Responses to LEDD in grazing land

Editor's note: text for this article derived from D212-3.

LEDD issues and representative responses to LEDD in grazing land: analysing the relationships among the three capitals

Key LEDD issues in grazing systems include  ecosystem degradation and land degradation (desertification), often exacerbated by climate change. Grazing systems also face land abandonment. LEDD issues are particularly problematic for the maintenance of sustainable grazing systems as they often lead to a loss of landesque and human capital (skills and knowledge-related components).

The table below highlights the key LEDD issues and responses in the study site contexts. Responses are shown as both ‘positive’ for LEDD (i.e. helping to alleviate further LEDD issues) and ‘negative’ (i.e. further exacerbating LEDD issues).

Changes in natural capital components induced by LEDD issues also reflect changes in the components of social and economic capitals. Reduced vegetation cover, soil erosion and biodiversity loss are the result of a complex web of human induced and abiotic factors, including climate change, overgrazing, misguided policies encouraging intensification, outmigration, and land abandonment. For example, a reduction in vegetation cover on pastures impacts economic capital components (loss of grazing income and profitability) but also social capital (young people leaving livestock farming, disintegration of community stakeholder networks). These, in turn, can lead to further exacerbation of issues such as land abandonment further intensifying land degradation processes.

Types of responses to LEDD issues in grazing lands are complex and include responses that both exacerbate and alleviate land degradation. Responses are often institutional or legal planned responses through initiatives and policies which originate at regional, national and supra-national (EU) levels. However, despite the good intentions planned responses (e.g. LFA or agri-environmental measures in Mediterranean regions) can lead to intensification of pasture use.

Responses to desertification (reduced vegetation cover)

Reduction of vegetation cover is one of the most important problems in drylands, exacerbated by both water limitation and climate change. Disentangling the relative contribution of climate variation and land use change is not an easy task: distinguishing vegetation changes due to climatic variation from those caused by human activities is a challenge. Improvements in pasture quality and productivity can help prevent land degradation by reducing the need for additional land (e.g. obtained by forest clearing). On the other hand, increased productivity of pasture areas incentivises farmers to convert more forest land into pasture to expand herds and maximize profits. Grazing at appropriate stocking densities can also have positive effects on biodiversity as herbivores help to create and maintain species richness by reducing the dominating effect of the most aggressive plant species.

The Asteroussia study site (Crete, Greece) is a case in point: soil erosion linked to reduced vegetation cover is an important factor due to steep slopes, shallow soils, inadequate plant cover, semi-arid climatic conditions, and overgrazing. Areas with permanent plant cover higher than 50 per cent are adequately protected from erosion. Rate of burned area (> 50 ha/10 years/10 km²) and high grazing intensity (stocking rate greater than 1.5 to grazing capacity) are also related with moderate soil erosion. Cultivation of hay for forage also leads to severe soil erosion as deep ploughing of soil in directions perpendicular to the contour lines, is commonly practiced. Desertification risk in Crete becomes higher as annual rainfall decreases (especially when lower than 650mm). Desertification risk is higher in areas with high annual potential evapotranspiration (>1200mm). Soil depth is also important variable as shallow soils have lower water storage capacity and favour surface water runoff. Vegetation is a crucial for controlling run-off and sediment loss and reducing soil surface temperatures, particularly in the summer months.

Overgrazing is both an important driver and response to LEDD issues in the Asteroussia Mountains and elsewhere in Crete: stocking rate tends to exceed the grazing capacity (forage production) of the land negatively affecting biodiversity (through selective plant species  removal) as well as trampling causing soil compaction and soil structure deterioration. This leads to increased water runoff, soil loss and land degradation. Grazing control and grazing intensity are, therefore, important variables related to land degradation and desertification.

Fires in grazing land are a similarly important driver and response for LEDD in grazing areas. Fires are usually deliberately ignited by farmers to promote the growth of palatable biomass. When grazing land is under low grazing intensity or low land use intensity, the rate of burned area is higher: under such conditions, high amounts of flammable biomass remain in the soil favouring ignition and propagation of wildfires. Furthermore, when minimum or no tillage operations are present, wildfires are more common.

Policies (institutional and political capital) and their implementation provide one of the most obvious responses to desertification processes in grazing lands. In the Asteroussia study site, policies encouraging integrated management of grazing land are in place and impacts on land degradation partly addressed by applying measures such as soil erosion control and storage of runoff water, which greatly reduce soil erosion, land degradation and desertification. Policies for soil erosion control in the area focus particularly on conservation tillage, stabilization structures in waterways and land terracing. Other measures include prohibition of grazing after wildfires and control through fences. In the Timahdit case study site similar policies to reduce stocking rates have been developed, and in the Central Pyrenees case study site incentives are provided for landholders to prevent further woody encroachment of pastures.

However, and often despite policies, a common immediate response to deteriorating pasture quality is intensification of livestock numbers which may lead to further deterioration possible irreversible natural capital decline.

Other human responses include outmigration which can be seen as response to desertification in grazing lands creating a ‘ripple effect’ negatively influencing social and economic capital. Poor communities in grazing areas often have low access to education and healthcare and often show limited development of communication technologies. Often however, improvements in infrastructure in remote areas enable migration of people to more developed areas (such as in the Timahdit, Morocco and in Asteroussia, Greece).

Social capital-related responses to land degradation in grazing systems are equally important. These often entail subtle adjustments to knowledge systems, where loss of pasture productivity can be partly offset by knowledge related to alternative or changed uses of pastures. In the stockbreeding area of Asteroussia there is strong bonding social capital based on family and kinship networks which tends to result in social antagonism and conflict. Under these conditions, projects for ‘rationalization’ or ‘modernization’ of livestock production or attempts to introduce viable policies face serious resistance. Trust of primary producers in associations, cooperatives and formal institutions is limited. Symbolic and cultural meanings of the stockbreeding profession, in Crete and elsewhere, include the sense of freedom in the mountain, bond with animals and number of animals as a status symbol.

Land abandonment

The process of land abandonment is a key response to LEDD, functioning as a trigger for land degradation through lack of maintenance of landesque capital. Positive effects linked to regrowth of protective vegetation have also been noted.

Outmigration and loss of population is one of the most problematic issues in grazing areas. In addition to loss of landesque capital and associated deterioration of pasture quality, loss of skills and knowledge associated with people or families who have left the area is also severe. In the Asteroussia site, remaining farmers have rented grazing land, resulting in unsustainable management by lighting fires to stimulate growth of palatable vegetation. Migration of people to urban areas has resulted in under-grazing or non-grazing of the land, thereby favouring fires due to the availability of vegetation fuel.

In the EU, rural development policies have attempted to address issues of land abandonment, although successes to maintain populations in the most remote and marginal agricultural areas of the EU (often upland grazing areas) have been mixed. Agri-environmental measures have had some positive impacts by providing ‘green subsidies’ that have, at least partly, helped keep some families living from livestock grazing in their communities. However, in most cases, and especially in poorer countries with more limited funds, policy-makers have struggled to implement effective policies that provide sufficient inducements to prevent outmigration (e.g. China; parts of the northern and southern Mediterranean; some South American countries).

As a result, many regions and communities in grazing systems have focused on tourism as a response to counter land abandonment through seasonal employment or the even the maintenance of traditional skills (e.g. transhumant shepherding a tourist activity; arts and crafts etc). Such efforts may help preserve knowledge about grazing processes alive.

The natural and aesthetic attributes associated with grazing systems have the potential to attract tourists for both summer and winter recreation. In the Central Pyrenees study site, this process is supported by the establishment of a national parks although pressure on fragile upland grazing areas by ski resorts is also evident. National park legislation, is often seen as very restrictive the for the local population, as it may prevent traditional resource uses (e.g. timber harvesting, hunting, fishing) or may involve resettlement or even exclusion from their grazing activities

Responses to woody encroachment

Grazing areas suffering a decline in grazing activity, are characterised by woody encroachment of former pasture areas, an issue of particular relevance in the Central Pyrenees study site.

Long-term grassland-grazer interactions have evolved together for thousands of years: grasslands and grazers simultaneously emerged during the Late Mesozoic and coevolved during the Miocene. Their interaction consisted of positive feedback with favourable effects of grazers on grassland biomass and nutrient concentration. After domestication, teh new landscape was dominated by plant communities adapted to traditional grazing management. These long-term, co-adapted socio-ecological grazing systems persisted for centuries in a sustainable way. In Europe in particular, subalpine grasslands are the result of grazing activities developed since the Bronze Age, and represent one of the most diverse floras including a high variety of rare plant species whose conservation is of highest priority. Yet, exposure to new socio-economic and biophysical pressures have led to significant changes: after abandonment or reduction of grazing activities, woody species tend to colonize productive grasslands which then undergo a succession towards shrub- or tree-dominated vegetation, altering the structure and functioning of ecosystems, reducing biodiversity and grassland productivity.

Biodiversity conservation in rangelands is, therefore, a particularly important response to LEDD. Although studies have highlighted that woody encroachment of (previously highly degraded) pastures can be positive with regard to land degradation alleviation, woody encroachment is clearly associated with social and economic capital decline in grazing areas, especially in the traditional agro-pastoral economy of mountain grasslands complex adaptive systems. Rangeland abandonment is also related to the abandonment of complex transhumance systems whereby livestock was moved to other areas to make room for rain-fed agriculture sustaining traditional self-sufficient communities. The relative stability of these fragile socio-ecological systems has been therefore undermined. Climate change is further encouraging highly competitive woody species to encroach upon high altitude pastures, further threatens ecosystem functions and services.

Woody encroachment may affect the attractiveness of an area for tourists and also reduces pasture area and relative productivity, with potentially disastrous effects on livestock productivity. The latter, in turn, directly influences the income of farmers which may become less willing or able to invest in infrastructure and landesque capital. Reduced economic capital affects social capital (especially skills and social memory associated with traditional pasture management) fostering a vicious circle of community decline, further land abandonment and woody encroachment.

Responses to tackle woody encroachment on grazing lands have been highly varied, and depend to a large extent on the perception of woody encroachment as a threat. In Europe, policies have largely taken the form of subsidisation of agricultural incomes through the Common Agricultural Policy (agri-environmental measures, rural development policies) to help local communities relying on grazing to survive. Ideally, these policies inject sufficient cash into the local economy that grazing activities can be maintained. In some cases, tourism activities are also supported, despite the possible risks of over-intensive tourism development processes (e.g. degradation by ski runs in fragile grazing environments). More drastic measures to reduce woody encroachment involve clearing scrubs and controlled fires, although their ecological (and long-term soil degradation alleviation) potential remains doubtful.

Striking the right balance between conservation policies and policies encouraging livestock intensification on pastures to increase farmer incomes and to prevent woody encroachment has been elusive.

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