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Unsustainable grazing of animals exerts pressure on a range of environmental factors. This review assessed the impacts of grazing of small ruminants (SRs; sheep and goats) on hydrological processes (e.g., runoff occurrence and erosion) within European pasture lands. It also considered other effects of SRs grazing, such as water pollution. Our research highlights the lack of evidence‐based European literature on the implications of grazing by SRs on the hydrological processes. The available literature is limited to the Mediterranean belt (some areas of Spain and Greece), the British Isles, and the Austrian Alps. The reasons behind the lack of literature are discussed in detail, and the knowledge gaps dealing with SRs have been enumerated. However, there are several articles on the subject within Oceania‐Pacifica and United States settings. Some of the reasons contributing to the limited literature on Europe are the possible underestimation of the significance of the problem, it being considered an unattractive research direction, and/or a lack of research funding. Thus, more research and funding are required to address the European knowledge gaps and limitations related to the impacts of grazing by SRs on the hydrological processes.

Evaluation of grazing impacts on land degradation processes is a difficult task due to the heterogeneity and complex interacting factors involved. In this paper, we designed a new methodology based on a predictive index of grazing susceptibility to land degradation index (GSLDI) built on artificial intelligence to assess land degradation susceptibility in areas affected by small ruminants (SRs) of sheep and goats grazing. The data for model training, validation, and testing consisted of sampling points (erosion and no-erosion) taken from aerial imagery. Seventeen environmental factors (e.g., derivatives of the digital elevation model, small ruminants’ stock), and 55 subsequent attributes (e.g., classes/features) were assigned to each sampling point. The impact of SRs stock density on the land degradation process has been evaluated and estimated with two extreme SRs’ density scenarios: absence (no stock), and double density (overstocking). We applied the GSLDI methodology to the Curvature Subcarpathians, a region that experiences the highest erosion rates in Romania, and found that SRs grazing is not the major contributor to land degradation, accounting for only 4.6%. This methodology could be replicated in other steep slope grazing areas as a tool to assess and predict susceptible to land degradation, and to establish common strategies for sustainable land-use practices.