CITA presents results from the CoCo project on livestock farming and large carnivores
The Agro-food Research and Technology Center of Aragon (CITA) presented the first results of the European project Co-Creating Coexistence (CoCo) during the 76th Annual Congress of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP) in Innsbruck, Austria. The study analyzes the vulnerability of extensive livestock farming systems to large predators in Europe through surveys of farmers from different areas.
The research is based on a survey directed to 1,000 farmers across Europe, presented to more than 1,400 international experts during the congress held in August in the Tyrolean capital. In Spain, the project coordinator Daniel Martín Collado presented the results from 89 surveys conducted with farmers from the Sierra de Gredos, the northern slope of the Sierra de Guadarrama, the Montaña Palentina, and the Picos de Europa.
The work was presented in the thematic session «Interactions between Wildlife and Livestock: Risks and Opportunities,» which analyzed the vulnerability of extensive livestock systems in the face of large predators and the keys to their adaptation.
The results show that the conflict between livestock farming and wildlife transcends ecological, technical, or economic aspects, constituting a deeply social and political issue that pits different interest groups against each other regarding the management of the concurrent presence of domestic and wild animals.
Among the main conclusions, many farmers perceive that their needs do not receive the deserved priority compared to other social actors and rural agents, including interests such as rural tourism, generating significant tensions. Extensive systems in Spain are particularly vulnerable due to the evolution of traditional pastoral systems towards modern extensive models, developed in landscapes where predators had disappeared. Their return implies significant adjustments in management practices that, although feasible and effective, lead to an increased workload that many farmers are unwilling to accept.
Need for solutions adapted to the local context
The results reveal differences in the strategies adopted, their acceptance, and effectiveness in the various study areas, highlighting the need to adapt management to the local context by giving a central role to farmers.
Daniel Martín Collado emphasized that «society is asking a lot from farmers and is not fully aware that the coexistence of large carnivores and extensive livestock farming is infinitely more complex than simply compensating for the killed animals.»
Future perspectives
The study concludes that the future of extensive livestock farming will involve sharing space with large carnivores, making it as important to resolve social and political tensions as it is to implement technical and economic solutions. Coexistence requires agro-environmental policies to recognize and reward the public goods generated by extensive livestock farming, including its fundamental role in the conservation of large carnivores.
