TASKS

The PACTORES project is organized into three work packages (WPs 1–3), each focusing on a specific aspect of the project structure, alongside separate coordination and communication WPs.

WP1: Assessment of social and policy dimensions of Mediterranean rangeland systems

Coordinator: UVic

WP1 focuses on the social dimensions of the APS of the case studies. Supply (the agro-pastoralists) and demand (society) are closely linked with agricultural and land use policies as well as elements of multilevel governance. The main goal of WP1 is to identify bottlenecks in these policies at the regional, Mediterranean, and EU levels, and to make recommendations for policy adaptations through a bottom-up approach.

Task 1.1: Rapid appraisal of governance elements

Identification of relevant actors in policy-making, coexisting perspectives and objectives, strategies and instruments being developed, and responsibilities for implementation.

Task 1.2: Social diagnosis of pastoral communities

Mapping out the main issues of concern for the local communities under examination, using a toolkit of qualitative methodologies including focus groups (FG), questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. Key actors will be identified through a stakeholder (SH)-mapping exercise

Task 1.3: Diagnosis of societal demands

Qualitative investigation of public perceptions of the agro-pastoralist communities involved in the case studies through semi-structured surveys or focus groups.

Task 1.4: Selection and review of policies related to the challenges faced by pastoral communities

Revision of the legislative framework and policies (from local to international scale) that regulate the context of the specific challenge to agro-pastoral communities identified within each case study.

Task 1.5: Assessment of the alignment of policies and local priorities

The main policies affecting APS will be further checked with experts, policy-makers, and pastoral representatives to examine to what extent they meet the priorities of local communities. Potential amendments will be proposed through this bottom-up approach.

WP2: Agro-pastoral socio-ecosystem services in the Mediterranean

Coordinator: UNIVPM

WP2 addresses the ecological dynamics of pastoral ecosystems, emphasizing the functions that determine the delivery of ES to society and their linkage to livestock management methods. The specific ES and functions to be addressed will be determined according to the challenges identified in each case study.

Task 2.1: Literature review on the state of the art on ES provided by APS

Identification of the ES provided by the APS of each case study, and the differences related to site-specific climate and management conditions.

Task 2.2: Definition and assessment of relevant ecosystem functions and ecosystem services provided by pastoral systems in the CS areas

Up to three ES and functions will be identified and assessed per case study (i.e., wildfire prevention, biodiversity protection), and connected to the specific agro-pastoral management practices, supporting policy recommendations concerning common practices to enhance the provision of ES.

Task 2.3: Assessment of ES provision under different scenarios

Estimation of the effects of various changes on given ES, including an assessment of thresholds and tipping points on the provision of these ES.

WP3: Economic sustainability assessment: Addressing the financial performance of APS and their productive rationality

Coordinator: AUTH

WP3 addresses the economic performance and rationality of the pastoral communities. Different pastoral farm typologies will be examined (i.e., different forms of farm diversification), comparing their economic performance in terms of resource allocation and revenue. Keeping in mind the multifunctional nature of APS, the focus will be on the economic value of both traded and non-traded outputs.

Task 3.1: Economic appraisal of APS and sensitivity analysis

Economic performance indicators of extensive farms will be retrieved through questionnaires, to calculate indicators of economic sustainability. These performance indicators will be related to the existing availability and allocation of agro-pastoral resources (land, labour, livestock) and their management in the various types of agro-pastoral farms, as well as to the adoption of diverse management, marketing, production, survival, and reproduction strategies.

Task 3.2: APS and product value chains analysis

Analysis of the value chain of products from small ruminant animals, to disentangle how the added value is generated and allocated along the chain from producers to consumers. The goal is to unveil how different marketing strategies and market power allocation (territorial labelling, organic certification, processing and commercial strategies, etc.) impact the viability of the farms.

Task 3.3: Economic assessment of social demand

Economic valuation methods (choice experiments) will be utilized to quantitatively estimate social demand for the ES provided by APS, focusing on those that are not traded in markets and thus are not valued in the same manner, such as biodiversity conservation.