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Algarve, the southern district of Portugal, is a well-known touristic destination, since the 70s of the XX century. Besides, this emerging economic activity for the last 5 decades, the ancient economical bases were founded upon agriculture and fishery primary sector. Although agriculture is still an important motor of the region economy, the main producers are located on the fertile terraces and the traditional subsistence agriculture was practically abandoned, as well as the drystone walls used to level the slopes and create small terraces. These were used for agriculture, forestry and goat breeding purposes, but also for soil erosion control, as well as to retain and channel the rainwaters into natural or constructed reservoirs, since this is a semi-arid region and there's a shortage of water. With the rural exodus on the 70s and the replacement of the subsistence agriculture for farming production, drystone walls face abandon, only still standing due to its resilience. However, the lack of maintenance led to vegetation invasion, and consequently to wall tumbling, compromising their function and the human access to deepest forestry areas. The quantity of drystone walls in Algarve is immense and not only they make part of the constructed heritage, but they also stand up for climate change mitigation and forest fire prevention, thus an important patrimony that must be preserved. The research hereby presented aims, not only to highlight the importance of its maintenance and rehabilitation for the Algarve territory, impacting on cultural, socio-economical, environmental and sustainability indicators, but also to demonstrate the risks associated to the neglection of these structural elements and future implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]