Even in the high lands, among plateaus, jagged ridges and valley floors, the climate is changing and the ecosystems shaped over millennia by the tireless work of wind and ice are under threat. Over the last 120 years, temperatures in the Alps have risen by around 2 degrees Celsius, almost double the global average, and are estimated to rise by a further two degrees over the next 40 years. Global warming poses a particular threat to glaciers, but Alpine pastures too — considered among the ecosystems most sensitive to climate change and human disturbance — are at risk. To preserve these areas, rich in history and tradition as well as environmental value, the Life Pastoralp project was born.

What is Pastoralp

The project, which began last 1 October and will conclude on 30 March 2022, aims to reduce the vulnerability of Alpine pastures and increase the resilience of agriculture through both a biophysical and a socio-economic approach. The researchers will therefore assess both the field of mountain agronomy and that relating to modelling and climate change.

The importance of local communities

Possible adaptation strategies will be assessed through collaboration with local communities, custodians of an ancient and precious body of knowledge, whose involvement will be a central element of the entire project. The initiative, funded by the European Union and coordinated by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems at the University of Florence, will focus on two cross-border national parks: the Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy and the parc national des Ecrins in France, considered paradigmatic of the Alpine environment. The areas concerned are home to a total of 24,000 people, spread across the 71,000 hectares of the Italian park and the 91,000 of the French one.

How climate change threatens the Alps

Changes in temperature have numerous negative effects: they reduce, for example, the availability of water resources, threaten fauna and flora, cause a reduction in the quantity of grass produced and a reduction in CO2 absorption, and lead to a decline in certain ecosystem services. Pastoral farming makes a significant contribution to carbon sequestration in ecosystems; however, in many Alpine regions adequate policies to conserve pastures are lacking.

The pasture census

The first objective of the research is to produce a mapping of Alpine pastures in the two protected areas, gathering data and information that will subsequently be used to assess the vulnerability of grazing zones through the use of dedicated models.

A pioneering project

Pastoralp is an innovative project and represents a kind of open-air laboratory; among the initiative's aims is precisely that of drawing up guidelines to be made available to technicians and policy-makers. To promote the uptake of the most effective management practices adopted during the project in other Alpine contexts as well, an online platform will ultimately be created (Pastoralp platform tools). In particular, the project will provide useful information on climate change projections for the Alps, the vulnerability of pastures, strategies for sustainable pastoralism, and the demonstration and assessment of the effectiveness of adaptation measures.

A heritage worth protecting

Alpine pastures fulfil multiple productive, environmental, landscape, ecological and protective functions and bear witness to humanity's age-old ability to settle in an apparently hostile territory without disrupting it and while respecting its laws. For this reason, it is necessary to preserve these precious ecosystems for future generations and protect them from abandonment and climate change.