Pastoralism is the process of seasonal droving of livestock along migratory routes in the Mediterranean and the Alps. In Mediterranean Europe, pastoralism has played an important role in shaping ecoregions of High Nature Value, particularly in mountainous ecosystems and rural areas.
Transhumance has also been an adaptive practice in pastoral systems. The patterns of transhumance in the Mediterranean reflect not only the unique environmental conditions of the region but also the particular social and economic conditions of particular places and periods. In Greece, transhumance is also mainly practiced by the indigenous Greek people and migrants from Albania and Romania.
Each spring and autumn, groups of herders together with their dogs and horses drive thousands of animals between two geographically and climatically distinct regions. Many times, the herders' families travel with the livestock. There are two types of transhumance that can be distinguished: horizontal transhumance, which occurs on the plains or plateau areas, and vertical transhumance, which occurs in mountainous regions.
Transhumance shapes a relationship among people, animals, and ecosystems by involving shared rituals, care for animals, and managing the landscape's land, forests, and water resources. During spring and autumn, transhumant herders celebrate the beginning and end of transhumance, when food is shared, rituals are performed, and stories are shared to introduce younger generations to the practice and to the understanding.
This is one of the most sustainable, efficient livestock farming methods, as it maintains ecological balance and climate change. Migration along well-trodden paths may also be resulting as well as corridors through which wildlife can travel. Through their daily activities, chief herders transfer their specific knowledge to younger generations, ensuring the future viability of the practice.
In recent decades, the pastoralist system, like the rest of the agricultural sector in Greece, has experienced pressures for modernization and intensification, and it has also been influenced by social demands and constraints placed on the pastoralist community by modernization processes. Modernization has resulted in a rapid contraction of the pastoral system.
This is despite the considerable economic impact the pastoral system has on the national economy and how it has maintained the social role of the steadily decaying mountainous and disadvantaged regions, which make up a significant proportion of the rural land area of Greece.
To predict the future of this system, the dynamics of each component were examined. However, not only did environmental conditions shape the geography of this agricultural practice, but the general contention cannot be explained by environmental explanations alone.