Frontline Communities of Forest Fires
Para ler em português, clica aqui.
If you landed on this page, you were probably approached by one of our organizers at some point. This might have happened on the street, in a public event or in a meeting. Or perhaps a neighbor reached out to you and shared their concerns. Hopefully the conversation left you intrigued, inspired or curious. Perhaps you might be left with some questions that we didn’t have time to clarify. So here we are to give you more context and more details.
We are communities on the frontlines of forest fires in Portugal. We are organized locally and we are in coordination with the International Movement of Peoples Affected by Dams, Socio-environmental Crimes and the Climate Crisis.
This webpage in particular is hosted by Climáximo, an informal collective for climate justice. (To learn more, click here.) Climáximo is supporting communities to self-organize and is also helping out with national-level coordination.
No one other than the actual human beings you met. The communities are organizing themselves, they are people like you who dedicate their time to protect their communities. On the other hand, everyone in Climáximo is a volunteer and have jobs other than their militancy.
We don’t earn anything from this, other than a sense of solidarity.
Forest fires are killing people and destroying livelihoods in Portugal and around the world. So does the climate crisis, and in an ever-increasing impact and speed. The governments have made the choice to let the business-as-usual run its course. This means disaster after disaster for us. Only the communities affected by the climate crisis, in solidarity and for global justice, can solve this problem.
So, we need to organize. Organizing means people coming together to solve the problems that they are facing. As simple as that. How it looks like will be shaped by the people who are doing the organizing.
The person who talked to you is offering you support and also inviting you to organize your community to tackle this catastrophe.
To start with, you don’t have to trust us. You need to trust yourself and your community, holding solidarity as our guiding star. You can count on us to support you to organize your community.
On the other hand, the communities on the frontlines of forest fires feel on their skin what is to come and what has already come. We are very scared and extremely worried about the climate crisis, the droughts and the heatwaves. We have very little time to pull the emergency break.
Finally, Climáximo itself is made up of people who put their bodies on the line to warn the public about the climate emergency and the atrocities that the governments and the corporations designed for humanity. Besides climate marches, alliance building and campaigning, they did high-risk actions. They had hundred of arrests and face dozens of court cases for taking non-violent direct action for the climate. They are committed to the cause of climate justice. We are in this to win, i.e. to halt forest fires and to stop climate and social collapse.
The plan is that we build the plan together.
We carry with us decades of experience. We also have lessons from past movements as well as experiences we gathered from international movements.
We value the specificity of each context and we value strategic unity. We will have to figure out together.
If you have the direct contact of the person whom you met, please simply reach out to them. Otherwise, probably the best option is to send us an email.
In either case, we are very much interested in keeping in touch with you.
We have access to a lot of resources and trainings on community organizing, which we are happy to share with local organizers.
We can accompany you as you prepare meetings or have one-on-one conversations with your friends, neighbors or family members.
We can assist you in organizing public events or talking to people you don’t know yet.
We can support you with strategy tools as you build your plan.
We can connect you with people who do similar work in Portugal and elsewhere.
In all of these, please bear in mind that we are all working people doing this in the time we spare from our other commitments. So it is important for us that you take the initiative and leadership in this process. This is in fact the only way we can have a chance to win.
The best first step is to organize a meeting with your friends, family member and neighbours about the topic.
We are happy to accompany you in preparing the meeting, holding it, and following up. We can also connect you with other people who are doing similar work. Just drop us a message or an email, and we will pick it up from there.
Do you already have contacts where I live, so that I can organize with them?
During our work, we crossed paths with a lot of local groups.
Their activities are varied: ecosystem regeneration (agroecology, syntropic agriculture, taking out eucalyptus trees, etc.), fire prevention (buffer zones, popular vigilance brigades, civil protection trainings, etc.), fire fighting (evacuation plans, support infrastructure for immediate response), support to people affected by fires (consultation sessions, access to public funds, etc.) and recuperation (reforestation, territorial planning, etc.).
We don’t have direct contact with all the groups we found. Even so, we thought it would be useful to share with you all that we have, so that you can help build the movement with the people already organizing. The highlighted ones are meant to designate our level of direct knowledge and contact with the group
North
A’branda o Fogo, neighbors’ organization in Soajo, Arcos de Valdevez, to create a buffer zone against fires, reforestation and regeneration. They organize collective work days and public events.
Isto Não Fica Assim, created in Vilarinho da Castanheira and Pinhal do Douro in the municipality of Carrazeda de Ansiães after the forest fires of 15 August 2026, as the State failed in providing an adequate response.
Center
ADPLP – Associação de Desenvolvimento e Proteção Local das Póvoas, in the parishes of Valongo and Macinhata do Vouga in Águeda, unites residents and homeowners of different mountain villages gravely impacted by the fires of September 2024; with the goal of creating citizens action in favor of local development and protection of the people of the region.
Casa de Gigante, cultural association (and community space) in the parish of Várzea dos Cavaleiros (Pereiro e Vale de Pereiro), in Sertã, is a meeting point for local populations to prepare for forest fires. They organize community meetings and public events.
Movimento de Ação Ecológica, also in Sertã, organizes events to raise environmental awareness.
Cova da Beira Converge, in Covilhã, is a movement of citizens and organizations that joined to decide and implement concrete actions that increase self-sufficiency and resilience of this bio-region.
CooLabora, also in Covilhã, promotes equal opportunity, civic participation, education, training and social inclusion.
Arbor – Associação da Região de Benfeita para Objetivos Regenerativos, in the parish of Benfeita, in Arganil, is a very active grassroots organization. They have a people’s plan and a rapid response team for fires
Trust Collective, in the parishes of Côja and Barril de Alva, in Arganil, is a cultural association (and a community space) that incentivizes creativity and cooperation, with a direct relationship with nature, community and the territory.
As Pastoras Felizes, is a grassroots initiative in Arganil that has a community management system of goats.
Associação de Vítimas do Incêndio de Pedrógão Grande, in Pedrógão Grande, is a popular organization to support the communities impacted by the forest fires, founded after the massive fires of 2017.
Movimento Associativo de Apoio às Vítimas dos Incêndios de Midões, in Tábua, is a popular organization to support the communities impacted by the forest firest, founded after the massive fires of 2017.
Bravo Mundo, in Travacinha, Seia, was created after the fires of 2022, with working groups on reforestation, fires and politics.
Greater Lisboa and the Setúbal Peninsula
Climáximo, open collective in Lisbon, fights for climate justice. They facilitate the
luta pela justiça climática. Dinamiza the Movement of Communities Affected by Forest Fires in Portugal, support the frontline communities and articulate the local struggles.
SOS Quinta dos Ingleses, in Carcavelos, Cascais, defends the preservation of the green areas of Quinta dos Ingleses.
MUDA – Movimento de União em Defesa das Árvores, is an informal collective in Lisboa defending trees in public spaces.
Alcácer P’lo Ambiente, in Alcácer do Sal, has awareness raising and communication activities.
South
Cooperativa Regenerativa, in São Luís, Odemira, is an integral cooperative with soil regeneration projects.
Cooperativa TerraSeixe, created after the massive fires of 2023 in Odeceixe, Odemira, accompanies support to affected communities, and promotes an integrated and sustainable management of the territory.
Movimento Mata Viva, in Barão de São João, Lagos, is a group of volunteers that came together after the fires (130 hectars burned in September 2025) to support authorities with reforestation.
Project Earth, based in the parish of Santa Clara, in Odemira, is an association with community and cultural projects, such as Guardiões do Mira e Aldeias à Vista.
Associação Terra Sintrópica, in Mértola, has various projects of soil regeneration.
Medronheira em Rede is an organization of neighbors in the municipality of Aljezur, to recuperate the soils and regeneration, created after the fires of 2025.
Rewilding Sudoeste, in Aljezur and Odemira, is an association of property owners, with various projects of rewilding.
PS: If you are aware of other collectives that organize communities on the frontlines of forest fires or if you have additional information for the list above, please let us know by e-mail.