Espaces forestiers et espaces pastoraux : le pâturage en forêt

The joint and respective organization of pastoral and forest areas can be approached in terms of many different objectives, according to whether the aim is to produce meat (what kind of meat ?), wood (what kind of wood ?), or to preserve the landscape, to ensure that the water supply is controlled (in whose favour ?), to ensure that the area is permanently populated, to hold certain areas in reserve for the future, to preserve certain local balances that regional or national objectives may disregard. The superposition of forest and pastoral uses is no doubt likely to contribute to several of these objectives being realized. It is a means of increasing the ability of mountain agricultural systems to resist external agression as long as the conflicts it might give rise to within these systems do not lead to ineradicable antagonisms.