Land abandonment and the dynamics of agriculturallandscapes in Mediterranean mountain environments: the case of Ribagorça (Spanish Pyrenees)

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

“…From the beginning of the 20 th century, the Mediterranean mountain areas in Europe have undergone substantial abandonment of its traditional activities (MacDonald et al, 2000;Sancho-Reinoso, 2013), together with widespread growth in shrubland over the landscape (Tasser et al, 2007;Tzanopoulos et al, 2007;García-Ruiz and Lana-Renault, 2011;Alados et al, 2019). In the Spanish mountains, abandonment was particularly drastic in the decades between 1950 and 1970.…”

“…Many areas are classified as "poverty traps", where households have few resources, low returns on investment, lack of opportunities and reduced social services (Ruben and Pender, 2004;Conti and Fagarazzi, 2005;Navarro and Pereira, 2012). This situation has been reached after years of rural exodus, mainly by young people, land abandonment, decreased livestock and pasture, under-utilisation of forestry products and loss of infrastructure and services (García-Ruiz and Lasanta-Martínez, 1990;MacDonald et al, 2000;Sancho-Reinoso, 2013).…”

Pinus sylvestris L. subsp. nevadensis (Christ) Heywood in southern Spain: An endangered endemic Mediterranean forest

“…nevadensis forests. This process is in part the result of the abandonment of rural Mediterranean mountain areas (Sierra de Baza, for example, was extensively cultivated from its base up to about 2,000 m asl until the mid-twentieth century), which has caused significant repercussions for the environment and landscape, and severe social and economic differences between marginal agricultural areas of mountain and cities as a consequence of differential capitalist development (Sancho-Reinoso, 2013). The main problems in the Betic range are the occupation of the subsp.…”

“A shepherd has to invent”: Poetic analysis of social-ecological change in the cultural landscape of the central Spanish Pyrenees

“…Recent recognition of the ecological, economic, and cultural values of transhumance, as well as changes in the conditions and technologies of herding, suggest that the disappearance of transhumance is not inevitable (O'Flanagan et al 2011, Oteros-Rozas et al 2013), but rather may be part of the dynamic ebb and flow of mobility in extensive livestock systems (Fernández-Giménez and Le Febre 2006). Although these transitions within Spain and the Pyrenees have been well analyzed with regard to broad-scale policy and economic drivers, and demographic and environmental responses (García-Ruiz and Lasanta-Martinez 1990, 1993, Lasanta-Martinez et al 2005, García-Martínez et al 2009, Sancho-Reinoso 2013, Gartzia et al 2014, much less is known about how individuals in the system experience change, and the impacts on local culture, including herders' traditional knowledge. The potential loss of TEK, which includes the knowledge of how to live in and manage landscapes, could stifle adaptive capacity (Gómez-Baggethun et al 2010, Fernández-Giménez and Fillat Estaque 2012, Kassam 2013.…”

“…In European mountains generally (García-Martínez et al 2009, Renwick et al 2013, Plieninger et al 2014b, and Spain particularly, rural depopulation and land abandonment are leading to cultural and environmental transitions, such as the decline in extensive livestock husbandry (Gomez-Ibañez 1977, García-Ruiz and Lasanta-Martinez 1990, Manzano Baena and Casas 2010, Sancho-Reinoso 2013 and an increase in shrub and forest cover (Lasanta-Martinez et al 2005, Gartzia et al 2014. Mobility, and specifically transhumance, i.e., repeated movements between seasonal pastures along an elevational or latitudinal gradient, have greatly declined in Spain during the last 50 years (Gomez-Ibañez 1977, Ruiz and Ruiz 1986, Manzano Baena and Casas 2010.…”