The current research project  focuses on the study of  the pastoral landscape through the various practices of livestock movements. The pastoral landscape is formulated in different ways through the exact spatial and temporal context  and it is directly related to social, political and economic changes.

In particular, having as a staring point the case study of the transhumance of Greece,  a well-developed pastoral practice in the 19th century, the research examines the way that people relate with the natural landscape through various livestock practices, focusing on the pastoral landscape of North Pindos. The dissolution of traditional societies in the middle of the 20th century, resulting from both political practices of the national space and the phenomenon of urbanization and external migration,  relocates the point of interest from the primary to the secondary and tertiary sector.  Grasslands and rangelands are replaced by enclosed installations (barns, stables etc), intensive cultivation practices in lowlands and exploitation of forest areas in highlands. Pattern of uses is transformed rapidly while social changes induce abandonment and desertification of villages and settlements in highlands, resulting in the depopulation of mountainous areas.

The transformations of the pastoral landscape are closely connected with contemporary practices of  its exploitation (excavations, wind farms, etc.) andconstruction of hard infrastractures (dams,  highways etc), according to the rules of today’s economy. The ecological crisis that has arisen, indicated by the disturbance of biodiversity of mountain ecosystems, poses a question to the rethinking of  their management , through de-growth practices that se how to manage them, through de-growth practices that empower pastoral societies.