The Paiva River () is a river that rises in the Sierra de Leomil, more specifically in the parish of

Pêra Velha, Aldeia de Nacomba e Ariz Pêra Velha, Aldeia de Nacomba e Ariz is a civil parish in the municipality of Moimenta da Beira, northern Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is locat ...

- belonging to the municipality of

Moimenta da Beira Moimenta da Beira () is a municipality in the northern part of Portugal, located in the district of Viseu. The population in 2011 was 10,212, in an area of 219.97 km². History Moimenta's history is fairly recent: Alfonso III of Asturias co ...

- and flows into the

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

, in Castelo de Paiva, flowing through the parish of Fornos on the left bank. On the right bank, it flows through the parish of Souselo,

Cinfães Cinfães () is a village and a List of Portuguese municipalities, municipality in the northern district of Viseu (district), Viseu, Portugal. The village proper has about 3,300 inhabitants. The population of the municipality in 2011 was 20,427,

. It is classified as a Site of Community Importance in the

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

Network.

Threats to the Paiva River

The main threat beyond man, comes from the invasion by

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

s and the frequent installation of monocultural stands of eucalyptus and maritime pine. Other threats are the implementation of small and large hydroelectric projects; punctual cases of extraction and washing of aggregates, fires, construction of dams, clandestine constructions, implantation of aviaries and fish farms, afforestation of agricultural lands, especially lameiros, cervunais and malhadais. The urban-tourist expansion is another concern for the defense associations of the Paiva valley, with the significant increase in visitors in recent years, due to the inauguration of the "Passadiços do Paiva" in Arouca.

Arouca Geopark

One of the main crossing points of this watercourse is the municipality of Arouca, where the Passadiços do Paiva were built, an hour away from

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, which allow, for a moment, to leave the reality of the urban space of the city and enter a scenario out of a film, being a wooden walkway of about 8.7 kilometers, with the construction of an additional 12 kilometers, located in the parish of

Canelas e Espiunca Canelas e Espiunca is a civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or thei ...

, in the municipality of Arouca built along the left bank of the Paiva River, in the hydrographic basin of the Douro River, between the bridge of Espiunca and the river beach of Areinho, thus encompassing the area known as the "Garganta do Paiva", being one of the main elements of the Arouca Geopark. The Passadiços do Paiva, on 4 September 2016, were elected as the most innovative tourism project in Europe, in the 2016 edition of the World Travel Awards, in the category of Leading Tourism Development Project in Europe, considered the Oscars of Tourism worldwide.E o Óscar vai para: Passadiços de Arouca
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References

Rivers of Portugal Tributaries of the Douro River {{Portugal-river-stub