Life Regenerate supports European uptake of extensive livestock farming to improve local biodiversity

Even though the Life Regenerate project has finished, we keep involved in promoting sustainable farming practices, particularly with a vision to encourage other supporting agents and farmers & livestock holders in the rest of Europe. As such we gladly subscribe the manifest “More extensive livestock farming, more biodiversity for Europe”,  freshly published in collaboration with a large number of Life projects who all promote these objectives from their respective projects. Each with a different approach but all valid and with the common objective to give a significant impulse to better land management and thus maintain and expand functional, biodiverse and resilient ecosystems as well as a vibrant rural world.

The Manifest sums up the multiple benefits of extensive livestock farming, as these practices a) increase biological and landscape diversity; b) promote food safety and sovereignty; c) give value to diverse and relevant ecosystem services; d) improve animal welfare; and e) offer a fundamental tool for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

After a reflection of future scenarios, the ten LIFE projects signatories of this Manifest have identified an ordered set of priority actions:
           1) Recognise and valorise the ecosystem services generated by extensive livestock farming
           2) Implement specific public policies to support pastoralism
           3) Provide technical support for producers
           4) Give professional recognition of shepherds
           5) Valorise extensive production systems and improve the value chain
           6) Promote education and awareness-raising for the consumption of extensive products
           7) Support transhumance and other sustainable animal mobility practices
           8) Increase research, knowledge transfer and capacity building
           9) Promote multi-stakeholder participation
          10) Incorporate extensive livestock farming in land management

We encourage policy makers and other agents active in this sector to study this document and help us promote a more sustainable livestock sector in Europe.

This initiative was promoted by the Association for the Defense of the Heritage of Mértola, under the LIFE LiveAdapt project, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the LIFE Program, and counted with the participation of the projects: Life Montado Adapt, Life Cañadas, Life Desert Adapt, Life Regenerate, Life AgriAdapt, Life Scrubsnet, Life Landscape Fire Project, Life Maronesa and Life IP NAdapta-CC.