The Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain, under the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, collaborates with the production of the ten-episode documentary series “Transhumant Footprints, Transhumance in Spain”, co-produced by Domingo Moreno Producciones Cinematográficas, Canal Odisea and Spanish Television, which will broadcast it in its entirety during the next season.
Today, transhumance is an example of sustainable livestock practice, strongly linked to the territory. This documentary work aims, through daily coexistence with shepherds, to publicize natural itineraries that have been maintained, through centuries, as true ecological corridors, relating man with his landscape. It is, therefore, an unbeatable opportunity to raise awareness among citizens about the value of livestock trails.
Transhumant grazing is respectful of natural resources and ecological cycles, so that it contributes to the prevention of fires and the dispersal of seeds and, therefore, favours wild biodiversity in flora and fauna associated with livestock. In addition, it allows the legacy of domestic native breeds to be kept alive, selected and adapted for millennia to each territory.
The regulations on the National Network of Livestock Trails, in which all the ravines and those other livestock routes that guarantee their continuity are integrated, makes them one more instrument of nature conservation policy, while making it possible for them to be used culturally and enjoyed by all citizens.
By the way, this documentary series will show the present of one of the most important natural, economic and cultural phenomena in the history of Spain. It also aims to contribute to the conservation of these spaces and to the declaration of the National Network of Livestock Trails as an itinerary of European Cultural Heritage.
Once broadcast, the series will be part of the documentary collection of the Biodiversity Foundation as material for its training and awareness-raising programmes and activities.
