Rodríguez Rigueiro, Francisco JavierSantiago Freijanes, José JavierMosquera Losada, María RosaCastro, MarinaSilva Losada, PabloPisanelli, AndreaPantera, AnastasiaRigueiro Rodríguez, AntonioFerreiro Domínguez, Nuria2021-06-012021-06-012021Rodríguez-Rigueiro FJ, Santiago-Freijanes JJ, Mosquera-Losada MR, Castro M, Silva-Losada P, et al. (2021) Silvopasture policy promotion in European Mediterranean areas. PLOS ONE 16(1): e0245846. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245846http://hdl.handle.net/10347/26340Silvopasture is the deliberate integration of a woody component with grazed pastures as understorey. It is one of the most extended agroforestry practices all over the world. Silvopasture use is key to increase the sustainability of livestock farming systems as silvopasture reduces the use of concentrates since the woody component provides feed for animals. However, it is not an extensively used practice in Europe. This paper aims at evaluating, from Eurostat, LUCAS database and the 118 rural development programs, the current situation of permanent grasslands in the Mediterranean area of Europe as well as the rural development programmes fostering silvopasture to better understand how sustainable land use systems are promoted and provide insights to foster silvopasture across Europe. The results of this study show that most of the policy measures related to silvopasture are adapted to the local necessity. The already existing agroforestry managed land (dehesas/montado) are related to measures supporting regeneration and maintenance while in those areas where agroforestry does not exist the measures are related to forest fire preventionengCopyright: © 2021 Rodríguez-Rigueiro et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedAtribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/AgroforestsForestsEuropeGrasslandsTreesEuropean UnionLand useCropsSilvopasture policy promotion in European Mediterranean areasjournal article10.1371/journal.pone.02458461932-6203open access