Se hace vereda al andar. Análisis de una práctica agraria tradicional en la cuenca mediterránea desde la perspectiva socioecológicaLa trashumancia en la cañada real conquense

Resumen

The impact of human actions on fundamental global processes regulating the functioning of the Earth system (usually known as ¿global change¿), poses many important challenges to society and to academia. Sustainability Science emerges as an approach seeking to address these challenges from new approaches based on complex systems theory and by applying an interdisciplinary, participatory and socio-politically transformative perspective. Because interactions and synergic relationships have to be explored in order to face the present and future in a more sustainable way, a dialogue and reflection arena where epistemological frameworks, theories, disciplines, perspectives and different stakeholders can interact and build new paradigms is needed. Ecology stands as this possible arena, taking into account its capacity to disaggregate in order to hybridise with other disciplines. Within Sustainability Science, the concept of ¿social-ecological systems¿ arises as a bridge-object for the study of human-nature relationships, including the direct and indirect drivers of change influencing the functioning of ecosystems. As they are complex adaptive systems, social-ecological systems are characterised by aggregation, non-linear behaviors, diversity, flows and feedback mechanisms. The sustainability of social - ecological systems strongly depends on their resilience, i.e. their capacity to assume different levels of uncertainty and withstand disturbance without losing their capacity for self-organization and the regulating mechanisms that determine their structure and functioning. Hence, resilient social-ecological systems can withstand disturbance, adapt and re-organise without losing their capacity for the provision of multiple ecosystem services, which are understood as the direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems to human well-being. Recently, evaluations of ecosystem services have increased in the scientific literature, particularly after the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. However, the frequent focus on the monetary dimension of value is (1) concealing the biophysical and socio-cultural dimensions, and (2) overweighting provisioning services, mostly with market value, in comparison to regulating and cultural services. Consequently, there is a need to elucidate trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services, as well as ecosystem services bundles, in order to deal with complexity. Moreover, understanding the socio-cultural dimension of ecosystem services through the consideration of multiple stakeholders stands as one of the key challenges. Agroecosystems cover 38% of Earth¿s terrestrial surface, of which 75% is directly (pasture and grazing lands) or indirectly (croplands devoted to animal feed) dedicated to livestock rearing. Approximately 2,500 million people in the world depend on farming activities (200 million on pastoralism). However, agroecosystems are important not only for provisioning services, but also for regulating services such as pollination, and cultural services such as traditional ecological knowledge or recreational uses. Pastoralism has been recognised as a key tool for sustainability, particularly in mountains and rural areas. In the Mediterranean Basin, agroecosystems are the result of a millenary co-evolution between human populations and ecosystems, and their multifunctionality and key role in biodiversity conservation has been internationally recognised, particularly in relation to traditional farming practices. In the last decades, however, farming practices and ecosystems (particularly pastoralism and grasslands) within this region are suffering from different drivers of change that have fostered rural exodus and hence (1) land abandonment in some areas, and (2) agricultural intensification in others. In Spain, these two processes have taken place later than in other European areas, therefore allowing on the one hand the persistence of some traditional farming practices that comprise High Nature Value Farming Areas, and on the other hand have negatively affected the provision of ecosystem services. Among traditional farming practices, nomadic pastoralism constitutes an adaptation typical of semi-arid regions, deserts and upland areas (so called ¿marginal areas¿) where natural resources availability may be highly variable, both spatially and temporally, respect to temperature and rainfall, equating to high variability in plant productivity. Transhumance is a form of nomadic pastoralism that appears where climatic contrasts are large but predictable, so that the migration fluctuates between two extremes, in latitude and/or altitude. Wintering areas are usually located at more temperate latitudes and/or lower areas, while summering areas are found in more mountainous (and northern in the case of the northern hemisphere) areas. The two journeys tend to take place when the productivity peak is occurring in-between these two areas, therefore taking advantage also of their primary productivity peaks. Transhumance has been widely recognised as an important traditional farming practice for provisioning services such as high-quality meat and wool, regulating services, such as seed dispersal, and cultural services, such as cultural identity and traditional ecological knowledge, while contributing to biodiversity conservation. For this reason, drove roads in Spain (extending over about Agroecosystems cover 38% of Earth¿s terrestrial surface, of which 75% is directly (pasture and grazing lands) or indirectly (croplands devoted to animal feed) dedicated to livestock rearing. Approximately 2,500 million people in the world depend on farming activities (200 million on pastoralism). However, agroecosystems are important not only for provisioning services, but also for regulating services such as pollination, and cultural services such as traditional ecological knowledge or recreational uses. Pastoralism has been recognised as a key tool for sustainability, particularly in mountains and rural areas. In the Mediterranean Basin, agroecosystems are the result of a millenary co-evolution between human populations and ecosystems, and their multifunctionality and key role in biodiversity conservation has been internationally recognised, particularly in relation to traditional farming practices. In the last decades, however, farming practices and ecosystems (particularly pastoralism and grasslands) within this region are suffering from different drivers of change that have fostered rural exodus and hence (1) land abandonment in some areas, and (2) agricultural intensification in others. In Spain, these two processes have taken place later than in other European areas, therefore allowing on the one hand the persistence of some traditional farming practices that comprise High Nature Value Farming Areas, and on the other hand have negatively affected the provision of ecosystem services.