Presentation short abstract

In the Mediterranean, climate variations most critically impact plant phenology, exacerbated by climate change. Spanish examples show different sources of rigidity for pastoralists to adapt. Main sources are rigid management rules, partially disrupted TEK transmission, markets, and farm investments.

Presentation long abstract

Arid environments usually have strong seasonal contrasts and climatic variability that have selected plants for adaptable phenologies. Pastoralist management therefore favours livestock mobility, with Spanish institutions providing some protection to corridors and the seasonal use of summer and winter pastures.

However, the temporal flexibility component of livestock mobility is often compromised by the rigidity of different elements that we have identified: 1) Rules for pasture use include e.g. applying fees for early pasture use in summer areas, which prove to be problematic in warmer years. 2) Disrupted Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) among transhumants, with one intermediate generation of practice cessation, show traditional departure dates dictated by tradition, and not observation of the natural environment. 3) Traders impose fix dates for lamb and calf collection in transhumants that also constrain adaptation to yearly grass production fluctuations.

Management flexibility also suffers from: 4) Further TEK disruption is observed in the use of dairy goat breeds considered unapt for transhumance because of large udders, whereas practices that improve the animals' physical condition by daily walking show strengthening abdominal musculature and udder retraction while not affecting milk production and movement. 5) Heavy investment costs in hay collection machinery constrain herders' adoption of more adaptable temporal strategies, recovered through rotation or transhumance only when economies of scale are lost.

As conclusion, our study highlights the different aspects of pastoralist adaptability that should be preserved. There is a need to protect not only spatial, but also temporal and managerial flexibility.

Presentation short abstract

Local rigidities in Xiberoa have historically sustained pastoral adaptation while enabling flexibility. Yet broader market and regulatory pressures now impose geographic and temporal rigidities, challenging the balance of the socio-ecosystem across scales.

Presentation long abstract

In Xiberoa (French Pyrenees), historical local rigidities have been crucial in maintaining pastoral practices that allow for flexible adaptation strategies in the face of multiple stressors. Among these rigidities is an assemblage of local social institutions, varying in their degrees of formalization. The community is regulated by numerous social norms, such as solidarities among inhabitants and a commitment to maintaining pastoral heritage and culture. The summer pasturelands are made of commons (shepherd cabins, Syndicate of Xiberoa) with quite rigid regimes of organization. In fact, the entire socio-ecosystem englobes social and environmental rigidities that influenced the evolution of farming practices in Xiberoa.

Today, pastoralism remains heavily conditioned by dynamics occurring at broader scales. In particular, international markets, the EU, and French regulations highly influence how the pastoral socio-ecosystem is able to respond to contemporary challenges (e.g., influencing the production calendars, the technical administrative language used, the delineated scales of adaptation projects, etc.).

Looking at rigidities and flexibilities through a multiscalar approach highlights that, while there are positive flexibilities and rigidities at the local scale, adaptation support at broader scales introduces geographical and temporal rigidities that constrain pastoral flexibilities. Rigidity at the local level is defined by the capacity to handle uncertainty in a more reactive way than rigidities at other scales. Key questions remain as to whether historical local rigidities can continue to safeguard the pastoral socio-ecosystem into the future, given the scale of unprecedented climatic shocks.

Presentation short abstract

In 2024, Norwegian and Swedish summer farming were inscribed on the UNESCO’s list of intangible world heritage. We have studied adaptations and resilience of mountain summer farming in Norway in terms of which lessons can be learned for adaptations to climate change and other external stressors.

Presentation long abstract

Mountain summer farming in Norway means moving livestock, especially dairy cows or goats, to seasonally inhabited farmsteads at higher altitudes for grazing, milking, and sometimes also processing of the milk. The usually limited agricultural land around the permanently settled farmsteads at lower altitudes, for example in mountain valleys, is then prioritized for production of winter fodder and human food. This has been practiced for many centuries, with a peak during the 19th century of ca. 50,000 practising farm holdings, followed by a strong decline down to some 700 today. In 2024, Norwegian and Swedish summer farming together were inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The Valdres region is a core area for summer farming in Norway today, hosting ca. 150, i.e. >20%, of the remaining practitioners. We have studied adaptations and resilience of mountain summer farming in Valdres throughout history that may explain the high degree of continuity compared to other regions. Our main focus has been on which lessons can be learned in terms of necessary future adaptations to climate change, extreme weather events, and other external stressors.

Presentation short abstract

We explore the application of variability principles into the European policy framework, through the case of the CAP, by asking: how to apply scientific understanding of the new rangeland ecology to European pastoral systems and to the policy processes that frame socio-environmental dynamics?

Presentation long abstract

40 years have passed since the emergence of the New Rangeland Theory (NRT), which revolutionized the ways to see pastoral landscapes and livelihoods. This corpus of multidisciplinary knowledge contests narratives of environmental degradation, equilibrium ecology, and related policy frameworks. This paradigm shift helped reframe local livelihood strategies, especially pastoralism. Once portrayed as chaotic or destructive under equilibrium thinking, pastoral systems are now recognized as adaptive, flexible, and opportunistic, specialised to navigate highly variable environments. However, NRT finds little application at the policy level. In particular, there is a continued disregard of the importance of socio-environmental variability as an essential component and an asset for pastoral systems. In this article, we explore the extent of the application of the variability principles into the European policy framework, through the case of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), by asking: how to apply scientific understanding of the new rangeland ecology to European pastoral systems and to the policy processes that frame socio-environmental changes and dynamics? What elements of innovation and discontinuity would the application of NRT apport to a reform of public policies and territorial public action? We argue that CAP largely relies on top-down, non-territorialized, sector-oriented models that inhibit pastoralism as a system based on socio-ecological and socio-political relationality. We contrast such modus operandi at the policy level with dynamics at play around the practice of pastoralism in Corsica and Molise, where the authors conducted research and fieldwork between 2022 and 2025.

Presentation short abstract

This study investigates the social-political and ecological factors that shape the adaptive, absorptive and transformational strategies of interconnected community health systems to climate hazards, and pastoralists' strategies to enhance the resilience of their health and nutrition.

Presentation long abstract

Shocks and stressors related to climate change and variability pose significant risks to pastoral systems globally, and a wealth of research documents the resilience strategies pastoralists employ in response. The flexibility provided by mechanisms such as mobility and diversification has enabled pastoralists to adapt to ecological uncertainty and sustain livelihoods across generations, but climate change and other ecological, socioeconomic and political transformations have contributed to the erosion of the effectiveness of these strategies. However, a notable knowledge gap exists regarding the health and nutrition outcomes of pastoralist resilience strategies. Moreover, the adaptive, absorptive and transformational strategies that communities themselves employ to enhance health and nutrition are under-researched and often excluded from health system resilience frameworks. This is significant as public health is among the pastoral systems that are most sensitive to climate change and variability. Using a participatory action research (PAR) approach in Marsabit and Turkana counties of Kenya, this study examines the social-political and ecological factors that influence the resilience of interconnected community health systems to climate hazards and the strategies that pastoralist communities adopt to strengthen their health and nutrition resilience.

Presentation short abstract

Himalayan pastoralists adapt to climate and labour shifts through multiscalar and temporal flexibilities across pastoral systems, yet institutional rigidities deepen marginalisation. Through lived realities, changing animals and waterscapes, I trace the locally contested climate adaptations.

Presentation long abstract

Pastoralists in South Asia's Himalayan region are experiencing challenges with the labour shifts and climate variabilities (Singh and Kerven, 2023), through erratic rainfall, flash floods, and changing snowfall patterns—factors critical to sustaining livestock in the resource-scarce high-altitude landscapes. Meanwhile, traditional knowledge systems that once enabled resilience are themselves evolving along with the changing labour regimes. Amidst these entanglements of climate variability, labour transitions and knowledge change, key questions emerge: how are Himalayan pastoralists sustaining or evolving their way of life? How do they interpret and respond to climatic uncertainties? Are they adapting or becoming increasingly vulnerable? What role do local institutions play in supporting or hindering their responses? This study draws on empirical research and expounds the adaptive strategies/flexibilities employed at multiple scales in pastoral system of Indian Himalaya in response to climatic and labour changes. Contributing to theme of the panel, through stories and anecdotes around the lived realities and climate experiences, changing animal compositions and waterscapes, it also highlights how institutional rigidity results in further marginalisation of the poor pastoral households. It aims to engage with the dialogue around the flexibilities and rigidity across the spatial and temporal scale in the agro-pastoral system of Western Indian Himalaya.

Presentation short abstract

The analysis of the PDO Picodon case study showed that the adaptive capacity of agropastoral farms, face to climate change is largely determined by the market challenges. But specifications and PDO system provide a framework for supporting both, sustainability and adaptation to climate change.

Presentation long abstract

Agropastoral systems possess sustainable characteristics and adaptive capacity to various types of hazards and constraints. The large-scale climate change currently underway could undermine them. We examined here how agropastoral farmers manage their livestock farming systems to adapt. We explored the case study of Picodon, a PDO goat's cheese produced in the south-east of France. Twenty-four surveys of farmers allowed to reconstruct the trajectories of farms in order to understand the nature and the determinants of the transformations and their sequence. Six surveys of stakeholders involved in the PDO system, supplemented by bibliographic research, supported the reconstruction of the PDO history. We highlighted the sources of flexibility mobilized by farmers to adapt in the short and long term, based on the livestock farming structures and practices. We thus showed that the adaptive capacity of these agropastoral farms, face to climate change is above all largely determined by the dynamics imposed by market challenges. The analysis of the history of the PDO system showed that the main focuses of debates between stakeholders had evolved in time, from the nature of the product, then the production area, followed by the production conditions, to the changes of the “terroir”. Each time, the stakeholders involved were enlarged and the specifications, relatively non-restrictive, were modified, creating a range of possibilities for the agropastoral farms. But the PDO system and network provide a relevant framework for negotiating and supporting changes that seek to reconcile sustainability with adaptation to climate change.

Presentation short abstract

This article makes a case for a new approach to embracing flexibility and locally led adaptation in pastoral drylands. External interventions are often not linked to the dynamics that structure everyday adaptations in pastoral contexts. Implications for adaptation and pastoral development are major

Presentation long abstract

Based on in-depth field research in northern Kenya, this article makes the case for a new approach to embracing flexibility and locally led adaptation in pastoral drylands. External approaches geared towards drought-related adaptation strategies are often not commensurate with the socio-economic dynamics that structure everyday life in pastoralist contexts. Forms of delivery and channels for such adaptation programs tend to be oriented towards measuring climate vulnerability and households as the target, which may not be applicable in pastoralist contexts. These approaches often fail to account for local knowledge and skills of adaptation as well as emergent and relational rules of engagement by local groups and reliability networks. We highlight the importance of local knowledge and institutions in balancing adaptation, rather than relying on planned projects. Adaptation strategies are differentiated according to generation and gender yet emerge through collective approaches rooted in moral economies and solidarities. In the context of diminishing support and funding for external projects, we suggest new roles for external actors. The implications for pastoral adaptation and development are major.

Presentation short abstract

Through an agroecological lens, this paper explores how traditional transhumant practices and new holistic management frameworks shape adaptation in the Canary Islands, revealing how flexibility and rigidity co-exist in pastoral resilience.

Presentation long abstract

Pastoralism in the Canary Islands embodies a long history of adaptive flexibility within diverse environments. Traditional transhumance practices, based on the seasonal mobility of sheep and goats across ecological zones, have allowed pastoral communities to manage uncertainty through flexible strategies of resource use, collective governance, and local ecological knowledge. These practices have fostered agrobiodiversity, prevented overgrazing, and maintained soil health, reinforcing the resilience of both ecosystems and livelihoods.

Yet, this embedded flexibility increasingly encounters institutional and territorial rigidity. Land-use regulations, patrimonialization, and agri-environmental policies have progressively limited herd mobility and access to traditional grazing routes, constraining adaptive capacities. At the same time, new frameworks such as “holistic management” (Savory & Butterfield, 2018) introduce alternative forms of organized adaptation that blend traditional pastoral wisdom with structured regenerative practices.

Drawing on an agroecological and political ecology perspective, this paper examines how these forms of flexibility and rigidity intersect in shaping contemporary pastoral adaptation. It explores the power relations, governance dynamics, and ecological trade-offs that emerge when local herders negotiate between customary mobility and regulatory frameworks. By analyzing the Canary Islands as a case study, the paper highlights how the balance between adaptive flexibility and structural rigidity can either enable or restrict the transformation of pastoral systems under climate and socio-economic pressures.