Indirect Effects on Heathland Conservation and Wolf Persistence of Contradictory Policies that Threaten Traditional Free-Ranging Horse Husbandry

摘要: Conservation agencies within the European Union promote restoration of traditional land uses as a cost-effective way to preserve biodiversity outside reserves. Although pursues integration environment into strategic decision-making, it also dictates sectoral policies that may damage farmland biodiversity. We illustrate this point by outlining socioeconomic factors allow persistence free-ranging horse husbandry in Galicia, northwestern Spain. Free-ranging Galician mountain ponies provide ecological and services including prevention forest fires, maintenance heathlands wolves, attenuation wolf-human conflicts. This livestock system have persisted because entails negligible costs for farmers. Wolf predation upon does not threaten farmer’s economies seems be tolerated better than attacks more valuable stock. Recently, Union’s regulations on animal welfare, carcass management, or meat production put new economic administrative burdens farmers, make freeranging rearing economically unsustainable, incentivize its abandonment. The aim integrate environmental successful only through careful anticipation side effects apparently unrelated fragile equilibrium sustain uses.