An Overview Of Our Solution
The Gran Sasso-Laga National Park covers the highest peak of the Apennines. Its landscape is characterized by extensive pastures, rich in biodiversity. Conservation of seminatural ecosystems against the threat of land abandonment involves support to local farming activities which are beneficial to biodiversity. This means addressing the reasons of their decline, such as high costs, low income, poor market access, while at the same time improving product quality and ecological soundness. The situation worsened in 2016 with a severe earthquake. Therefore, the Park is implementing an integrated farmer support strategy. Several coordinated actions are under way: from conservation of traditional hardy sheep breeds, to the recovery and strengthening of the wool industry, with an emphasis on encouraging sheep farmers to come together and acquire new skills and know-how.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Europe
General Information
Organization type
Gubernamental
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Freshwater
Grasslands
Population impacted
around 15.000
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
40.000 ha
Production quantity
60000 sheep, 180.000 kg of wool
People employed
Over 300 livestock farmers
Solution
Describe your solution
In acknowledging the role of grazing in biodiversity conservation, and the complex interactions between stock, predators, vegetation and global economics, the National Park started an all-round strategy focused on reducing predator conflicts, supporting local farmers and promoting compliance with regulations. Farmers can get support for setting up electric wire protection, for trained guardian dogs of local breed, and finally for refunding killed stock (if certified as predation).
With the pilot project “Pecunia”, farmers were offered the opportunity to send their wool to a national selection centre for classification and sale or to be returned as yarn to be sold on farm, thus increasing its added value. Farmers were made aware of the economic potential of their wool, previously regarded as a waste and a loss.
Training was provided on themes such as: stock welfare and prevention of predator kill, local breeds’ attitudes, traditional cheese production and marketing, optimization of wool quality, cooperative action.
The set-up of producers’ associations were facilitated, and the Park created a quality mark brand for local products.
Lastly, the Park started an EU LIFE project (“Praterie”) to address conservation of pasture seminatural ecosystems, leading to a new participative approach to grazing regulations, which were previously missing or lacking of ecologic soundness.
All of these support actions help sheep grazing to be economically viable and ecologically sustainable.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
To compensate the disadvantages of mountain sheep farming, especially predation risks, losses due to predation are refunded to the farmer, and support is given to stock protection measures, including animal welfare issues, such as temporary shelters for lambing on pasture. A very ambitious project (Pecunia) was devised to restore a profitable market value for wool: proper guidelines for shearing were disseminated, and a training course on wool quality selection was offered to interested farmers. A system for product tracking was implemented, allowing each farmer to get a feedback on the quality of his wool and informing the consumer on the exact origin of the wool. A wool standardized collection system was set up to address handling issues. The increase in the size and quality of the collective wool lot generated a rise in wool price. As the Park did not offer to buy the wool or any other economic guarantee, but encouraged farmers to take responsibility, personal engagement made the difference between success and drop out among farmers. Another innovative project was the “Praterie” (LIFE funded), that jointly addressed conservation and socio-economic problems linked to mountain pastoralism and livestock grazing in general. The project led to the drafting of guidelines for grazing regulations through a participative approach which involved all local stakeholder. Activities also included amphibian-friendly restoration of watering troughs, prevention of livestock trampling in small lakes, provision of seasonal shelters for lambing ewes and footpath maintenance, for a sustainable and multi-purpose use of upland pastures. The participative approach was both the main success and the main difficulty of this project. Farmers, tourists and conservation experts have conflicting interests and views, but also a common goal: the sustainability of pasture use. Therefore, special attention was given to proper facilitation techniques that allowed the consultation to be successful
External connections
More than 150 livestock breeders participated in one or more project activities. 8 municipalities and 2 commonage administrations participated in the drafting of grazing regulations. The ARA (regional livestock breeders’ Association) gave support in dissemination and accountability of the wool project. Biella Wool Company is a consortium including all Italian wool production chain actors, that specialized in dealing with smaller producers, that would not singularly reach the amount required by the major textile international markets. They offered expertise in wool selection criteria and marketing strategies, spin raw wool into yarn and sell it on world market. Training visits were organized with both farmers and staff technicians. Two Universities (L’Aquila and Perugia) gave scientific and regulatory advice in the Praterie activities. Other sectors impacted by the project activities are tourism, craft, and indirectly also cheese and meat production. Important results in the field of policymaking are being achieved: the grazing best practice guidelines are being turned into new grazing regulations; similarly, shearing and wool handling guidelines are being adopted by other Italian regions and a national standard is going to be defined
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
The Central Apennines pastures host a considerable amount of biodiversity, including endemic plant and animal species of international relevance. In the last century mountain farming underwent a steep decline, due to urbanization and industrialization, especially sheep farming, which needs intensive shepherding labour for predator protection. Farmers shifted to more productive breeds or to cattle and horse husbandry, which being less prone to predator attacks are left to free-ranging grazing. Abandoned pastures are encroaching, threatening the conservation of wildlife species linked to open grassland. The different grazing pressure, and greater water requirements, of cattle and horse herds, lead to overgrazed areas, and conflicts over the use of water ponds and fountains. Wool from the sheep spring shearing, of low quality due to the shift in breed, could not be used in wool industry and had to be treated as a special waste, whose disposal became an additional problem for farmers.
Describe the context in which you are operating
The Gran Sasso-Laga Park includes the highest peaks of the Apennines (2912 m). Its territory was shaped by a long history of pastoralism. Villages are now suffering depopulation. Some of the most valuable ecosystems in the Park are seminatural: their conservation depends on the maintenance of certain traditional activities. The Park pastures are grazed by 65000 sheep, plus cattle and horses, over about 30000 ha. Most of the territory is karstic and surface water is scarce. Wild carnivores have always preyed upon livestock, also due to scarcity of wild ungulates, now rising in numbers; sheep are traditionally defended by guard dogs of local breed. Sheep farming is the traditional livestock breeding, mutually adapted to local ecological conditions, but economically weak. Wool used to be a major product in the past centuries, while now the traditional wool industry is over; farmers shifted to meat and cheese oriented breeds, and wool became a waste, bearing an additional cost on them.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
The provision of predator protection measures allows to reduce the social conflict generated by predation on livestock farm and thus decrease illegal killings on protected fauna. Mountain pastures were suffering from both overgrazing and encroaching, both lowering their quality as a resource and as viable habitat for species of conservation interest. The increase in number and functionality of livestock drinking structures, through careful design, determined an increase in water quality in small lakes, an increase of suitable reproductive habitat for amphibians, a decrease in overgrazing and trampling and a better distribution of free-ranging cattle with a more even distribution of grazing pressure. The regular maintenance of the footpaths network helps to reduce the impact of tourists both on the delicate alpine vegetation and on disturbance-sensitive fauna.
Language(s)
Italian
Water
Improved water quality in lakes and overall improved habitat quality for amphibians in drinking points, resulting in an overall higher quality of the rare upland freshwater environments and associated plant and animal species.
Food Security/Nutrition
The provision of shelters for lambing ewes allowed a broader timing of births and an increase in lamb production, which is the main source of income in this economic sector.
Economic/Sustainable Development
Sheep are the traditional livestock breeding of this territory, their grazing shaped the landscape, the ecosystems, and local community history and culture. Local communities in the Park are relying on tourism, both nature-oriented and culture-oriented, in which sheep play an indirect but fundamental role, with a greater impact than the mere income directly generated by sheep farming. Ensuring its maintenance is a key to local sustainable development
Climate
Sheep are more adapted to arid pastures, having a lower water and nutrient requirements with respect to cattle and horses, which are currently preferred for their lower breeding costs. Increasing the profitability of sheep farming helps to maintain viable this livestock breeding activity which is more resistant and resilient in the face of climatic uncertainty deriving from global climate change.
Sustainability
Refund of predator losses and support to predator protection measures are provided by the Park. The Praterie Project was co-funded by the Park and a EU-LIFE grant. The innovative character of the Pecunia Project is its reliance on market mechanisms which could lead to personal engagement of farmers into project activities. Funding is provided by the Park only to cover transport costs of wool to the national selection centre. Costs will be fully repaid by the increase in wool price paid to farmers. Presently a local wool selection centre is starting its activity, making the product chain more economically sustainable than ever. Moreover, job opportunities were created in wool selection, handling and transport, and wool-based crafts.
Return on investment
Predation refunds: around 200.000 € per year, to lower the level of conflict between predator conservation and farmers. Praterie Project: almost 1.700.000 € in 5 years, being used for restoration of 9 drinking troughs, 4 ponds, 70 km of footpaths, 12 parking areas, provision of 30 guardian dogs, 38 lambing shelters, 70 livestock pens, 20 site visits for technical assistance and leading 16 stakeholder meetings. Pecunia project: 2015 budget of around 15.000 €, which generated an overall increase in raw wool value greater than 15.000 €; additionally, further value was added to spun wool sold on farm as skeins (30/kg of net gain per 600 kg in 2015: further 18.000 €), plus even more added value generated by crafted wool (not quantifiable).
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
Refund of predation losses to farmers is a national standard in Europe which has led to a considerable decrease in social conflict with large carnivore conservation.
The core of the Praterie project was stakeholder participation, and a bottom-up approach to regulations. This brought conflicts into light and led to identify shared solutions, highlighting the different fields of action. The replicability of the project lays in the process: the output will be place-specific.
The Pecunia project approach was taken as a model in other Italian Regions: Umbria, Sicily and Puglia. Some farmers from neighboring municipalities spontaneously joined in the wool collection, thus widening the territorial impact of the project beyond the Park area. A National coordination board is being set up, also as a consequence of the success shown by the Pecunia project. Any sheep farming area can adopt this model, training farmers in wool selection techniques, and networking wool selection centres.