Challenges facing alpine/mountain grasslands

This chapter reviews the main characteristics of grasslands in mountain areas. The challenges for grassland farming are mainly related to topographic features and to productive and socioeconomical issues. These challenges strongly limit management options, which often leave grasslands as the only possible agricultural land use and livestock farming as the only option for food production. Mountain grasslands acquire a special relevance as a source of ecosystem services, which do not peak at the same level of management intensity. For this reason, priorities need to be set and/or compromises be accepted in view of the numerous trade-offs. The effects of climate change, being expected to affect mountain areas more than other ecosystems, is as a major challenge in the near future due to increasing uncertainty of forage production and species composition. Moreover, the interaction with predators needs strategies to allow the co-existence of agriculture and wildlife.