In the remote highlands of Albania, the traditional practice of pastoralism is facing a critical decline, with fewer shepherds grazing their livestock each passing year. This rural exodus is primarily driven by a profound shift in cultural traditions and modernized livestock keeping methods, coupled with a severe shortage of labor. As young people increasingly emigrate abroad or reject pastoral work in favor of urban opportunities, the livestock sector is left without a new generation to sustain it.
Compounding this cultural shift is a dangerous decline in traditional livestock protection measures against large carnivores. Modern shepherds are becoming less vigilant, a trend that significantly elevates the risk of wildlife predation on herds. Most notably, the practice of breeding and keeping traditional livestock guarding dogs is rapidly disappearing. This decline not only leaves herds vulnerable but also threatens to permanently erase a thousands-year-old cultural heritage native to the Balkans.
Today, there is minimal communication among shepherds sharing the same highlands, and a total lack of interaction between those operating in different mountain ecosystems. This isolation stands in stark contrast to the historical practice of transhumance, the seasonal movement of livestock, during which shepherds regularly exchanged knowledge, shared grazing landscapes, and actively cooperated to protect their collective herds.
Today, this lack of oversight has created a secondary ecological crisis, the abandonment of shepherd dogs (closest evidences come from Mavrovo NP in North Macedonia), which subsequently turn into free-roaming strays. These stray dogs have emerged as a severe threat to local wildlife. By hunting local prey species, they directly reduce food availability for native, critically endangered predators, most notably the Balkan Lynx, pushing this rare species closer to extinction.
To systematically address these interconnected challenges, a dedicated “living lab” initiative will be established for the highland shepherds.
This collaborative framework is designed to revitalize ancient pastoral traditions by facilitating a structured puppy exchange program among herding communities. Shepherds will be actively incentivized to breed and use local livestock guarding dogs. By standardizing these peer-to-peer exchanges, the initiative aims to naturally reduce the number of abandoned and stray animals while simultaneously enhancing the genetic diversity and long-term health of local guarding dog populations.
Ultimately, this network will serve as a vital communication and resource-sharing platform. It will effectively bridge the gap between shepherds facing dog shortages and those who have a surplus of puppies that they can no longer afford to maintain, creating a sustainable, community-led solution for herd protection.
To ensure the platform’s long-term viability, a diverse, multi-stakeholder working group will be created. This collaborative committee, comprising conservationists, volunteers, local authorities and pastoral community representatives, will be tasked with co-designing the digital framework. Beyond the initial development phase, this group will actively brainstorm for the platform’s continuous maintenance, updates, and community engagement in the future.
The development of an low-barrier digital platform will ensure that shepherds can easily exchange between them. This interconnected framework allows pastoralists to directly leverage one another’s resources.
The working group will identify shepherds who use highland pastures during the summer months to assess their specific needs regarding the prevention of large carnivore predation.
Beyond its primary focus, the platform can be scaled to address secondary regional challenges. Most notably, it can serve as a decentralized community network for early wildfire detection and alerting.
An internal meeting will be organized by the working group, bringing together staff members from PPNEA, wildlife monitoring volunteers, representatives from the local NGO Albnatyra alongside their volunteer network, local community leaders and engaged members of the public.
The working group will target the identification and mapping of shepherds across four distinct mountain ecosystems, scheduling field site visits to assess local conditions and engage with the herding communities directly.
The working group will conduct four field study visits across four distinct regions to consult directly with local shepherds and formally invite them to join the platform network.
A second stakeholder meeting will be organized to investigate targeted support mechanisms for vulnerable shepherds who experience higher predation rates and possess limited capacity to prevent livestock losses. This session will explore concrete intervention strategies, including subsidizing veterinary care and vaccinations for livestock guarding dogs, as well as facilitating the transfer of puppies from other herding communities.
Ongoing maintenance of the platform will be driven by actively encouraging continuous peer-to-peer communication among member shepherds and facilitating the exchange of livestock guarding dogs whenever opportunities arise.
