Go to main content
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Department of Animal and Food Science

Alberapastur

ALBERAPASTUR

Presentation of the project

The Pyrenees-Mediterranean cross-border massif presents exceptional landscape features that are the result of the close interaction of man and nature. Extensive livestock farming, mostly cattle, has been shaping these landscapes for centuries, but the increase in the frequency of users of the massif, associated with a lack and imbalance in the management of pastures, as well as the decrease in the incomes of ranchers, threaten the sustainability of this activity.

The peculiarity of the ALBERAPASTUR project is based on the cattle resource of "les Alberes" as a tool of attraction and economic development of the cross-border territory. It is, on the one hand, to build a concerted and sustainable management of the pastures, and to participate in the protection of the massif with a silvopastoral approach and, on the other hand, to improve and value the autochthonous breed "Albera". Present on the territory since the Neolithic, it is an emblem of this cross-border territory and is very well adapted to the limitations and difficulties of the Mediterranean massif. However, the "Albera" breed remains vulnerable to the current context.

The ALBERAPASTUR project aims to maintain and enhance the bovine and silvopastoral resources of the cross-border massif.

Objectives and achievements

  1. Elaboration of the dossier for the recognition of the Albera breed in France and the joint promotion of this native breed, as well as the improvement of this breed for better genetic knowledge and an improvement in the quality of the meat.
  2. Realization of a concerted and sustainable management of the use of the pastures, of the routes of the herds, integrating the multiple activities of the massif, tourism, the obligations of the protected areas and the risk of fire.
  3. Given the interdependence of grazing practices and fire prevention, there is a need to evaluate forest firebreak maintenance devices, exchange practices, and seek transferability of disappearing devices.

From January 1 2018 to December 31 2020

Regional Policy

Additional information