Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Side 37

RALA Reportno. 200
Agropastoralism and fires in the Mediterranean
Giuseppe Pulina, M. d’Angelo and Giuseppe Enne
Nucleo Ricerca Desertificazione. Universitá di Sassari, Via De Nicola. 1-07100 Sassari, ltaly
Tel: 39 ()~9 229304: Fax: 39 079 229302: E-mail: nrdd^ssmain.uniss.it
Abstract
Within the MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) research programme funded by
the EU, the relationships between agropastoralism and fires were studied in areas subjected to graz-
ing. The investigation was carried out in northem Sardinia (Italy), the Italian region most affected by
summer wildfires, where agropastoralism is the main economic activity. Socioeconomic data (live-
stock and population) were acquired and related to fire occurrence and extension in the period 1980-
1990. The results highlighted a positive correlation between sheep number and burned surfaces, thus
confirming that the use of fire as an agronomic practice to clear pastures for sheep breeding is still
deeply rooted.
Key words: agropastoralism, fires, land degradation, livestock, Sardinia.
INTRODUCTTON
Due to the peculiarity of natural resources and their climatic variability, Mediterra-
nean drylands are subjected to a continuous degradation. Throughout the millennia the
Mediterranean Basin has been overexploited mainly because of a rapid human popu-
lation growth and associated land use pressures which, in many cases, has caused the
disappearance of fragile ecosystems (UNEP 1994).
Fire is one of the main factors leading to land degradation in the Mediterranean (see
also Yassaglou and Kosmas, this volume); among its many causes, agropastoralism is
traditionally considered one of the most important (Margaris 1992). More recently,
land development and speculation in tourist areas and "business” has promoted fire
prevention.
Sheep and goat breeding is the most widespread economic activity in Mediterra-
nean rural areas, where it is essential to the livelihood of local communities. In par-
ticular, the number of sheep farms is increasing, mainly due to the growing demands
of the national and intemational cheese markets (Roquefort in France, Feta in Greece,
Pecorino Romano in Italy) (Kalantzopoulos 1993). In the Mediterranean region this
has probably caused the increase in burned areas during the last decades; indeed, the
grazing be-haviour of sheep, who prefer grass to shrubs, leads farmers to use plough-
ing or fire to clear pastures. The latter is usually the most preferred practice as it is
economical and because steep slopes and stony soils prevent any other cultivation
practice (Molina 1996). This situation is particularly tme for Sardinia, a Mediterra-
nean island, which is the Italian region most affected by fires and with the highest
sheep and goat stocking rates. During the period 1985-95, 38,884 fires occurred for a
total surface of 483,760 ha, about 20% ofthe island total area (RAS 1996). In that pe-
riod, the regional average stocking rate was about 1.73 (3.3 considering specific
stocking rate) sheep ha_1 and milk production was about 137 1 ha_1.
The aim of this paper is to review the role of fire in agropastoralism practices in the
Mediterranean Basin. In particular, we investigate the possible relationship among
livestock number and their dynamics, number of fires, affected surfaces, tourism and
unemployment rates in Sardinia.