Determinants of change on extensive livestock systems: a theoretical framework

The framework proposed in this paper results from a research conducted in the Lacope project1 and particularly, the field study of the extensive grazing systems of the Baixo Alentejo – southern Portugal2. This paper constitutes an attempt to enlarge this perspective in order to respond to different typologies of extensive grazing systems that could cover most of the existing pastoral systems3. Nevertheless, we are aware that the proposed framework could fit better some systems than others, and it certainly demands further development and precision when used to study concrete situations, looking for enrichment from subsequent contributions. In addition we want to underline that the aim of this framework goes well beyond the scope of a simple academic enquiry, since we are convinced that it could be a useful tool not only to understand what is at stake but also to inform policies needed to assure the sustainability of the most fragile of these systems. Furthermore, the proposed framework also seeks to highlight the most relevant interactions between aspects that are addressed by different academic fields that usually do not engage in a permanent dialogue, even when they do not completely ignore each other. In section 2 we will provide a description of the methodology, namely the typology of the grazing systems. In section 3 we will focus on the proposed framework relying on a systems approach. Finally some concluding remarks will be made in section 4

Comparative typology in six european low-intensity systems of grassland management

European biodiversity significantly depends on large-scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries forms of grazing are organized in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land-owner/land-user agents) and covers different landscape such as alpine areas, forest, grasslands, mires, and even arable land. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land use practices and erratic governmental policies. The present chapter investigates six low-input livestock systems of grassland management with varying degrees of arrangements in different European countries and landscapes. These large-scale grazing systems (LSGS) are reindeer husbandry in Northern Sapmi (Fennoscandia), sheep grazing in the Polish Tatra mountains, cattle grazing in the Swiss and German Alps, cattle, sheep, and pig grazing in Baixo Alentejo, Southern Portugal, and sedentary sheep grazing in Central Spain. These systems showed very heterogeneous organizational patterns in their way of exploiting the pastoral resources. At the same time, these LSGS showed at least some of the following weaknesses such as poor economic performance, social fragility, and structural shortcomings for proper grazing management. Lack of proper mobility of herds/flocks or accession to specific grazing grounds can be a cause of environmental hazards. The surveyed LSGS are mostly dependent on public handouts for survival, but successive policy schemes have only showed mixed effects and, in particular study areas, clear inconsistencies in their aim to stop the general declining trend of LSGS

A Fileira da Cortiça em Portugal – Posicionamento e Competitividade

Portugal é o principal produtor e transformador mundial de cortiça. Esta posição foi assumida após a Guerra Civil de Espanha, em que Portugal ultrapassou aquele país na liderança mundial (DIAS, 2005). A área ocupada pelo sobreiro, a nível mundial, situa-se próxima de 2,7 milhões de hectares (correspondendo a 350 mil toneladas de cortiça), distribuída essencialmente na zona Mediterrânea com influência atlântica. A Península Ibérica detém 56% da área total, Portugal com 33% e Espanha com 23% (PESTANA, 2005). Portugal possui uma área com sobreiros de 713 mil hectares (DGRF, 2006). Em 83% desta área, os povoamentos têm um estado de vitalidade bastante bom ou bom, com um apreciável potencial produtivo de cortiça amadia. Exportou 128.465 toneladas em 2001, com um valor de 880,8 milhões de euros. O país produz 54% da produção mundial de cortiça (em 2001 chegou a 340.000 toneladas), o peso da exportação desta matéria-prima é, aproximadamente, um quarto do total exportado pelo sector florestal e representa quase 3% do cômputo das exportações totais (INE, 2006). A importância estratégica do sobreiro e da cortiça, para Portugal, está reconhecida na Estratégia Nacional para as Florestas (DGRF, 2007). Três países da União Europeia (Portugal, Espanha e Itália) são líderes na produção, transformação e comércio de cortiça. Portugal transforma quase 37% do total mundial. As pequenas empresas são responsáveis pela transformação de 70% da produção nacional. Por tudo isto, é fácil de entender a importância estratégica desta fileira para o nosso país, pelo que faremos um diagnóstico e uma análise prospectivos deste sector económico e utilizaremos uma análise SWOT para aferir a competitividade do mesmo

Portugal

Grasslands in Portugal encompass a wide range of heliophilous herbaceous vegetation usually dominated by Poaceae species. Poor permanent grasslands, such as rangelands, include numerous types of annual and perennial rough grazed grasslands. Meadows and the Poa bulbosa/Trifolium subterraneum Mediterranean swards have a more intensive management, are more productive and their biomass is more palatable and has a superior feed value compared to other grassland and rangeland types.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Grasslands of the wooded parkland of the South of Portugal, the 'montado'

A specific type of grazed wooded parkland, named ‘montado’ in Portuguese and ‘dehesa’ in Spanish, attains, in Portugal, over a million hectares according to the 2006 Portuguese Forest Inventory. These are more or less sparsely wooded lands, either of live- or cork-oak (Quercus rotundifolia and Q. suber, respectively) (Photo 20, Plate CS14) where an extensive agricultural system with fallow land was established from the Middle Ages, with the largest historical expression since the 19th century. A fairly dense mono-specific tree-layer of oaks was inherited from a former dense natural forest that was either burnt or cleared, increasing the proportion of clearings typically to more than 40% of the area, among evenspaced trees. Tree species other than live- or cork-oaks were eliminated, as well as the shrub, climber and herb-layers. Successional evolution to a meta-stable zoo-anthropic permanent grassland developing underneath the canopy was carried out with sheep grazing, fitted in a cereal-based long and low soil disturbance rotation system. Even-spaced Quercus trees produced large quantities of acorns, between 400 and 700 (1000) kg/ha-1, that were used in pig fattening. In addition, such parklands were managed to produce forest products such as cork, charcoal (from tree pruning), game and more recently, wildlife and ecosystem services associated with biodiversity, leisure and aesthetics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio