End of January 2022 the MOVING Multi-Actor Platform (MAP) at the Spanish Pyrenees Reference Region, focused on mountain wine value chain, came together in a creative and fruitful workshop.
Among the 30 attendees that participated were university professors, winemakers, winegrowers, politicians from different public administrations, engineers and architects that presented a wide range of views and contributed by bringing diverse expertise in the activities of the workshop.
The participants worked together and made valuable conclusions under seven main biophysical variables: 1. temperature, 2. precipitation, 3. extreme events, 4. soil degradation, 5. pests, diseases and invasive species, 6. demographic changes and 7. fires.
With regards to temperature, it was documented that longer cycles of time are needed in order to understand the effects of the frosts in budding, mostly in the areas of dry land. There are also several new indicators to take into account, such as humidity and averages of the temperature difference between night and day.
New and useful indicators are also being determined regarding precipitation. Hours of sunshine over the bunch, evapotranspiration, wind strength and direction are some of them. It was also well established that mountain water is always beneficial and that it would be very convenient to plant classic or autochthonous varieties of long cycle at the mountains.
Additionally, the intensity of extreme events – particularly hail – has been maximised and mountain erosion is greater in bare soils. Drought problems are minimised in the mountains, as there are more natural river-reservoirs.
The loss of soil on the mountains, known as degradation, is minimised by having more vegetation and organic matter. It was also mentioned that a very important indicator with regards to degradation, is the percentage of inclination on mountain slopes.
In the field of wild animals, the conclusion was that the amount of available food is diminishing and at the same time the predators are decreasing.
On the topic of demographic changes, it was a common view that there is shortage of labour in the mountainous areas and that there is a lack of entrepreneurship as well as interest and experience from the new generation.
Finally, the participants supported the idea of using weeds and plant debris as biofuel.
More information on the project : MOVING (MOuntain Valorisation through INterconnectedness and Green growth)
