Pastoralism as a Global Herbivory Socio-Ecosystem Reports

In this frame, two Master Thesis program have been developed at the Universities of the Basque Country and Helsinki. One of them, completed and defended in September 2024 by Laura González Hernández at the Basque Country, has studied the natural abundance levels of European protected areas, which function as proxies of livestock abandoned scenarios. The major conclusions of her study show that some of the expected ecological interactions observed in large grazing ecosystems such as the Serengeti, where herbivore populations are controlled by bottom-up regulation (abundance and variety of pasture), start being visible in areas that are above the critical threshold of 600 km² – in smaller areas, and according to the MSc results, the territories of predators allow such herbivores not escaping their regulation. A point in the sampling was found that displays the largest size and shows herbivore densities similar to Serengeti National Park, which is very significative. The team is keen to translate it into an international peer-reviewed paper.

The other one, conducted by Victor Hugo Rodrigues Carvalho in Helsinki, examines the relationship between browser and intermediate feeder herbivore abundance and vegetation structure in some wolf-dominated areas in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, and their effects in carnivore populations. The MSc, to be defended in mid-2025, is an advance for understanding the replaceability of mobile livestock and wild herbivory.

The project team made a considerable effort in advancing the workshop on sustainability indicators for rangelands, which could finally be organized at the grounds of the University of Ghent from the 7^th to the 9^th October 2024. This workshop, that combined IUBS and FAO support, made interesting discoveries in terms of how agroecology, whose intention is to imitate natural processes, doesn’t have an adequate tailoring of indicators for pastoralism – precisely the food system that imitates natural processes more efficiently. The workshop was considered a success and more deliverables will be pursued after it.

The enrichment of the Pastoralist Map continued along the year, with a publication in Nomadic Peoples on the efforts done in Spain and with further developments to cover other areas, with a map that mentions already 1000 pastoralist communities. The repository for the reports accounting for pastoralists has also been enriched with a report for Pakistan.

Meetings and conferences organized in 2024:

• 25^th February – 2^nd March 2024: working meeting in Campo Benfeito, Gosende freguesia, Castro Daire concelho, Viseu district, Portugal, to analyse the overlap of floristic diversity and pastoralist governance types in Lebanon, with two on-site participants from Lebanon/Finland and Portugal, and two remote participants from Spain and Finland.
• 27^th March – 2^nd April 2024: Coordination meeting for the programme in Helsinki, Finland, with participants from Finland, Spain, India, Lebanon, Canada.
• 19^th July: Meeting with the Director of DG Agri and other colleagues at the European Commission’s offices in Brussels, Belgium, to brief about issues on herbivore ecology and GHG emissions by livestock.
• 21^st August: Pastoralist Map – Advisory Board Meeting (online). 8 participants from Germany, Argentina, Kenya, Spain and Iran. – main decision is sharing the database with ILRI’s Rangelands Map
• 7^th to the 9^th October 2024: “IUBS-2024 “Developing pastoralism indicators that serve the past, present and future” workshop to discuss about sustainability indicators in pastoralist systems, with 18 participants from Finland, Spain, Hungary, Peru, USA, Tanzania, Belgium, Uruguay, Mongolia, Uganda, France, India, Lebanon, and Iran.
• 25^th-28^th November 2024: 4-day working session at the Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA) of Sant Carles de la Ràpita, province of Tarragona, Spain, to discuss the application of ecological baseline states developed in the IUBS project to wetland ecosystems and wetland agro-ecosystems, with the examples of the Ebro Delta and the Camargue.
• 26^th – 28^th December 2024: field visit to Spanish in the La Carolina-Vilches, province of Jaén, Spain, to identify current status of transhumance by foot and current disruptors of ecologically sound practices that compare with the use of territory by wild migratory herbivores, with three participants from Spain.
• 29^th – 30^th December 2024: Project revision and 2025 planning meeting, Barcelona, Spain. 5 participants from Finland, Spain,Belgium.

Presentations of the programme at meetings/conferences/workshops

• 8^th “Insights brought by herbivore ecology into GHG emissions by livestock” organized at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya.
• 20^th “Insights brought by herbivore ecology into GHG emissions by livestock” Webinar presented to 50 participants for the IYRP climate group, organized remotely from Lira, Uganda.
• 24^th “Methane Emission and Soil Carbon Assessment in Grasslands”. Presented at the International Symposium on GHG mitigation in livestock system for sustainable livestock transformation. CAAS & EDF, Rongchang, Chongqing, China
• 23^rd – 24^th “Debates climáticos en redes sociales: ¿cuánto de constructivo? Un ejemplo de X/Twitter y ganadería” (Climate debates on social media: how constructive? An example of X/Twitter and livestock farming); “Una primera aproximación global a los niveles base de emisiones de metano de la herbivoría.” (A first global approximation of baseline levels of methane emissions from herbivory); “Evaluando la circularidad en sistemas ganaderos trashumantes.” (Assessing circularity in transhumant livestock systems); Caracterizando la trayectoria pastoralismo para optimizar los esfuerzos contra el cambio climático (Characterising the pastoralism trajectory to optimise climate change efforts). Presentations for 150 delegates at Reconectando agricultura, ganadería y silvicultura hacia la neutralidad climática, XI Workshop de Red REMEDIA. Plasencia, Spain.
• 6^th “A comprehensive view on transhumance in Europe, with challenges and opportunities”. Invited Keynote talk to 100 participants. 3rd Mountain Livestock Farming Systems Meeting. VetAgro Sup, Clermont Ferrand, France.
• 11^th June 2024: Participation in the workshop “Climate and Culture Heritage (CCH) Kick-Off”, 30 participants. Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress (SRI) in collaboration with Finland’s Sustainability Science Days (SSD), SRI/SSD2024, Helsinki, Finland.
• 20^th “The environmental values of transhumance”. Ad Hoc Action: Transhumance and local breeds. European Regional Focal Point for Animal Genetic Resources (ERFP), Parador Nacional de Gredos, Navarredonda de Gredos, Spain,
• 22^nd July 2024. “Advances in the study of carrying capacity of extensive livestock systems through natural analog ecosystems”. XX International Botanical Congress, Madrid, Spain
• 17^th “Fine-scale delimitation of open ecosystems through vegetation growth indexes: a proposa”. 66^th Annual Symposium of the IAVS, Funchal, Portugal.
• 20^th “Ovino y caprino extensivo: una práctica fundamental en el pasado, pero también en el futuro (Extensive sheep and goat farming: a fundamental practice in the past, but also in the future)”. Presentation to 200 delegates. Congreso Nacional y XXIII Internacional de la Sociedad Española de Ovinotecnia y Caprinotecni, Valencia, Spain.
• 2^nd “A multidisciplinary understanding of resource conflicts in pastoral areas and their connection with rural development and demographic features”. Agriculture, Pastoralism and Protected Areas: Tensions and Remedies for the Future of Rural Territories in Central Africa and the Sahel, N’djamena, Chad.
• 4^th “Ecological and political consequences of the diversity of farming methods” Agroecology Science Days. Université de Lausanne, Switzerland.
• 24^th “La ganadería extensiva y el cambio climático” (Extensive livestock farming and climate change.). Jornadas «Cañada Real Universidad de Alicante» 2024. La trashumancia, un patrimonio vivo Homenaje al naturalista Jesús Garzón Heydt, Alicante, Spain.
• 30^th October: “Session II: Ecology and the Environment. Journey since Dublin.” 2024 International Summit: The Societal Role of Meat & Livestock. CSU Spur Hydro Building, Denver, USA.
• 19^th “Education and gender”. Panel discussion on Loliondo, Colorado State University, Fort Colliins, USA
• 29^th « Quelques idées sur l’atténuation climatique et le rôle du pastoralisme aux écosystèmes » (Some ideas on climate mitigation and the role of pastoralism in ecosystems). Le pastoralisme face au changement climatique. Atelier des adhérents de l’AFP. Montpellier, France.
• 5^th “Mediciones del impacto de la ganadería:
  la importancia de los sistemas de referencia naturales” (Measuring the impact of livestock farming: the importance of natural reference systems). Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Valencia, Spain.
• 28^th “Aspeitos essenciais da sustentabilidade do pastoreio.” (Essential aspects of the sustainability of pastoralism). Presented to 300 technicians and practitioners at Colóquio Nacional do Partoreio Extensivo – 39º OviBeja. Comunicar o contributo ambiental el climático da Pecuária Extensiva. Auditório Acos, Beja, Portugal,
• 11^th – 12^th “¿Cuántos herbívoros hay de forma natural? Implicaciones para el tamaño de una cabaña ganadera mundial sostenible” (How many herbivores are there naturally? Implications for the size of a sustainable global livestock herd); “Estimaciones de niveles base de herbivoría para refinar las asignaciones de emisiones de la ganadería extensiva” (Estimates of baseline herbivory levels to refine extensive livestock emission allocations); “Conocimiento vernáculo trashumante: adaptación y mitigación climática, y similitud con los procesos naturales mediados por herbívoros” (Transhumant vernacular knowledge: climate adaptation and mitigation, and similarity to natural processes mediated by herbivores). Presentations for 150 delegates at Mirando las Raíces, X Workshop de Red REMEDIA. Bilbao, Spain.
• 6^th “Pastoral mobility and Ecosystem services”, part of the webinar “Securing Pastoral Mobility: Strategies for Legal Recognition and Sustainable Practices in the Face of Climate Change”. Presented to 50 participants. Climate Change Study Circle, FAO, Rome, Italy. Recorded event available at https://www.fao.org/pastoralist-knowledge-hub/news/detail/en/c/1643395/
• 6^th June 2023: “Earth needs much herbivory, but the right way: implications for livestock management”. Presented to ca. 100 scientists and practitioners at the 11^th International Symposium on the Nutrition of Herbivores, Florianopolis, Brazil.
• 26^th – 28^th September. “Socio-economic and environment sustainability outcomes of the competing land use systems in northern Tanzania”; “Rural socioeconomic trends, and not ecological competition with livestock, as a main driver of wildlife declines in East Africa.”. Presented to 200 delegates and expositors attending “Use of Wildlife Science for enhanced Biodiversity Conservation and improved Livelihoods”, 1st Wildlife Scientific Conference, Naivasha, Kenya,
• 28^th “Livestock Farming and the Environment”. Roundtable with 200 participants in the public and webstreaming. Event “The Future of Livestock in the EU and Beyond. European Livestock Voice”, Concert Noble, Brussels, Belgium. Recorded event available at https://youtu.be/HFN8zf0xcLc?t=4336
• 14^th – 20^th October 2023. “Diversity and sustainability of Latin American pastoralism: an overview of 7 case studies” and “A proposal for characterizing pastoralist mobility types globally”. Presented to 150 anthropologists at the World Anthropology Congress 2023 – 19^th IUAES-WAU (International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences – World Anthropological Union), University of Delhi, India.
• 24^th “A Novel Socio-ecological Approach for Assessing the Impacts of Pastoralism on Floral Diversity”. Presentation to 100 delegates. 4th Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week “Plant Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration in the Mediterranean”, Valencia, Spain.
• 26^th “Mesa de discusión sobre la Declaración de Dublín de los científicos sobre el papel social de la carne” (Roundtable about the Dublin Declaration of scientists on the social role of meat). Webinar presented to 150 participants, Foro AMEXITEC 2023. México DF, Mexico.
• 31^st October – 2^nd November 2023. “La contribución del pastoreo a la sostenibilidad planetaria y el año internacional de los pastizales y pastores 2026” (Contribution of pastoralism to world sustainability, and International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026). Presented to 300 technicians and practitioners at Encuentro de Sabanas. Colombia se viste de horizonte. Yopal, Casanare, Colombia,
• 7^th “Funcionalidad de los ecosistemas y la biodiversidad en la Península Ibérica. Debate académico sobre el papel del rewilding y la ganadería extensiva sobre el territorio” (Ecosystem functionality and biodiversity in the Iberian Peninsula. Academic debate on the role of rewilding and extensive livestock farming on the territory.). Academic debate attended by 50 students and university lecturers at the Conference Hall, Science Faculty, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
• 8^th “Importancia de los sistemas pastoriles y el rol ecológico de la ganadería camélida” (Importance of pastoralist systems, and role of camelid livestock). Webinar presented to 25 practitioners of the Red de Ganadería Camélida del Territorio Biocultural Andino, Chile.
• 2^nd “La tradición como una herramienta de gestión sostenible”.(Tradition as a sustainable management tool). In: “Building our future from our past: cultural heritage as a sustainable resource in time of climate crisis”. Side event, Spain Pavillion, Presented to 150 participants at UNFCCC CoP28, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Recorded event available at https://youtu.be/O0Q8llQHjnk?t=3323

Other activities in 2024:

• Maintenance and enlargement of the pastoralist map and database, jointly with the League for Pastoral Peoples, available at https://www.pastoralpeoples.org/pastoralist-map/
• Follow-up analyses of indicators after the workshop held in October 2024, and potential preparation of a project for the Agroecology Partnership https://www.agroecologypartnership.eu/news/2nd-co-funded-call.