www.irstea.fr

B. Nettier, L. Dobremez, S. Lavorel, G. Brunschwig

Zaragoza FAO 14 -16 june 2016

Adopting a resilience lens to analyze adaptation to climate change on summer mountain

pastures

2

Consequences of Climate Change in the Alps for

agropastoral farming systems: Short-term and long-

term issues

• Short-term: Dealing with the recruiting of climatic hazards

Exercise and improve flexibility of the systems

• Long-term: Preparing the systems to an important evolution of

environment (climate, ecosystems, socio-economic context),

widely uncertain

Manage dynamic

Average

1960-2012

3

Climate change on alpine pastures

• Alpine pastures, summer mountain pastures…

• A diversity of configuration and vegetation, and livestock faming

system

• Important environmental issues / Deteriorations hardly reversible

• Alpine pastures: inadequate models and tools of analysis

• A static vision

• A limited view of their flexibility

• No consideration for interactions between alpine pastures and farms

important levers can be activated at these interactions

4

Socio-ecological resilience : an interesting

concept to mobilize for adaptation to climate

change on alpine pasture?

• Definition in adequacy with the problem:

• Capacity of a system to preserve its structure and functions

despite perturbations

• = Capacity of alpine pastures to feed herds during summer

• Concept underlining strong links between ecological

and social functioning of the system

• A dynamic vision of the system

• Existing descriptions of features conferring resilience

to socio-ecological systems

5

Building a new grid to analyze the resilience of

alpine Pastures: Methodology FROM WALKER ET SALT, 2012

Understanding the functioning of

system: building a conceptual model of

alpine pasture

Iterative process involving local stakeholders

“experts”

Bibliography: features conferring

resilience to socio-ecological systems,

and to farming systems:

Reserves, diversity, openness, detection and

reaction capacities, modularity, redundancy

• Building an analysis

grid of the resilience of

alpine pasture

• No quantitative

evaluation

• A qualitative analysis of

what confers or not

resilience to the system

(operational goal)

6

Results: analysis grid

Management Herds Vegetation

Day

Pastoral

season

Season

Year

Long-

term

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Results: analysis grid: main elements

Management Herds Resources

Day

Pastoral

season

Season

Year

Long-

term

Reserves

and

diversity

of

vegetation

at different

scales

Detection

and

reaction:

Monitoring

of alpine

pasture,

adaptive

manage-

ment

Redundancy:

farmers’

replaceabilitiy

(governance,

work)

Reserves

: animals’

rusticity

and body

condition

Diversity:

herd

capacities to

mobilize

different

resources

Diversity:

animal

needs

Evolution if these parameters: collective of farms, animal selection, pasture

configuration ,vegetation quality…

Modularity

8

Results: analysis grid: main elements

Management Herds Resources

Day

Pastoral

season

Season

Year

Long-

term

Reserves

and

diversity

of

vegetation

at different

scales

Detection

and

reaction:

Monitoring

of alpine

pasture,

adaptive

manage-

ment

Redundancy:

farmers’

replaceabilitiy

(governance,

work)

Reserves

: animals’

rusticity

and body

condition

Diversity:

herd

capacities to

mobilize

different

resources

Diversity:

animal

needs

Evolution if these parameters: collective of farms, animal selection, pasture

configuration ,vegetation quality…

Modularity

9

Resource diversity

Scale of management diversity to mobilise

Day and grazing route

Functional diversity:

adaptation to a diversity of

situation (weather…)

Pastoral season and range

allotment

Response diversity: having

resource whatever the

climatic hazards

Season and alpine pasture

Diversity of pedo-climatic

conditions: diversity of

phenology and climatic

influence

Year and alpine pasture-

farm(s) system

Diversity of forage system

(spatial distance, vegetation

and the way it is mobilized)

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Discussion and conclusion

• A new regard on alpine pastures

• A more precise view on features conferring resilience to alpine pastures

• Biodiversity preservation usually seen as a constraint in pastoral management

Functional and response diversity can be seen as a tool for resilience

• Importance of considering articulation

• between alpine pasture and farms, and governance of the whole alpine

pasture-farms system

• between short and long-term

• between management and ecological functioning of the system

• Resilience as a tool ?

• A promising test of “resilience practicing”

• Socio-ecological system defined from a management point of view, not from the

ecological functioning point of view : more operational approach…

• … Still to be confronted to technical advisors’ and farmers’ points of view !

11

Thank you very much

Drawing by André Leroy

12

13

Resource : comparison of two individual sheep

alpine pastures

Dar Crou

Dry plateau (1300 m a.s.l.):

- Open grassland (mix of bad and good

forage quality)

- Flexible undergrowth grass

Crest (1900 m a.s.l.): no water

North side slope (1500-2500 m a.s.l.):

- Flexible undergrowth grass

- Productive grass in glades

- Alpine storey

Forestry: constraints

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Figure 3 : représentation schématique du domaine de stabilité des cas Dar. et Crou.

Dar. Crou.

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Dar Crou

Day and grazing

route

Functional diversity: open/woody areas, rich/fibrous grass,

appetible/unappetible vegetation

Equilibrate ration, adjustment to weather conditions

“Pastoral” season

and range allotment

Response diversity: drought

sensitivity

Response diversity: phenology

Season and alpine

pasture

Diversity of pedo-climatic

conditions: Functional diversity

(flexibility)

Diversity of pedo-climatic

conditions: altitudinal layering

Year and alpine

pasture-farm(s)

system

Great diversity of resources, annual

adjustments

Limited capacity to adjust date and

number on alpine pastures

Long-term Decrease of resource on alpine

pasture (degradations + predation

exposure) : delay in the climbing

date

Equipment to improve use of

existing resource

Grazing management taking care

of preservation of functional

diversity

Grazing pressure

- adapted for renewal of resource

in open areas

- Insufficient undergrowth –

resource quality maintained by

forestry

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Resource diversity: comparison of 2 individual

sheep alpine pasture

Dar Crou

• Multiple constraints and no altitudinal

layering : resilience permitted by the

mobilization of the diversity of

vegetation through a complex

management at every spatiotemporal

scales

• Resilience permitted by altitudinal

layering, surplus of flexible resource

undergrowth (not so easy to mobilize)

• Forestry ensures the renewal of

vegetation on long term

• No adjustment needed at alpine

pasture-farm scale

17

Management of alpine pasture-farms system: comparison

of two collective sheep alpine pastures very constrained

Sur Pon

• Local farmers, salaried shepherd

• Management:

- Farmers : no clear vision of the

resource on alpine pasture

- No rules for adjustment in dates or

sheep number on alpine pasture

Limited capacities of detection and

reaction at interaction between farms

and alpine pasture

• Transhumant farmers, that take turns

for shepherding

• Management:

Good knowledge of resources on

alpine pasture, and important capacities

to adjust at interaction between farms

and alpine pasture

18 Sur Pon

Adjustments mainly by shepherd on

alpine pasture

Climatic hazards hard to manage for

shepherd and local “overgrazing”

Risks of resource degradation and

loss of resilience on long term

Progressive adjustments in response to

a lack of reserves and diversity in

pastoral resources

delay in the climbing date

grazing of new areas before and after

alpine pasture

Adjustments between farms all year

round

Management more favorable to

resilience