LIVEMOUNT

The LIVEMOUNT research project focused on four distinct objectives: 1. Assessing the impact of livestock grazing on pseudoalpine plant and insect communities under drought stress (taxonomic approach). 2. Elucidating the underlying mechanisms affecting the functioning of pseudoalpine grassland systems (functional approach). 3. Combining taxonomic and functional approaches to propose strategies for livestock adaptation to climate change and linking them to conservation policy and practice. 4. Maximizing the scientific and societal impact of the project. The most important conclusion that emerged upon completion of the project is that climate change creates a new framework for reconsidering the role of extensive livestock farming in the Greek mountains, i.e. the traditional pastoral farming. Greek pastoral livestock farming plays an important environmental role. It maintains high levels of biodiversity, contributes to the ecological balance of natural ecosystems and at the same time ensures the protection and unhindered provision of ecosystem services. Specifically, supply services (such as food, water, firewood), regulatory services (such as climate and hydrological regulation), cultural services (such as recreation, preservation of cultural identity) and support services (such as soil biological activity, pollination). However, the implementation of pastoral livestock farming and the balance of grazing capacity (i.e. the ability of the above-ground biomass of plants in a rangeland to sustainably meet the nutritional needs of grazing animals) and stocking rate (i.e. the number of animals driven to graze in a rangeland) does not appear evenly distributed in space and time, resulting in some cases of overgrazing and in most cases undergrazing of rangelands. In particular, the overgrazing of rangelands of Greece tends to become an acute problem, given the recent slaughter of a large number of herds. LIVEMOUNT dedicated a specific Work Package that leads, upon its completion, to a series of policy proposals, which are in their final stage of elaboration. Among these are the need to design and implement Grazing Management Plans, the preservation and support of transhumance, the recording of traditional knowledge and the application of the principle of historicity in the management of grasslands, the strengthening of indigenous breeds of farm animals, the connection of crop and livestock production with the aim of avoiding lockdown-type problems and reducing production costs, and the necessary specialization in the areas of the Natura 2000 network. Above all, however, the cooperation of competent Ministries and Agencies is required with the aim of describing and implementing a National Plan for the Strengthening of Pastoral and Transhumance Livestock. This Plan should be in harmony and coherence with a National Plan to Stop the Desertification of Mountainous Areas. This is because stopping the desertification and abandonment of mountain communities can be largely achieved when there are professional perspectives and the strengthening of the environmentally and socially beneficial pastoral activity.