Silvopastoralism, Forest Planning and Nature Conservation: Proposals for Sustainable Management Strategies

The need for additional fodder resources in times of climate change has led to the identification of the use of new areas for grazing. This includes wooded or naturally reforested areas as advocated in recent European project deliverables. Many forest areas were traditionally grazed by grazing livestock in the past, and some still are today in some particular agro-silvo-pastoral systems such as the Alpine larch forests, the “paturages boisés” of the Jura and NW Alps, the Baltic wooded meadows, the “dehesas”, “montado” and “meriagos” of the Iberian Peninsula and Sardinia, the acorn and others oak forests of many southern European countries. In the context of forest legislation, which is more favourable to the practice of reasoned planned and managed grazing in forest woodland and pre-forest areas, however, the question arises of how to plan and regulate such practices. These were once traditionally carried out, but inefficient management has resulted in a number of negative outcomes for forest conservation over time. An integration of forest and pastoral typologies is currently underway in order to provide a framework and appropriate technical measures for a sustainable management of the regional silvo-pastoral resources.