A transportation network originally established for moving livestock can provide ecological connectivity among protected areas, especially when restored for that function.

The Spanish National Network of Vías Pecuarias is a network of drover’s roads (routes traditionally used to drive livestock on foot from one place to another, e.g. to market or to summer pastures) and additional elements used for transhumance and smaller cattle movements (Figure 1). They criss-cross Spain some 125,000 km in length and covering an area of 400,000 ha, linking a wide variety of protected, unprotected and urban areas. They hark back to prehistory, having been first documented in Roman times and legally protected by decrees issued in AD 654, 1273 and 1995. The Mediterranean region is a biodiversity hotspot where humans are such an integral part of the environment that rural exodus and disappearance of traditional uses are regarded as two of the major ecological threats to the Iberian Peninsula.

Droves are not just trodden and dusty ways, but are open or wooded pastures with a trail in the middle. They often contain trees, hedgerows, dry-stone walls, ponds, wells and watering holes. They can be very biodiverse, many times more so than their surroundings. In addition, they are important for the protection of many ancient breeds of farm animals, many of which are in danger of extinction. They serve as ecological corridors in different ways. Cattle and sheep spread organisms along them. It is estimated that herds of 1,000 sheep or 100 cows spread 3 to 5 million seeds and some 3 tons of dung on a daily basis, thus contributing to species range shifts, a useful adaptation to climate change (Manzano & Malo, 2006). Drover’s roads cross protected, conserved and unprotected areas, including urban areas, and are vital for connecting the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. They are particularly important for promoting functional connectivity between isolated grasslands. Because they are linear structures in the landscape, migrating species, including birds, follow them and also use them to rest, drink and feed.

The ecological significance of drover’s roads, including their role as ecological corridors, is now being fully acknowledged, and the necessity to protect them has been recognised under Article 8 of the Convention for Biological Diversity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and covenants such as the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, among others. The main threat to drover’s roads is the decline of extensive livestock farming and transhumance. Other threats include the lack of a true strategy for conservation, reluctance of the government to protect the Vías, illegal settlements, dumping, fencing, resource extraction, pesticides and capping of wells. Many drove ways are now irretrievably occupied and their status as public domain has been or is in the process of being revoked.

Figure 1. Scenes from drover’s roads in Spain.
(upper left) A standard marker (courtesy of Juan Díaz Hidalgo)
(upper right) The Droveway of Salamanca, illustrating its multifunctionality and value as an ecological corridor © Federico Sanz
(lower left) The Fiesta de la Transhumancia in Madrid (courtesy of Diario de Madrid)
(lower right) A road important for four local domestic animal races: the white and black Merina sheep, Verata goat, and Andalusian donkey, which is the oldest donkey breed of Europe and now classified as being in critical danger of extinction © Agustín Pérez, la Siberia Extremeña Biosphere Reserve

State law ‘Ley 3/1995, de 23 de marzo, de Vías Pecuarias’ specifies that drover’s roads are in the public domain, are unseizable, inalienable and imprescriptible. The law protects an important ecological corridor, and obliges governments to demarcate them. Numerous individuals, agencies, associations, universities, NGOs and working groups are exploring different ways to protect, recover, and foster the droves and bring them to the attention of a wider sector of society. They work toward restoring and fostering extensive livestock farming, attracting young people to transhumance and cattle farming, and rapidly finishing the demarcation of all drove ways. Other actions include pressing governments to enforce the laws; fully exploiting the multifunctionality (livestock transport, ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, recreation, etc.) of the Vías Pecuarias; and reaching out to a wider sector of society.

In Spain, the network of drover’s roads is densest in the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Figure 2). Many actions are being taken to protect them. For instance, ecological functionality of the Real Cañada Segoviana (Royal Segovian Droveway) is being improved by the Repsol Foundation and Reforesta through reforestation with native species, fencing of endangered plants, restoration of ponds and creation of new ones, establishment and fencing of refugia for different animal species, habitat improvement for insects, environmental education and monitoring.

Figure 2. Vías pecuarias of the Autonomous Community of Madrid superimposed on protected areas. Note how they link rural, urban, protected and unprotected areas. In yellow, the Cañada Real Segoviana. Droves outside the Autonomous Community are not depicted. © Marcos Pradas, Spanish Instituto Geográfico Nacional and the Community of Madrid; Base data courtesy of Google Earth

Governments tend to be ambivalent about the issue. On the one hand, of 125,000 km of droves, 40,000 km may already be lost. Governments often permit a change of use of these roads. When their utility for cattle is lost, they decree by law the land-use change and take them out of the public domain. The Autonomous Community of Madrid is no exception and may have lost around 38% of its drover’s roads over the past 20 years. One example is the Cañada de Madrid: a linear city was built illegally along 14.2 km of the Galiana’s Royal Droveway. On the other hand, many governments are demarcating drover’s roads, educating the public, and taking action in the field to protect them and maximise their ecosystem services. In a world that urgently presses to reduce the environmental impacts of meat consumption, a new generation of transhumance practitioners offers the responsible consumer the opportunity to eat animal products that have a positive ecological footprint. Protecting Spain’s drover’s roads will support this market and, in addition, allow these ecological corridors to continue to deliver their much- needed ecosystem services.

Learn more: