TRANSFARM aimed at developing training material that provides especially young famers and rural entrepreneurs who want to start with and/or maintain transhumance with skills and knowledge to better address the changing challenges and new demands of their job such as knowledge about business development and communication skills. To make access to training easier, training materials are available under a creative commons license allowing their use and distribution free of charge. With our project we aimed to reach the following objects: The first objective of the project was to provide an overview about the current situation of transhumance in the partners’ countries. Information about transhumance is scattered, not readily available and not prepared for comparison. The second objective of the project was to collect case studies of best practice that convey the experiences of successful transhumance practitioners. The third objective was to develop digital training material for transhumance practitioners consisting of e-learning modules, general information about transhumance in different countries, a database of case studies of best practice assembled in an easily accessible way for self-learning.
Transhumance is a seasonal movement of livestock accompanied by people. It is a prevalent but rarely noticed form of land use across Europe. Transhumance is a sustainable way of land management and presents answers to urgent societal challenges: Adaptation of land use in times of climate change, contributing to the EU-Green deal, answering the society’s demand of locally produced, high quality food, valorisation of rural areas and stopping the trend of rural exodus. Other goods and services provided include increasing biodiversity, water quality and soil fertility, preserving cultural heritage including tacit knowledge, and shaping place-specific open and attractive landscapes. Attractive landscapes may again help fostering rural tourism and development. In sum, transhumance can contribute to sustainable rural areas both ecologically, economically, culturally and socially. Due to their place of residence and not at least due to the movement inherent in transhumance and the often not easy to access place of work, practitioners of transhumance can be at risk of exclusion from life-long learning. Access to VET provides important opportunities to access information and education for this profession.