Hans Renes

Transhumance is a form of livestock management including seasonal movement of livestock and people. Based on literature studies, interviews, field conversations and visits, this article aims to show the different ways in which transhumance practitioners currently manage land – which to a large degree is different types of commons – and to discuss opportunities for sustainable future land management. Transhumance has been declining especially since the mid-20th century. While new opportunities for transhumance practitioners have occurred, such as landscape management for biodiversity purposes and urban transhumance, efforts to support transhumance need to be reinforced. Commons play an important role in providing access to land in rural and – to a limited degree – in urban areas.

This paper provides an overview of traditional hay-making structures and the related agricultural landscapes in Europe. The information was collected using a standardised questionnaire that was completed by experts from different countries. What all countries had in common was that hay production with its corresponding structures was widespread. However, the scope and importance differed among the countries today. We found differences in type and extent, in degree of awareness, and in the cultural meaning of hay-making structures. The differences were connected with built structures, as well as with other tangible and intangible aspects of cultural heritage. The distribution of the broad variety of hay-making-related structures, especially semipermanent ones, has changed throughout history, as well as the hay-making techniques, as a result of agrarian specialisation, land reclamation, and consolidation. Today, in some countries, the relevance of hay-making was mainly connected to horse keeping and landscape management (like in Germany and Hungary), while in others (like Slovakia and Slovenia), it was still predominantly used for cattle and sheep.

The position of historical geography in Germany: Interview with historical geographer Winfried Schenk (University of Bonn)