The dam, conceived by President Antonio de Oliveira Salazar in 1957, was initially designed to create water for a new industrial city. Now the official purpose is to supply water to the semi-arid fields of the region. Opponents believe the thin soils are not suited to intensive agriculture and argue that the most likely beneficiaries will be golf courses and exclusive tourist resorts taking advantage of the 460 new islands created by the project. Lynx habitat is also under threat in other parts of Portugal. In the Sado Peninsula south of Lisbon, once home to an important lynx population, a number of ancient cork woodlands have been cleared to make way for holiday villages.
Latest estimates suggest just five lynx remain in the area.
More woodland could disappear if controversial changes to the law that protects cork oak are enacted. There are also plans to reduce funds for native oak woodlands, while increasing subsidies to eucalyptus plantations, thus destroying further lynx habitat.