Towards the ecological transition of the small ruminant sector. Insights from an Italian case study

The island of Sardinia (Italy) is an important region in the sheep cheese world trade. With 3.1 million dairy sheep raised in around 10.000 active farms, Sardinia produces about 320 kt of milk yr- 1 transformed by about 50 cheese factories (BDN, 2020). However, Sardinian sheep sector faces cyclical economic crises caused by external global market equilibrium and policy changes, and internal structural problems along the supply chain. The Sardinian sheep sector is also associated with relevant environmental implications: it contributes to about 5% of total GHG emissions of the Italian agricultural sector, albeit providing a wide range of ecosystem services. This indicates the need of efficiency improvements and radical innovation (Arru et al., 2020). The aim of this paper was to show the more effective ecoinnovation strategies to mitigate the environmental impact of Sardinian dairy sheep sector, based on Life Cycle and System thinking approaches, and inspiring the transition of the small ruminant sector towards a more sustainable bioeconomy-based society.