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14
Ecosystem services and social–ecological
resilience in transhumance cultural
landscapes: learning from the past,
looking for a future
elisa oteros-rozas, jose´a. gonza´lez,
berta marti´n-lo´pez, ce´sar a. lo´pez and carlos montes
Introduction
Transhumance is a seasonal migration of livestock between summer
pastures (highlands, usually northerly latitudes) and winter pastures (lowlands,
southerly latitudes). Matching a herd’s need for forage with seasonal peaks in
pasture availability assures the best year-round supply of feed for the animals
(Manzano-Baena & Casas, 2010; Ruiz & Ruiz, 1986). Transhumance is one of the
many customary practices developed by ancient Mediterranean societies to
cope with an unpredictable and highly fluctuating climate. It creates a cultural
landscape that includes a complex mosaic of habitats, each varying in extent
and productivity during the year. In addition, transhumance creates social
interactions and connections that would not occur without it. The social and
ecological characteristics of transhumance landscapes, in turn, shape the eco-
system services they provide.
In Spain, transhumance reached its peak during the Middle Ages with the
official formation of the Council of the Mesta, an association of transhumant
livestock herders whose main objective was to defend their rights in the con-
flicts with sedentary farmers and local livestock raisers as they migrated among
seasonal pastures. During its peak, the number of sheep involved in these
movements came to be almost four million, with herds covering distances of
up to 700 km along a network of drove roads protected from damage and
intrusion, twice a year. With the breakdown of the Merino breed monopoly
Resilience and the Cultural Landscape, eds. T. Plieninger and C. Bieling. Published by
Cambridge University Press. ©Cambridge University Press 2012.
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and its valuable wool during the nineteenth century, a continuous decline of
transhumance in Spain began. During the twentieth century, the use of rail
transport has gradually taken the place of herding along drove roads.
Nevertheless, transhumance in Spain has made it into the twenty-first cen-
tury, although on a much smaller scale and with a different structure. Winter
and summer pasturelands are still connected by a well-established system of
drove roads that was granted legal protection in 1995, in recognition of the
services the system provides for the maintenance of extensive grazing and local
breeds as well as ecological corridors, while acting to link society and nature
(Go
´mez Sal & Lorente, 2004). This network extends over c. 125 000 km and
occupies c. 422 000 ha (0.83% of the country), and is formed by royal drove
roads (can
˜adas reales), whose legal width is c. 75 m, and smaller trails known as
cordeles (c. 37 m) and veredas (c. 20 m wide).
In this chapter, we use the ecosystem services framework to analyse how
transhumant practices contribute to resilience building. In doing so, we:
(1) characterise the whole range of ecosystem services provided by transhu-
mance cultural landscapes at different scales; (2) discuss the links between the
ecosystem services identified and social–ecological resilience, and (3) address
how resilience building works in practice in transhumance landscapes.
Finally, we provide some insights for the overall management of cultural
landscapes.
Conceptual framework: resilience in transhumance
cultural landscapes
Transhumance landscapes can be considered cultural landscapes that
have been shaped over many centuries of pastoral activities through the adap-
tation of herder management practices to a harsh and highly fluctuating envi-
ronment (Herzog et al., 2005). To analyse resilience in transhumance cultural
landscapes, we first developed a conceptual framework based on complex
systems and resilience theory (Berkes et al., 2003; Folke, 2006). In this context,
transhumance landscapes can be understood as social–ecological networks
(Janssen et al., 2006), that is, networks of biophysical and social flows generated
and maintained by the movement of shepherds and livestock. Under this frame-
work, social–ecological resilience is understood as the capacity of the trans-
humance landscape to absorb recurrent disturbances so as to retain essential
structures, processes and feedbacks (Walker et al., 2004). We assume that part of
this capacity lies in the capability of transhumance landscapes to continue to
deliver ecosystem services that are essential for human livelihoods and societal
development (Adger et al., 2005).
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Following Carpenter et al. (2001), to assess a system’s resilience, one must
specify which system configuration and which disturbances are of interest; in
other words, the resilience ‘of what’and ‘to what’. In our case study, we will
analyse the resilience of the transhumance landscape (conceived as a complex
social–ecological network) to external drivers of change like economic market
forces, agricultural policy changes, sociocultural and institutional changes asso-
ciated with globalisation, as well as direct drivers such as climate change and
other environmental external disturbances.
We assume that the current transhumance landscape configuration, based
on the maintenance of livestock movements on foot, configures a desirable
state. We therefore consider social–ecological resilience as a positive emergent
property of the system, with resilience building as an objective to be promoted
in the face of global environmental change.
The Conquense Royal Drove Road as a case study
The transhumance landscape of the Conquense Royal Drove Road
(CRDR) comprises a summering area located in the eastern part of Montes
Universales (Teruel, Guadalajara and Cuenca provinces), a wintering area
located in southeastern Sierra Morena and the southern fields of La Mancha,
and the drove road itself, which crosses the central Iberian plateau (mostly in
the provinces of Cuenca and Ciudad Real) (Figure 14.1).
The summering area is characterised by semi-deciduous and coniferous for-
ests (largely transformed by humans in pine plantations), mixed with patches of
fodder crops. Winter pasturelands are more dispersed and are located in low-
lands characterised by a typical Mediterranean dehesa landscape (Plieninger &
Bieling, Chapter 1). Finally, the drove road consists of a 75-m wide and approx-
imately 410-km long corridor crossing predominantly cultivated areas (mostly
vineyards, sunflowers, cereals and olives).
From July to November, sheep flocks and cattle herds avoid the hot and dry
Mediterranean summer by staying in the high mountainous areas, where they
find refuge, food and water. In early November, when the snow begins to cover
mountain pasturelands, most herds start a 25 to 30 day journey, crossing the
central plateau on foot, moving towards the warmer pasturelands of the winter-
ing areas located at southern latitudes and lower altitudes, where livestock
remains for about six months before returning to the north in early June
(Figure 14.1).
Even though not all ecosystem services identified are directly linked to trans-
humance, the maintenance of transhumance landscapes is. Pasturelands and
agrosilvopastoral systems in the summering area are strongly dependent on the
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presence of livestock and climatic limitations make any other type of cattle or
sheep management very difficult. In fact, the generalised decline of transhu-
mance in some municipalities has come together with the disappearance of any
livestock farming practices. In the wintering area (as in most of the Iberian
Peninsula), dehesas are suffering deterioration in two ways. The forest cycle has
been disrupted and oak stands are aging due to failure of tree regeneration
(Plieninger, 2007). This process has been connected to the overexploitation of
estates, which is partially caused by the sedentarisation of previously trans-
humant herds. As for the CRDR, it is reasonably well maintained because
there are livestock drives twice a year, but most of the drove roads in Spain
have deteriorated severely due to abandonment.
According to official livestock movement permits granted in 2009, a total of
87 shepherds with 57 769 heads of sheep were transhumant in our study area.
This represents a reduction of 60% in the number of shepherds and 55% in the
number of animals compared to the figures recorded in the same area 17 years
ago (Bacaicoa et al., 1993). Moreover, most current transhumant shepherds use
Summering
area
Conquense Royal Drove Road
Wintering
area
ANDALUCIA
ARAGON
DZ
MA
PT
ES
FR
Ciudad
Real
Castilla-La Mancha
Spain Castilla-La Mancha
Conquense Royal Drove Road
0 50 100 km
CASTILLA-LA
MANCHA
Toledo
Guadalajara
Cuenca
Albacete
N
Madrid
Figure 14.1. The transhumance network of the Conquense Royal Drove Road,
including summering and wintering areas. Design: L. Jansen.
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trucks to move their livestock, with only 15 shepherds with 8886 sheep and six
shepherds with 1184 heads of cattle (for meat and for bullfighting) walking the
CRDR on foot in 2009.
To identify the range of ecosystem services associated with the different
areas of the transhumance landscape, comprising the wintering and sum-
mering pasturelands as well as the drove road, a thorough literature review
and 58 semistructured interviews with key informants were carried out
(February to September 2009). Interview partners were selected through a
snowball method and included: shepherds, 33%; farmers, 21%; hunters, 19%;
decision makers, 23%; employees from the tertiary sector, 8%; researchers
from academia, 6% (Figure 14.2). The acknowledgement of ecosystem serv-
ices directly or indirectly dependent on transhumance was achieved by
comparing scenarios with and without transhumance, where all other var-
iables were as similar as possible (biogeographic locations, ecological con-
ditions, sociocultural realities and economic conditions; Oteros-Rozas et al.,
unpublished data).
The discussion regarding the links between ecosystem services and social–
ecological resilience in transhumance landscapes is based on three pillars.
Firstly, a literature review has been carried out. Secondly, an expert panel (five
Ecosystem services
PROVISIONING
Apiculture Food 16.67 6.90
6.90
20.69
24.14
34.48
3.45
6.90
3.45
13.79
10.34
17.24
3.45
3.45
17.24
10.34
31.03
24.14
24.14
20.69
0.00 0.00
0.00
0.00
57.14
42.86
42.86
57.14
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
14.29
14.29
14.29
57.14
28.57
28.57
14.29
57.14
10.34 0.00
6.90 0.00
57.14
58.62
24.14
3.45 14.29
28.57
66.67
58.33
8.33
16.67
8.33
16.67
25.00
83.33
16.67
8.33
8.33
25.00
8.33
0.00
8.33
50.00
50.00
41.67
8.33
8.33
33.33
50.00
25.00
8.33
Feed for livestock Food
Food from agriculture Food
Food from livestock Food
Gathering Food
Manure -
Textiles Ornamental resources
Wood Fibre
REGULATING
CULTURAL
Fire prevention Human disasters regulation
Aesthetic landscape Aesthetic value
Tranquillity Aesthetic value
Way of exchange Cultural diversity
Cultural identity Cultural diversity
Spiritual value Spiritual value
Traditional ecological knowledge Knowledge systems
Scientific knowledge Knowledge systems
Environmental education Educational values
Nature tourism Recreation and ecotourism
Rural tourism Recreation and ecotourism
Recreational hunting Recreation and ecotourism
Bullfighting Recreation and ecotourism
Seed dispersal -
Soil fertility Soil formation
Species control Pest regulation
Tree regeneration -
MA Summering Drove road Wintering
Figure 14.2. Percentages of interviewees that acknowledged each ecosystem service
in the three areas (related to the total of interviewees; n=58). MA, Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment classification (2005).
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researchers from academia and two members of environmental NGOs) and,
thirdly, the authors’review of historical trends of transhumance in the study
area were used to better understand these links for the case of transhumance, to
identify critical tipping points and to analyse how the system has responded to
disturbances and coped with external drivers of change. Finally, throughout the
investigation, participant observation of researchers accompanying herders
during transhumant journeys along the drove road for three years and living
together in the summering area for months has been a key source for a deeper
understanding of the links between transhumance, ecosystem services and
resilience.
Social–ecological resilience and ecosystem services in
transhumance landscapes
Changes in ecosystem structure and processes alter the resilience of
social–ecological systems and this has profound consequences for services that
humans derive from ecosystems (Chapin et al., 2000). Resilient social–ecological
systems are able to absorb large impacts without change in fundamental ways
and, therefore, they can cope, adapt or reorganise without loss on their capacity
to generate ecosystem services (Folke et al., 2002). Hence, it is expected that
there is a strong link between social–ecological resilience and the ecosystem
services associated with transhumant practices.
A total of 25 ecosystem services were acknowledged by experts and inter-
viewees in the three areas that conform to the network (summering, wintering
and across the CRDR; Figure 14.1). Of these, eight were classified (MA, 2005) as
provisioning services, five as regulating services and twelve as cultural services
(Figure 14.2). In addition, biodiversity conservation was acknowledged and
evaluated as a support for maintaining ecosystem services flows.
A discussion follows here on the links between ecosystem services provided
by transhumance landscapes and social–ecological resilience.
Provisioning services
Provisioning services are critical for resilience as they contribute to
food sovereignty and allow a diversification of sources of income for local
people (Adger, 2000). Interviewees from the summering area, more frequently
than elsewhere (summering area: 27%; drove road: 13%; wintering area: 5%),
acknowledged provisioning services, as this is the original core zone for the
transhumance along the CRDR. The local population has been historically
linked to extensive livestock practices and this is still an important economic
activity in the area.
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Food production is now the main objective of transhumant practices. Although
satisfaction of basic dietary needs of pastoralists does not rely on their own
production of food, the economic sustenance of pastoral families is completely
dependent on it. Some transhumant families also have home gardens and/or
hens, therefore diversifying their sources of food and income and reducing
their vulnerability to market changes and the impact of future climatic changes.
Both gardens and chickens benefit from the side products of pastoral production.
In addition, gathering of wild plants was identified by 22% of respondents as an
important ecosystem service. In the three areas, people collect mushrooms,
asparagus and other wild plants from their grazing areas and particularly along
the drove road. Some of these products (especially mushrooms) can fetch quite
high prices in the local markets (e.g. up to 35 Euro/kg for Boletus edulis).
The risk of decreasing functionalities and provision of services in specific
food systems becomes high when a society has been heavily affected by a
weakened or attenuated public sector and a loss of market structures (Pingali
et al., 2005). We believe that transhumance is a good example of this.
Conversations of herders witnessed during participant observation as well as
the interviews allowed us to identify some of the main drivers of change: global
economic competition and the loss of local markets for products, together with
sanitary and legislative restrictions (mainly from the EU), have forced shepherds
to enlarge their herds in order to achieve economic profitability and, therefore,
to face new challenges (e.g. more difficulties for moving, necessity of larger
grazing areas and more labour).
Regulating services
Regulating services have been related largely to ecological resilience,
especially in terms of human disasters regulation, nutrient cycling, and soil
formation and ecological connectivity (MA, 2005). The most frequently recog-
nised regulating service in this case study was fire prevention (51% on average), a
service highly related to livestock consumption of inflammable biomass. Soil
fertility provided by livestock manure in the drove road (17%) and wintering
areas (42%) and tree regeneration (29% on average; mainly holm oaks in dehesas
and pines in the summering area) were also mentioned (Figure 14.2).
The importance of fire prevention associated to consumption of inflammable
vegetal material by grazers has largely been documented (e.g. Folke, 2006;
Ruı
´z-Mirazo et al., 2011). The recent decrease in grazing pressure due to the
abandonment of livestock farming is one of the major land use changes that has
led to the recovery of vegetation (Le Houe
´rou, 1993) and the increase in accu-
mulated fuel (Rego, 1992). As a consequence of the abandonment of land and
traditional practices, fire events have increased and landscapes are becoming
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more homogeneous (Moreno & Oechel, 1994) and, therefore, more vulnerable to
environmental changes.
Extensive and mobile livestock contributes to soil fertility, increasing pro-
ductivity (Go
´mez Sal, 2003). For instance, as herders explained in the interviews,
the customary practice of redileo (extensively applied in dehesas and still in use)
is crucial to control soil fertility. It consists of enclosing sheep in a limited area at
night in order to fertilise the soil with their dung and moving this enclosure
every three or four days.
Additionally, as was mentioned before, transhumance is contributing to
maintaining dehesas in wintering areas, not only by guaranteeing the presence
of extensive livestock systems (against current trends of abandonment or over-
exploitation) but also by avoiding the impact of year-round grazing pressure on
holm oak renewal, which is the worst current threat to the continuity of these
ecosystems (Pulido & Dı
´az, 2005)
Finally, Bunce et al. (2006) found that drove roads acted in the past as
ecological corridors for connectivity, but further research is required to deter-
mine their current and future role because of the widespread disruption that
has taken place in the network. Livestock drove roads are a special case of
ecological corridors, the structure of which usually includes other types of
linear elements, such as tracks, hedgerows, fences, rivers, etc. (Bunce et al.,
2006). The conservation of their structure and their use by the livestock, in
connection with the extensive system of pasturelands, may determine their
role for conserving species and ecosystem functioning (Pineda et al., 1991). We
suggest that, through the dispersal of seeds (Manzano & Malo, 2006) and spores
by livestock as well as the association of this mobile livestock with insects and
birds, the network of drove roads has an interesting optional value: contribu-
ting to the connectivity of protected areas in the face of current patterns of
climate change.
Cultural services
Cultural services are important for social–ecological resilience because
of their direct contribution to social and cultural capital building and mainte-
nance (e.g. Folke et al., 2005). A wide diversity of cultural services was acknowl-
edged in this study case (12 services perceived by 22% of interviewees, on
average). During the field work, it became clear that cultural identity is the
essence of transhumance survival today. This identity was widely recognised
and recalled during the interviews (acknowledged by 34% of the interviewees,
on average), especially in the summering area (50%) and during participant
observation. Both from the society’s and the pastoralists’points of view, identity
factors are grounded on people’s sensitivity and we believe they constitute
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powerful tools for the reinforcement of the ‘sense of place’in transhumance
landscapes.
Traditional ecological knowledge (as defined in Berkes et al., 2000) is embed-
ded in the local culture and environment; it is dynamic, constantly adjusted and
adapted to new circumstances, evolving through a combination of long-term
ecological understanding and learning from crises and mistakes (Berkes &
Turner 2006; Olsson & Folke 2001). It increases the capacity of social–ecological
systems to deal with crises and maintain resource flows in changing and uncer-
tain conditions (Berkes et al., 2000; Folke et al., 2003; Olsson et al., 2004). This
ecosystem service was acknowledged by 40% of the interviewees, on average.
Participant observation during the transhumant travel and in the summering
and wintering areas revealed that, currently, the transhumant model relies
heavily on the transmission of traditional knowledge for coping with uncer-
tainty, as limitations in pasture and water availability are frequent. Especially
while travelling, herders deal with many small perturbations (crossing high-
ways and cities, unexpected fires, conflicts with local farmers, etc.). Other
aspects of traditional ecological knowledge are those associated with the noma-
dic lifestyle during spring and autumn trips (i.e. camp setting, ways of cooking,
legends and stories told during the journey, plant gathering and rabbit hunting),
which constitutes an opportunity for its transmission to younger generations
and for a social networking mechanism.
Recreation services associated with transhumant practices are currently
gaining importance because the drove road serves as an open public space for
leisure activities and as an environmental education asset. The folkloric aspects
of this traditional practice are very appealing for the society, and some tourism
enterprises in Spain have taken advantage of this fact. We believe that recre-
ation activities can be a social asset for environmental awareness, reinforcing
social support for transhumance activities, enhancing social–ecological resil-
ience, and as a way of transmitting traditional ecological knowledge. Social
acknowledgment of the importance of transhumance shown by other people
to pastoralists contributes to reinforce their self-esteem, encouraging young-
sters to engage.
Transhumance in the Iberian Peninsula has traditionally connected very
different and disparate populations, cultures and ways of life, meaning a cul-
tural way of exchange. Human communities benefit from the exploitation of
ecological edges (Turner et al., 2003), and we believe the drove road can be
considered as a continuous edge that increases the diversity of ecological and
cultural capital upon which people can draw for their livelihoods. Human
societies living ‘on the edge’, both ecologically and geographically, in terms of
their access to the resources of two or more ecosystems, are likely to be more
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flexible and resilient than people experiencing more homogeneous environ-
ments (Turner et al., 2003). Local societies of the transhumance landscape are
benefiting from their social interaction and synergies wherein people exchange
material goods and learn from one another. This so called ‘edge effect’adds
value to transhumance because it brings together people, ideas and institutions
(McCay, 2000), making people from different ecological and cultural areas share
and interact.
Biodiversity conservation
In addition to the previously mentioned ecosystem services, biodiver-
sity conservation was widely recognised by interviewees as a benefit provided by
the system. Biodiversity conservation positively affects resilience in two ways:
(1) by harbouring a wide range of species that are potential colonists to repopu-
late disturbed regions, and (2) by triggering ecological processes and therefore
ecosystem services and functions through diverse functional groups (Chapin
et al., 1997).
In the same way, herbivore movements increase resilience by: (1) affecting
communities and ecosystems as a consequence of direct and indirect effects on
other above- and belowground consumers, predators and nutrient cycles, and
providing plants with opportunities for regrowth, and (2) creating mosaics of
patches with varied functions, incrementing habitat heterogeneity and land-
scape diversity (Coughenour, 2007). Moreover, Adger et al. (2005) argue that
biodiversity enhances resilience if species or functional groups respond differ-
ently to environmental fluctuations, so that declines in one group (or one
species) are compensated by increases in another. In any case, in dynamic land-
scapes such as cultural landscapes, biological diversity provides insurance,
flexibility and risk spreading across scales (Folke, 2006).
Large herbivores may act as keystone species that determine diversity for the
rest of the system. Herbivore movements, either through ecological engineering
(Jones et al., 1994) or through landscaping (Sinclair, 2003), result in patch
dynamics that derive in meta-stability or persistence at large scales. Some of
these effects involve generation of spatial heterogeneity, biodiversity maintain-
ing and spatial food webs (Coughenour, 2007).
Finally, the resilience of ecosystems also depends on the ecological memory
provided by mobile link species and their support areas, generating buffer
capacity and opportunity for reorganisation (Folke, 2006). Through these pro-
cesses and interactions, herbivore movements effectively integrate landscape
subelements into a landscape meta-ecosystem, for instance, forming a social–
ecological network (Lundberg & Moberg, 2003).
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History of social–ecological resilience
in transhumance landscapes
As we will elucidate here, both human or social nodes and nonhuman
or ecological nodes in transhumance landscapes plus their connections have,
presumably, passed through different crises, thus reinventing the network. In
our opinion, transhumance in the CRDR has been demonstrated to be a highly
resilient system, having survived many disturbances of diverse origin and mag-
nitude without losing its main essence and functionality. From this viewpoint,
looking into past crises and the response behaviour of the social–ecological
network when confronted with disturbances can help to not only understand
the evolution and structure of present transhumance landscapes in the
Mediterranean basin but also analyse possible future scenarios under conditions
of global environmental change.
Folke et al. (2003) proposed four elements for building resilience in social–
ecological systems: (1) learning to live with change and uncertainty; (2) nurtur-
ing diversity for reorganisation and renewal; (3) combining different types of
knowledge for learning, and (4) creating opportunity for self-organisation. As we
will discuss as follows, transhumance landscapes have survived for centuries
incorporating these four elements and, looking into the future, these will
probably be important determinants.
The loss of the Spanish monopoly of wool production in Europe after the
Napoleonic Wars (c.1800) resulted in a sharp decline in the number of sheep and
a crisis of related institutions (Ruiz & Ruiz, 1986). As a consequence, trans-
humant livestock rearing redirected the economic outcome from textiles to
food production. Current trends in global markets (e.g. Chinese emergent textile
industry caused a ~30%–45% annual increase in wool prices during the last three
years, and up to a 95% increase in 2011) might reallocate economic value in
wool. Market fluctuations, social changes, historical conflicts, changing policies
and weather uncertainty have sculptured the resilience of transhumance land-
scapes, demonstrating their capacity for learning to live with change and
uncertainty.
In 1943, livestock began to be transported by train (Abella´n, 1979; Bacaicoa
et al., 1993), as this allowed herders to avoid the difficulties and uncertainties of
the one-month walking trips and had lower costs. For about 60 years, the train
was the most common means of transportation until road networks were
improved and enlarged during the last decades of the twentieth century, mak-
ing the use of truck transportation more comfortable both for animals and
shepherds (Manzano-Baena & Casas, 2010; Ruiz & Ruiz, 1986). As soon as the
state railway company decided to eliminate livestock trains, most shepherds
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chose truck transport for transhumance (Bacaicoa et al., 1993). However, some
shepherds explained how they regained local knowledge about the drove road
by learning from elder shepherds who had walked it, and they went back to
transhumance on foot. The survival of social–ecological memory after a change
caused by the external factor of railway development, along with the good
condition of the drove road, may have allowed this reorganisation of the system.
Recent increases in the price of oil (and, therefore, in truck transportation
costs) and of fodder have stimulated other shepherds to return to transhumance
on foot. As they explain, the fact that the drove road is still in use has encour-
aged them and made a small revitalisation possible. In this context, we believe
that social and ecological memory provides the framework for coping with new
challenges and threats, and a diversity of available strategies offers a chance for
reorganisation and renewal.
In 2006, a few cases of bluetongue disease were recorded in some countries,
and preventive sanitary restrictions were applied all around Europe, limiting
livestock movements. This drastically reduced the numbers of transhumant
shepherds and livestock (according to official livestock movement permits
granted by local agrarian offices). However, in spite of the many social and
economic difficulties that livestock rearing is currently facing in Spain (accord-
ing to shepherds), we have witnessed a recovery in the number of transhumant
herds in the last three years. We consider that contemporary interest stemming
from various sources, including a renewed political and management concern
for the activity, the interest in organic products by consumers and nature
tourists, and the relevance for historical, ethnological, anthropological and
ecological research, combined with local knowledge and interest in this historic
system, are supporting efforts for a proper valuation of transhumance land-
scapes by combining different kinds of knowledge (i.e. experimental and expe-
riential knowledge).
We believe that the flexibility of transhumant pastoralists and their ability to
cooperate in order to use existing social, economic and political structures as
well as ‘new’ones (such as the commercialisation of their products within
sustainable consumer networks, official quality certifications and the creation
of associations) will determine the future resilience of the transhumance land-
scape. Creating opportunities for self organisation, in the form of strengthening
social networks, reinforcing transhumance institutions and empowering indi-
viduals so as to ensure a constant flow of demand, a proper valuation of products
and social and institutional support to transhumant practices, is probably the
most important challenge for their future.
Economic, social and ecological disturbances have forced system compo-
nents to adapt by learning (e.g. improving pastoralists’techniques) or by
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selection (e.g. some pastoralists go bankrupt). Individuals, their social rela-
tions and social networks are the glue that holds together adaptive gover-
nance (Folke, 2006). We have witnessed (like Galvin et al., 2007) how
pastoralists with the strongest social capital (e.g. large transhumant families
in which members help each other) have been and still demonstrate to be the
best able to withstand disturbance. In this sense, the recovery of the tradi-
tional practice of moving livestock on foot is being possible now only where a
strong network of mutual support betweenpastoralistsismaintained(McCay,
2000).
Insights for resilience management in cultural landscapes
Some insights and management implications for a wider context can be
derived from the presented case study. We consider that major external drivers
are threatening social–ecological resilience in the Mediterranean basin, partic-
ularly: the specialisation and intensification of agroecosystems, the loss of
medium-impact traditional agrarian practices such as transhumance, and the
increase of dependence on external economic subsidies (Evaluacio
´n de los
Ecosistemas del Milenio de Espan˜ a, 2011). Fraser (2007) found that these three
factors stand out as common in historic cases where different environmental
problems caused famine. Even though the Spanish context is not likely to suffer
from such a critical scenario, we suggest that reflection is needed on whether
current policies are contributing to the enhancement or to the reduction of
social–ecological resilience in transhumance landscapes.
In this sense, we propose some intervention strategies that might increase
the resilience of transhumance cultural landscapes and that could also be
applied to other extensive agroecosystems:
(1) Strengthening the diversity of income sources for extensive, customary
and small-scale farmers and the diversity of ecosystem services provided
by the cultural landscape they safeguard so that society would better
value these activities. The diversification of new touristic offers, for
example, can be an optional value for the future. In case of deep
economic crisis affecting provisioning services, a diversity of income
sources could be an insurance against bankruptcy, thus guaranteeing
the survival of transhumance.
(2) Capturing social–ecological value in the market values of products
derived from agrarian extensive systems and public financial support
schemes so that economic profitability is ensured. The increasing
pressures of globalised trade and international markets and the
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resulting competition with more intensified systems are among the
main drivers behind transhumance decline. The meat produced by
transhumant herds has not yet been certified or tagged under any
official entity. Considering that it has been recognised as having
particularly beneficial organoleptic qualities (Alegre, personal
communication, 2002), it could easily be commercialised through
alternative and high quality market networks.
(3) Improving social recognition of ecosystem services associated with
cultural landscapes dependent on traditional practices so that it could
impact positively on the maintenance of these activities. Education and
communication strategies (e.g. environmental education,
documentaries and museums) aiming to promote public awareness can
contribute to the necessary sociocultural changes for a sustainable
future.
(4) Reinforcing social capital through rebuilding local institutions; building
on small-farmers’ability to adapt and reorganise; assisting them to
better understand new opportunities of commercialisation networks;
supporting local trade arrangements and interaction between local
populations and small-farmers; reconstructing the capacity of
communities to find rapid, flexible solutions to problems and to balance
power among the various interest groups and stakeholders, and
safeguarding traditional ecological knowledge and its transmission to
new generations.
(5) Protecting the commons, like communal pasturelands and the drove
roads network so that these resources stay accessible to farmers and
shepherds. Most of transhumant pastoralists and extensive peasants in
general are landless and, therefore, rely on the access to communal
territories in order to make their movement on foot possible and their
activity viable and economically profitable.
(6) Developing new institutional frameworks for adaptive governance
seems critical for enhancing resilience in cultural landscapes.
Conventional ‘command-and-control’management practices that have
prevailed in the recent past should be set aside in favour of more
adaptive (‘learning by doing’) comanagement approaches (Holling &
Meffe, 1996). This entails the sharing of management power and
responsibility through multiple institutional links involving both
horizontal and vertical cross-scale interactions (government agencies,
NGOs, local communities, user groups) and the building of mutual trust
among the partners through feedback learning. Moreover, taking into
account that the ecological and social processes that determine
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landscape dynamics occur at different scales, new polycentric
governance schemes (Ostrom, 1998), with multi-level, nested
institutional arrangements, should be developed to manage the
complexity that lies behind cultural landscapes, while promoting
innovation, learning and adaptation. In the face of climate change,
adaptation and flexibility of institutions to allow mobility will be
fundamental.
Conclusions
The disappearance of livestock movements has increased vulnerability
of cultural landscapes associated with transhumant practices. Transhumance
constitutes an important enhancer of social–ecological resilience in
Mediterranean cultural landscapes through the provision of a wide range of
ecosystem services. This traditional livestock raising system provides a good
example of the importance of wider acknowledgement and visibility of exten-
sive agrarian practices.
Attention should be paid to traditional management practices, such as trans-
humance, that safeguard the valuable cultural landscape as an integral part of
sustainable land use and provide flexibility and mobility in response to climate
variability. In this sense, the ecosystem services framework can be very useful
for elucidating these benefits.
Figure 14.3. A herd of 2600 sheep moving along the Conquense Royal Drove
Road on their way back to the summering areas (Serranı
´a de Cuenca). Photo:
E. A. Oteros-Rozas.
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In the context of uncertainty that accompanies the global environmental
change, the resilience framework can facilitate the understanding of the role
traditional practices can play in the future. The study of social–ecological resil-
ience in cultural landscapes related to traditional practices provides us with a
look into the past, allowing us to learn from past crises and adaptations and to
include this knowledge in forthcoming decisions. Both the cultural landscapes
and the social–ecological resilience toolboxes can help in dealing with complexity
and uncertainty when looking for a future in a changing world. Surely systems
such as transhumance that have developed in response to climatic uncertainty
have much to offer (Figure 14.3).
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and
Marine Affairs of Spain for financing this research (#079/RN08/02.1). We thank
all respondents, local institutions, the NGO Trashumancia y Naturaleza and all the
shepherds, especially transhumants, whose teachings and shared experiences
have guided us.
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