Governance for Mediterranean Silvopastoral Systems (Perspectives on Rural Policy and Planning)

This book is about the resilience of silvo-pastoral systems now, and in the future. As such, it is about people. The goal is to fill the gap in the knowledge on silvo-pastoral systems and their changing trends, by adding the human dimension, with enough detail to draw inferences about the new governance solutions that are needed to address the multiple challenges faced by silvo-pastoral systems. As such, the book provides knowledge applicable to current and future silvo-pastoral territories in other regions across the world.

The volume is divided into three sections: people and institutions, the institutional framework, and governance models. Each section, composed of several chapters, draws on empirical work about the Iberian montado and dehesa as well as from other similar systems in the Mediterranean, both on the northern and on the southern sides, in order to broaden its scope and cover a wider range of situations and examples. Some of the chapters rely more strongly on empirical findings and current experiences, others on a literature review and reflection by the authors over many years working with these systems. The conclusion sums up the most relevant findings from each chapter and discusses how research can progress so that new scientific approaches and evidence can support better adapted governance models of silvopastoral systems to face future challenges.

This text will be highly valuable to university and research institute libraries, academics, policy officials, and stakeholder groups, such as NGOs and sectoral organizations, who wish to better understand the relevance of the human factor and use this knowledge to find sustainable solutions. It will be a central reading for postgraduate students enrolled in rural planning, landscape management and governance, agronomy and forestry, as well as geography and socio-ecology programmes, that have a focus on sustainable land use management and supporting mixed farming systems.

Teresa Pinto-Correia is a Portuguese geographer, with a record of publications on the dynamics and change of European rural landscapes at multiple scales, with a particular focus on silvo-pastoral systems of Iberia. She is full professor at university of Évora and the director of MED (www.med.uevora.pt), a R&I unit of 180 researchers, with a systemic and interdisciplinary perspective on Mediterranean agriculture and environment.

Helena Guimarães is a Portuguese environmental scientist, researcher at MED www.med.uevora.pt, and coordinator of the thematic line: Transdisciplinarity and co-construction of knowledge of LABscape – Mediterranean Landscape Systems Lab and Co-coordinator of MED thematic Line: Governance and Rural Dynamics.

Gerardo Moreno, is a Spanish biologist, specialized on soil science and agroforestry, focussed on the study of the functioning, management and provision of ecosystem services by Iberian dehesas. He is full professor at university of Extremadura and member of INDEHSA (Institute for the study of Iberian Dehesas; www.indehesa.unex.es).

Rufino Acosta Naranjo is a Spanish anthropologist and professor of the University of Seville, specialized on Ecological Anthropology and Rural Societies focusing on traditional agro-ecosystems, in particular the dehesa, as well as on Agroecology, and biodiversity. He is currently working on initiatives against rural depopulation.