Traditional agricultural and livestock production methods, shaped by generations of hands-on knowledge and experience with the land, are widely recognized as sustainable practices that play a key role in land conservation, with transhumance being a prime example.
This type of herding involves moving livestock between regions seasonally to take advantage of the best grazing conditions, food sources, and shelter that each area offers at that time of year. Thus, each spring and autumn, flocks of sheep, goats, and cows travel along traditional pastoral paths guided by their shepherds.
In Spain, these paths are part of the General Network of Livestock Trails, interconnected royal drovers' roads and other pathways spanning 125,000 kilometers. The country has a long tradition of transhumance dating back to 1273, when King Alfonso X the Wise founded the Honored Council of the Mesta. The system remained central to Spanish livestock management until new forms of transportation gradually replaced it in the 19th century. In 1994, the Transhumance Crossing through the center of Madrid was revived, an event that still takes place today and gives visibility to this traditional practice. A year later, the Livestock Trail Law established formal protections for these routes.
But transhumance is not unique to Spain. It's such a widespread practice that UNESCO recognized it as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019 in Austria, Greece, and Italy, and also in Spain, Albania, Andorra, Croatia, France, Luxembourg, and Romania in 2023.
In its official decision, UNESCO highlights the social and cultural role of transhumance, its contribution to ecosystems, and its impact on territorial organization, among other aspects. "Transhumance contributes to social inclusion, strengthening cultural identity and ties between families, communities, and territories while counteracting the effects of rural depopulation," it states.
How it benefits the land and society
This herding system provides major environmental benefits. Transhumance livestock movements support pollination and seed dispersal in habitats, help conserve species, fertilize the soil, prevent wildfires, and control erosion, among other effects. To put this into numbers, a single flock of 1,000 sheep can carry up to five million seeds each day over distances of more than 100 kilometers. Since these animals take four to five days to digest seeds and cover around 25 kilometers a day, a wide range of plant species end up in entirely new habitats. That's an important contribution to biodiversity conservation.
Transhumance also helps with soil conservation. Grazing maintains a layer of vegetation that shields the ground, captures CO₂, and contributes to decarbonization. This plant cover is extremely important, as without it, scrubland would eventually take over.
But the benefits of transhumance extend beyond ecosystems, as it's a tradition that's also important for society and cultural identity. It brings regions closer together, supports local economies, and reinforces the regional identities of the places it passes through, creating a rich cultural, artisanal, and culinary heritage.
This legacy is celebrated and kept alive in the festivals of regions as diverse as Catalonia with the Transhumance Fair in Santa Margarida i els Monjos, Tyrol with its Almabtrieb, and Aubrac, France, where the annual ascent of herds to mountain pastures is a community event. These events honor the living memory of a long-standing tradition that continues to influence the present and future of these territories.
Although transhumance is a historic tradition, it's still highly important in today's 21st-century world, especially at a time when sustainable, land-centered practices are needed more than ever. In Spain, several initiatives are bringing transhumance back into focus. One example is Trashumant-ESS, which focuses on the sustainable development of transhumance in Extremadura. The project aims to preserve the practice while promoting sustainable development models built around passing down traditional knowledge. BioNNOMIA, meanwhile, puts forward a new management model for areas of high ecological value, where transhumance is seen as a key tool for conserving ecosystems and biodiversity.
These are just a few recent examples, but many more initiatives are emerging across the Iberian Peninsula, each adapted to the specific characteristics of the local livestock and landscape. Galicia has recently opened its first shepherding school in Xinzo de Limia (Ourense), while the Canary Islands, Andalusia, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarre, and the Catalan Pyrenees are exploring their own models. In these areas, technology is contributing to sustainable rural development through the use of drones, by digitalizing livestock management with apps, and by designing trails as natural firebreaks to prevent wildfires. Another example is Reactiva Brañosera (Palencia), developed in collaboration with the Ávila Foundation to revitalize the region through the rural bioeconomy while supporting the next generation of practitioners of this traditional and sustainable profession.
Transhumance clearly still has much to offer, which is why it's no coincidence that the UN declared 2026 the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists. It's an opportunity to look to the past for paths that can help secure the future.
