然有效，但另一个已停止使用。本研究侧重于 Peneda-Gerês 国家公园的经验，AES 在那里被广泛采用，旨在了解其实施对当地 Baldios 管理动力的影响，研究其社会和文化效益，特别是关于当地集体行动的能力。在公园的所有 baldios 进行了半结构化访谈，并在其中一个村庄逗留了一段时间，有机会进行更深入的分析。还采访了其他利益相关者（例如，国家机构）。我们认为，该计划的好处超出了直接的货币支付，在振兴地方机构方面发挥了重要作用。此外，我们得出的结论是，在人口稀少和老龄化的农村地区，依靠现有社会和制度结构来运作的自上而下的针对特定地点的农业环境计划对于恢复和/或重建当地集体景观管理的机构和做法至关重要。