PASTOPRAXIS - MTS/CAC/0028/2020

PASTOPRAXIS aims to know pastoralists' adaptive responses to climate change in Montesinho Natural Park (Portugal).

Pastoralist communities have been exposed to a continued increase of drought and wildfires that change the Montesinho landscape and threaten their economic viability and cultural existence. Changes in land use and vegetation cover disturb the traditional sheep and goats' daily grazing routes, requiring additional efforts by shepherds to connect patches to ensure forage continuity. Therefore, landscape change perception by pastoralists is critical in decision making to manage flocks, combining cultural, economic, and environmental issues. It is decisive to maintain and reinforce the local economy, food security, and community identity.

Based on challenging environments, the adaptations to uncertainty built the history of pastoralism. The climate change threat in Montesinho is the PASTOPRAXIS challenge to uncover and systematize these local adaptive responses. Based on an interdisciplinary team composed of natural science researchers and anthropologists, PASTOPRAXIS stresses the local adaptive responses resulting from climate's biophysical evolution and dwellers' socio-cultural perceptions.

Ultimately, PASTOPRAXIS seeks to enhance the knowledge to improve scientific, institutional, and practitioners' responses to climate change in Mediterranean mountain areas through the production of operational knowledge and tools to be mainstreamed into practical response plans.

This project is nationally funded by the FCT, Foundation for Science and Technology, through the grant for the promotion of R&D activities in the National Park of Montesinho.