The project Life Landscape Fire joined a group of nine European projects dedicated to the development and promotion of extensive livestock farming in the Mediterranean, to create the manifesto “+ Extensive Livestock + Biodiversity for Europe”. This document, launched today, September 5, 2022, presents five key reasons to enhance extensive livestock farming in Europe and suggests ten measures to support this production system to ensure that it continues to bring benefits to biodiversity, the resilience of territories and the local communities that depend on them.
The abandonment of traditional livestock farming and its progressive industrialisation, combined with the adverse effects of climate change, have made it urgent to implement a Strategic Action Plan for the adaptation of extensive livestock farming to new climate scenarios and socio-economic contexts, allowing for the maintenance of functional and biodiverse ecosystems.
Grazing management improves soil fertility and prevents erosion, thus contributing to carbon sequestration and fixation. Furthermore, the presence of animals helps to disperse seeds, promotes nutrient cycling on a landscape scale and reduces the accumulation of combustible plant biomass, thus minimising the impact of rural fires which greatly affect Southern Europe.
Over the past 30 years, the European Union has been making an effort to finance LIFE projects with the aim of promoting scientific knowledge and its transfer in order to improve management, enhance the value of extensive livestock products and promote innovation in the sector. But more needs to be done. Therefore, the ten projects signing the Manifesto, six of which are taking place in Portugal, identified an ordered set of priority actions with the aim of influencing policies to enhance the value of extensive livestock farming, and to promote its incorporation into planning and territorial management instruments, including protected natural areas and Natura 2000 Network, and fire prevention measures.
