The third workshop in the Regional Nodes series of Portugal took place on 15 September 2025, and was preceded by a public visit to the Vale Formoso Experimental Centre for Soil Erosion. The guided visit, attended by stakeholders, was a part of SOLO’s Soil Week event in Portugal, with the Regional Nodes workshop beginning after a shared lunch. 

The workshop focused on three main objectives: 1) validating and refining previously identified knowledge gaps, 2) validating ideal future scenarios where the top three knowledge gaps had been addressed, and 3) identifying concrete actions needed to achieve those scenarios. 

A backcasting exercise was used to help stimulate discussions and identify concrete actions. For this exercise, the team created different scenarios based on the top three identified knowledge gaps for the Think Tanks on erosion prevention, conserving soil biodiversity, and conserving carbon stocks. While the focus was meant to remain on the top three knowledge gaps, the group working on the conservation of soil biodiversity chose to create a new scenario based on the fourth-ranked knowledge gap. This unexpected option led to greater engagement, with one key stakeholder committing to implementing a result-based agri-environmental measure to protect and improve soils in semiarid areas vulnerable to desertification. 

To avoid earlier difficulties in keeping discussions centred on the Montado system, this workshop focused instead on Mértola’s regional soil challenges. Many proposed actions showed clear synergies across the different priorities, reflecting their interconnected nature, namely the need to create an efficient network of advisory services.