Paper short abstract:

The nomadic pastoralism takes place in winter, on the plains and in the low hills. Albeit traditional and potentially interesting for sustainable landscape management, it activates social conflicts our research analysed.

Paper long abstract:

To Summer vertical transhumance between plains and alpine pastures, a type of horizontal transhumance is associated during winter, especially for sheep breeding, that takes the name of nomadic pastoralism. Every year, shepherds organize their long journeys sub-divided into steps, on usual paths even if the availability of the grass and the contingent variations of accessibility to fields and roads makes them every time original. Therefore, throughout the year large flocks of small ruminants can graze outdoors: in winter in a nomadic way, along the rivers and in the resting fields, during the summer sedentary on the alpine pastures. Being nomadic, their winter activities interact with a large number of actors and factors: they have to ask in order to accede to the private fields, they try to set good relations with the sedentary farmers and ensure good sanitary conditions for the animals and the inclusion of their activity within nature conservation policies. Social conflicts exist and our research explored them through role-playing games among dwellers. If the nomadic pastoralism is correctly managed, it can represent a form of sustainable landscape management, a cultural heritage of technical and territorial heritage, a positive interaction of man and nature, considering the strategic objective of the Biosphere Reserve CollinaPo included in the MAB UNESCO program.