Clearing shrubland as a strategy to encourage extensive livestock farming in the Mediterranean mountains

Abstract

The European Mediterranean highlands have undergone a sharp economic decline from the mid-20 th century, causing heavy environmental impacts and loss of ecosystem services. These mountain areas have limited opportunities to integrate into in the current financial system, which demands high productivity from workers and a very competitive product. Extensive livestock farming is one of the few activities able to survive in this context, as it needs little labour and can make use of poor grazing resources. In the north-west Iberian Range, northern Spain, the Leza valley (La Rioja) is showing a growing interest in developing extensive livestock farming. To this end, the regional Government is implementing a pasture regeneration plan for clearing shrubland. Since 1986, almost 30% of the shrubs have been cleared, mainly abandoned fields recolonized by Genista scorpius on lime substrate, and Cistus laurifolius on siliceous substrate. This has increased the available pasture, as the average production in G. scorpius areas has risen from 4566 Mj ha -1 yr -1 (δ ± 1271) to 10,167.3 Mj ha -1 yr -1 (δ ± 2850.3), and on C. laurifolius areas from 2435 Mj ha -1 yr -1 (δ ± 492) to 7628.6 Mj ha -1 yr -1 (δ ± 1428.2). The livestock numbers show an upward trend, going from 1833.9 LU in 1972 to 7207.8 LU in 2017, with a simultaneous increase in the size of farms (27.6 LU in 1972 and 115.2 LU in 2017). In addition, new livestock farms established by people from outside the study area (41.7% in 2017). Finally, there is a discussion on the environmental benefits provided by extensive livestock farming. El desbroce de matorrales como estrategia para fomentar la ganadería extensiva en la montaña mediterráneaRESUMEN. La media montaña mediterránea europea sufre un acusado proceso de marginación económica desde mediados del siglo XX con importantes impactos ambientales y pérdida de servicios ecosistémicos. Estas áreas de montaña tienen escasas posibilidades para integrarse en el sistema económico actual, que exige elevada productividad del trabajador y alta competitividad del producto. Lasanta et al. 488 Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica 45 (2), 2019, pp. 487-513Entre las pocas actividades capaces de sobrevivir se incluye la ganadería extensiva, que necesita escasa mano de obra y es capaz de aprovechar recursos pastorales de escaso valor. En el valle del Leza (La Rioja, Sistema Ibérico noroccidental, norte de España) existe un creciente interés por el desarrollo de la ganadería extensiva. Para ello, el Gobierno regional desarrolla un plan de regeneración de pastizales a partir del desbroce de matorrales. Desde 1986 se ha desbrozado casi el 30% de la superficie de matorral, fundamentalmente campos abandonados recolonizados por aliagares (Genista scorpius) en sustratos calizos y jarales (Cistus laurifolius) en sustratos silíceos. Con ello se incrementa la oferta pastoral, ya que la producción media en los aliagares pasa de 4566 Mj ha -1 año -1 (δ ± 1271) a 10.167,3 Mj ha -1 año -1 (δ ± 2850,3) y en los jarales de 2435 Mj ha -1 año -1 (δ...

Sustainable Land Management, Wildfire Risk and the Role of Grazing in Mediterranean Urban-Rural Interfaces: A Regional Approach from Greece

“…Pastoralism was also less intensively subsidized in peri-urban areas, with poor (or no) incentives at community scale. In this context, an intense decline in livestock farms was associated with (i) more severe wildfires, (ii) a higher incidence of fires burning woodlands, and (iii) ra higher spatial heterogeneity of fire events, being motivated by multiple causes that include a lack of subsidies for livestock, conversion of forest and non-forest natural areas to urban settlements, poor forest management, and land abandonment [19,75,92].…”

“…Loss of pastoralism and the increasing spatial heterogeneity of wildfires were demonstrated to be associated with (rapid) changes in land-use, lack of subsidy for livestock activities and peri-urban agriculture, simplified (or no) forest management, and competitive urban land-use impacting fragile natural contexts [19,75,92]. Additional efforts aimed at (i) exploring fuel management for wildfire prevention in peri-urban districts and (ii) assessing efficiency of (pre-and post-)fire fuel management using advanced methodologies should be developed [34,44,48,[93][94][95][96].…”

Gestión activa frente a matorralización: buscando el equilibrio entre conservación y explotación en montaña

“…It is well-known that the livestock sector is closely linked to forest fires, as a large part of these start with the use of fire as a tool in regenerating pastures. Also, Lasanta et al (2019) found that, in the Leza Valley (north-western Iberian System), shrubland clearing led to an increase in livestock numbers, rising from 1,833.9 LU in 1972 to 7,207.8 LU in 2017, with the size of farms also expanding (27.6 LU in 1972to 115.2 LU in 2017. In addition, new livestock farms are being started by people from outside the study area (41.7% in 2017), which is a clear factor in socio-economic and environmental sustainability.…”

El Pirineo Aragonés como paisaje cultural

“…deterioro por incendio catastrófico, dando lugar a la expansión de matorrales que impiden o dificultan el pastoreo de noviembre a marzo. El reto más importante de cara al futuro es decidir cómo se gestiona este paisaje abandonado y recolonizado por bosques y matorrales, aspecto en el que hay todavía mucha controversia (Conti & Fagarazzi, 2004;Cramer et al, 2007;Navarro & Pereira, 2012;Nogués et al, 2016;Lasanta et al, 2015Lasanta et al, , 2018Robledano Aymerich et al, 2016). El asunto es de gran transcendencia no solo porque afecta a la conservación de paisajes con gran valor cultural; también afecta a cuestiones tales como la biodiversidad (Lasanta Martínez et al, 2013b), el funcionamiento hidrológico de laderas y la generación de escorrentía (Beguería et al, 2003;Lana-Renault et al, 2018).…”