THE IMPORTANCE OF GOATS TO A NATURAL-ENVIRONMENT - A CASE-STUDY FROM EPIRUS (GREECE) AND SOUTHERN ALBANIA

In the Epirus region of North-west Greece, spring flows in villages ha ve reduced dramatically over the last few decades, in some cases with serious economic consequences. We argue here that this has resulted fr om the major reduction of grazing by mountain goats over the same peri od together with other associated land-use changes. Normally such a co ntention would be impossible to demonstrate because many different cau ses could be invoked. However, prior to 1946 culturally homogenous Gre ek-speaking communities with identical pastoral practices were separat ed by the closure of the Greek-Albanian border. Changes of spring flow have not occurred on the Albanian side of the border where heavy graz ing has continued. In a region such as Greece where pastoralism has co ntinued for thousands of years, the environment had reached an equilib rium with goat grazing. Apart from the reduction of spring flows, othe r undesirable ecological consequences are occurring. It is also intere sting to note that long-term water table changes such as those occurri ng in Epirus have been attributed to tectonic effects and thought to p otentially predict earthquakes. The effect however, may be the result of goats and other livestock 'leaving' and not the result of earthquak es 'coming'.