Portal de Murcia
www.portaldemurcia.com
Pastoralism is one of those responsible for the conservation of biodiversity, allows the fight against fires and favors a natural diet.
Due to its repercussion, the Ruminants Health research group of the UMU Veterinary School wants to recruit a multidisciplinary team with the objective of focusing on the study and protection of transhumance, as well as the livestock pathways of our geographical context.
This project seeks to cover this topic by trying various research approaches such as Biology, Botany, Engineering or Geography to fields generally further away from Veterinary Science such as History, Philology, Law, Tourism, Economics, Philology and even Sports Sciences, for the use of tracks for sports activities such as hiking or cycling.
In short, involve all disciplines that affect the environment.
Its objective is to highlight the importance of extensive livestock farming and contribute to recover a large part of the cattle transhumance roads that are found in the Region, a total of 2,750 linear kilometers and an extension of 7,360 hectares that, in addition to containing other infrastructures like troughs and resting places, they connect us with the historical past of the transhumant that, from the Montes Universales (Teruel) came to wintering to Murcia or Alicante through the Cordel de los Valencianos.
A route that is part of the National Network of Livestock Tracks, and that joins those that channeled the Segureño lamb production, from the Northwest and the Sierra del Segura to the Sewer Market or the Port of Cartagena.
In addition, this year Transhumance has been declared "Representative Manifestation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (Royal Decree 385/2017)" and, among other details, highlights that "transhumant livestock activity has historically combined the use of natural resources and livestock through the so-called "transhumant pastoral culture", producing family, social, economic, patrimonial and biological interrelations and modeling and contributing to the cohesion and structuring of the peninsular landscape. "
"The impressive network of livestock trails is a fabulous heritage protected by Law 3/1995, public domain and unique in the world, which we must preserve for its heritage, ecological and economic value and, given its priority for livestock transit collected in the law, to allow its use to the few flocks that still practice this sustainable livestock and that every time have more problems to move "explains Antonio Contreras, responsible for the initiative.
These roads are part of the legacy of the Crown of Castile, which maintained the hegemony of world wool trade for centuries.
It was Alfonso X the Wise who promoted his protection in Castile in the thirteenth century, following the initiative of Jaime I, who gave them legal protection in Aragon half a century earlier.
This protection has allowed its conservation for more than 8 centuries, and currently our livestock trails extend for more than 125,000 kilometers in length and 400,000 hectares, according to 2012 figures.
"Despite this, in the Region of Murcia the protection of these roads is very precarious and the Autonomous Community has barely separated 1% of the total kilometers of its extension," explains the researcher.
This road of recovery has been traveled by other provinces such as Extremadura, which keeps more than 60% of its roads protected according to Ecologists in Action.
Although intensive livestock farming is mainly used in Murcia, there are extensive grazing areas for ruminants, especially sheep, together with a remarkable Segureño sheep census, especially in the Northwest of the region with 990 farms and 388,246 heads in the region.
Due to the marked seasonality, these herds take advantage of the pastures of the Sierra del Segura during the summer and transhuman in autumn, on foot, towards the wintering areas, pastures in the Sierra Morena.
This nucleus of transhumant, together with those of the Montes Universales (Teruel), constitute the largest contingents of breeders that keep transhumance alive in our country.
The conservation of these grazing roads, and especially extensive livestock, provides numerous benefits to society beyond obtaining meat, milk, wool and skins of better quality, decreasing the reduction of environmental waste, increasing the safety of consumers;
obtaining sustainable resources from depopulated areas and favoring the maintenance of the rural environment.
Also, these spaces house "protected species such as the bustard, necrophagous birds among which the bearded vulture or Iberian lynx stands out, the latter in danger of extinction and protected by Life projects, which have an important sustenance in the herd by taking advantage of their corpses or to prey on their lambs "comments the researcher of the UMU.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies