The field teams learned from farmers, helped them navigate applications and worked with them to design practical solutions. The approach also built on collective arrangements, while requiring clear commitments through contracts and silvopastoral planning.
From managing risk to reinventing partnership
In parts of Burgos, the approach is particularly telling.
The traditional use of pastoral burning was replaced by mechanical clearing, creating a feasible alternative for livestock farmers.
The reported improvements should not be attributed to grazing alone. They reflect a combination of:
- long-term local engagement, with technical teams working with livestock farmers over many years;
- mechanical clearing followed by grazing, allowing livestock to maintain reduced fuel loads;
- fencing and water infrastructure, making organised grazing practical; and
- community engagement, addressing the human causes of fire alongside vegetation management.
The important shift was that farmers were not simply identified as the source of a problem.
Other changes related to administrative regulation of extensive grazing, investigation about origin of fires, penalties for uncontrolled burnings including enclosing to grazing, or other aids for a more modern and professional pastoralism, including fencing, were also promoted and helped as a whole to make the change possible.
A specific high-risk practice was identified, an alternative was developed, and farmers became partners in putting that alternative into practice.
