Land-Use Conflicts as a Result of Land-Use Change in the Central Spanish Pyrenees: A Review

During the twentieth century there have been many changes in land use in the Spanish Pyrenees. The area of cultivated land has decreased; meadows have replaced former grain fields; transhumance has practically disappeared; livestock pressure has much diminished; and there is a clear trend towards the replacement of sheep by cows. The consequence is a progressive abandonment of hillslope locations and a reassessment of land use in valley bottoms, where most of the fodder needed to feed the livestock in winter is grown. Similarly, other changes have been induced by national and international factors. These include reservoir construction for irrigation or power production; improvement of international roads; development of tourism, including urbanization and construction of hotels, ski resorts, and camp-grounds. These new developments also tend to be located in the valley bottoms. Thus, there is strong competition between differing land uses within limited, reduced space and this contributes to further stress on the traditional way of life. The study of changes in sources of food for livestock shows increasing importance of the meadows and also the relationship between availability of local winter fodder and numbers of livestock.