Agro-Pastoralism as an asset for sustainable Mediterranean islands

The Mediterranean represents a rich and fragile setting, in agro-ecological, as well as in socioeconomic terms. The region is increasingly beset by a growing human presence, as well as by climate change dynamics. A number of complementary and contradictory trends are putting huge pressure on the natural resource base, the traditional systems of resource utilization and management and the overall sustainable development dynamics of the region. Despite the fact that their economic importance decreases within the development process, agro-pastoral production systems are still important activities on Mediterranean islands in terms of employment and income, but also for the functioning of the ecosystem and landscape management. Traditional agro-pastoral systems have gone through important reshaping in recent decades, and today they have to confront with a number of factors which challenge their future development patterns. Tourism development in many areas represents an interesting opportunity to link traditional production systems with wider market opportunities, while the migrant labour force holds an important potential in tackling the generational renewal problem. Based on a territorial-development approach, the paper looks at the potential and challenges of agro-pastoral systems in averting agro-ecological and socioeconomic desertification processes on Mediterranean islands.