Common Agricultural Policy Support to Silvopasture in the European Atlantic Region

Jose Javier Santiago-Freijanes¹Francisco Javier Rodríguez-Rigueiro¹Nuria Ferreiro-Domínguez¹Mª Lourdes López-Díaz²Antonio Rigueiro-Rodríguez¹Marina Castro³María Pilar González-Hernández¹Juan Luis Fernández-Lorenzo¹Rosa Romero-Franco¹Julian Jesús García-Berrios¹Tobi Hallez⁴Solaria Anzilotti⁵Francesca Giannetti⁵Anastasia Pantera⁶José Antonio Aldrey-Vázquez¹Nélida Porto-Serantes¹María Rosa Mosquera-Losada^1*

• ¹University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
• ²University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain
• ³Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Bragança, Portugal
• ⁴Ghent University, Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium
• ⁵University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
• ⁶Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Agroforestry practices are sustainable forms of land management recognized by the FAO and the European Commission. These institutions have established mechanisms to promote agroforestry across the world. However, these policies often lack monitoring and thorough impact evaluation. To effectively analyze how policies promote agroforestry, it is crucial to consider the scale and context in which these practices are implemented. Policies should be tailored to specific socio-economic and environmental contexts to ensure their relevance and effectiveness. Best practices that emerge can be applied to similar situations. The objective of this paper was to analyse the current state of silvopasture in the Atlantic region of Europe and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) measures associated with the Rural Development Programs. The goals are to better understand how sustainable land use systems are promoted and provide insights to foster agroforestry across Europe. The Atlantic region is characterized by significant intensification of agricultural activities, with a very low proportion of silvopasture, mostly in northern Atlantic regions. Agroforestry is perceived as a provider of ecosystem services to sequester carbon, and enhance biodiversity and productivity in the central Atlantic Region of Europe through the promotion of the hedgerows or reducing forest fires in the Southern Atlantic regions. CAP promotes agroforestry in some of these areas mostly through the agri-environment measures. Political actions should prioritize management, conservation but also the establishment of silvopasture as a form to increase sustainability across the EU. Silvopasture promotion should be fostered in both the agroforestry eco-schemes and CAP Pillar II interventions.