Alpine pasture vulnerability and adaptation strategies to climate change: the LIFE PASTORALP project

As one of the most sensitive ecosystems to climate change and human disturbances, Alpine permanent grasslands have been identified as hotspots of climate and land-use changes. The LIFE project PASTORALP (Pastures vulnerability and adaptation strategies to climate change impacts in the Alps; start: October 2017) combines biophysical and socio-economic approaches to address the vulnerability of Alpine pastures and provide a better capacity to reduce them. The project relies on a solid science-based knowledge of baseline conditions of Alpine pastoral communities and projected impacts of future climate changes on these same communities, with focus on two national parks representative of West’s Alpine environments: Parc National des Écrins (France) and Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso (Italy). Stakeholder consultation and engagement will be a core element of the project work plan. The final output will be the deployment of platform tools facilitating the adoption of adaptation strategies in the two parks, aligned with the objectives of the ‘Climate change adaptation priority area’ of the EU. These new strategies and tools could be easily exploited in other pastoral areas across the Alps.