Abstract
In the Alps, summer farms are temporary units, where cattle are moved during summer to graze on Alpine pastures, which provide multiple ecosystem services (ESs), many of which do not have a market value. This study aimed at understanding and comparing the perceptions of summer farms and of the associated ESs by local stakeholders and tourists in a study area of the province of Trento in the eastern Italian Alps. Thirty-five online questionnaires and two focus groups were realized with local stakeholders involved in the dairy value-chain. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 405 tourists in two representative summer farms. The perceptions of summer farms differed between local stakeholders, who mainly focused on provisioning ESs, and tourists, who mainly focused on cultural and regulating ESs. Both categories of actors rated positively eight different ESs associated with summer farms, but demonstrated a lack of knowledge of specific regulating ESs. This study showed that discussion among the different actors is required to increase mutual knowledge and to grasp the diversity of links between summer farms and ESs, in order to support public policies and private initiatives for promoting summer farm products and the sustainable development of mountain regions.
Highlights
Livestock systems based on the management of semi-natural grasslands are multifunctional and provide important ecosystem services (ESs) to the society [1,2,3,4,5]
We obtained a total of 90 words and 15 blanks from the 35 online questionnaires filled by local stakeholders, and a total of 1171 words and 44 blanks from the 405 questionnaires self-filled by tourists
The tourists came from 46 different provinces (11 provinces in the Alps); 17.2% of them came from the Trento province
Summary
Livestock systems based on the management of semi-natural grasslands are multifunctional and provide important ecosystem services (ESs) to the society [1,2,3,4,5]. In the Italian Alps, as in most mountain regions of Europe, dairy cattle are traditionally moved seasonally to summer farms, which are temporary units, located mostly between 1200 and 2000 m of altitude, that rely on the grazing of Alpine pastures to feed the animals, usually from June to September [8] These pasture-based livestock systems have contributed to the establishment and maintenance of semi-natural grasslands rich with environmental and cultural values, and provide multiple ESs [3,5], including provisioning ESs, e.g., the production of milk and traditional cheese [1,2,3], regulating and supporting ESs, e.g., soil carbon sequestration [9], protection from landslides and fires [10,11]), conservation of natural habitats and biodiversity [9,12,13,14], and cultural ESs, e.g., aesthetic value [15] and touristic attractiveness [16] of the landscape, conservation of the cultural heritage [17,18]. This abandoning often results in a loss of the ESs associated with the traditional farming systems and their management of semi-natural grasslands [23,24,25]
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