Abstract ID: 3.11313 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

Since a few decades, social-ecological systems of the French Southern Alps undergo several drivers of change in socio-demographic, political and ecological terms. They turned from an agriculture-based to a tourism-based economy, leading to a diversification of activities at landscape scale. While extensive livestock farming has been a strong pillar of local identity and has traditionally shaped cultural landscapes, its roles are increasingly being questioned with regard to its ability to accommodate other uses of the territory, in particular those related to recreational activities, forest management and biodiversity conservation. In this context, livestock farming becomes a topic of public concern and farmers are facing a diversity of views on ‘what pastoralism should be’.
We present results from a case study carried out in the Southern French Alps as a participatory research that associated over two years an interdisciplinary team of scientists, a community of municipalities and a diversity of local stakeholders who feel concerned by the future of pastoralism in their territory and/or who gets to interact with pastoral uses in the course of their own activities. We hypothesized that considering the multifunctionality of livestock farming and its articulation to other activities is key for strengthening pastoralism and reducing conflicts over land uses. Our research combined individual interviews and collective workshops to elicit the diverse opinions on the current situation and conflicts. It also offered arenas to discuss possible options for better accommodating multiple uses, including pastoralism, in the near future.
Our results highlight the diversity of (possibly conflicting) expectations that are attributed to livestock farming by local actors. They also illustrate multiple ways farmers experiment to deal with these demands, based on how they envision their own work and relationships to their herd, the environment and other land users. We present different strategies collectively identified by local stakeholders that could be operationalized to foster a novel equilibrium among activities in the future, including avoidance strategies over time and space. We discuss the strengths and limits of our approach in terms of participation and ability to address questions related to local identity and balance between activities.