There are only four Therapeutic Forests in world: Portugal is home to one of them.
The recently certified Bussaco National Forest on the Iberian Peninsula joins Beneddiktinerstift in Austria, and Lahnstein and Bad Nauheim in Germany.
After years in the implementation phase, the certification, granted on 17 July by the Healing Forest - International Certification Office, highlights the qualities of this Portuguese forest, located in the parish of Luso in the municipality of Mealhada.
"This certification, which places us among the four therapeutic forests worldwide and as the first on the Iberian Peninsula, gives us global status and brings with it great responsibility," said the president of the Mata do Bussaco Foundation, Gonçalo Breda Marques, quoted by the Lusa news agency.
Mata do Bussaco covers 105 hectares and, according to the foundation of the same name, "has one of the best dendrological collections in Europe, with around 250 species of trees and shrubs".
