Common property and natural resources in the Alps: the decay of management structures?

Abstract

Local-authority and collective forms of ownership still tend to dominate in the Alpine regions. This article concentrates on collective ownership or common property in the Alps and poses the question as to its importance with respect to the sustainable use of natural resources in the mountain regions. The concept of common property or collective ownership is explained in the first part of the article and the advantages and disadvantages of this ideal type of regulatory system, at least as presented in the literature, are explored briefly. Based on empirical examples in Switzerland, the second part of this article shall demonstrate how common property regimes have undergone a change, despite the basically unchanging nature of property rights. This article and especially the chosen cases question the studies carried out by Netting (1976; 1981), who examined alpine, meadow and forest management in the Valais village of Torbel. Netting demonstrated that a differentiated collective property order for forests, meadows and alps is no historical anachronism and can produce entirely valid results. Chapter three is, therefore, concerned with recent trends and emerging management forms for forests, water courses and alps. 1 Volken (forthcoming), The Use of Alpine Pastures and Forests in Transition. 2 Verbal statement by Anna Zimmermann-In-Albon and Elisa Theler-In-Albon, who was a dairy maid on Brischern until 1948, 16.3.2000.

Disturbances, robustness and adaptation in forest commons: Comparative insights from two cases in the Southeastern Alps

“…Difficult and slow progress in rethinking membership rules and renegotiating the balance between equity and sustainable resource use at a local level show that the paradigmatic narrative of commons as ideal communities or an 'ideal regulatory system' (Kissling-Näf et al, 2002) should not always be taken for granted. In addition, at a higher institutional level, it appears that the action of the State cannot simply be translated into top-down measures, but requires long-term adaptation of all nested levels.…”

“…There is a tradition of forest communities and community forestry throughout Europe (Jeanrenaud, 2001;Bravo and De Moor, 2008;Lawrence et al, 2009;Holmgren et al, 2010;Rubio-Perez and Fernándeza, 2013). In particular, the Alps are the setting for many ancient, traditional and recentlyre-established forest commons (Netting, 1976;Kissling-Näf et al, 2002). They have been exposed to centuries of complex history and many political and economic changes, sometimes leading to destitution or poor functionality.…”

A diagnostic procedure for applying the social-ecological systems framework in diverse cases

“…Institutional response to appropriation action situation: For centuries local governance systems have avoided overuse of the meadows by strictly defining (1) the distribution of use rights and yield, i.e., number of cows allowed on the pastures and distribution among farmers); (2) the duties connected to the use of the resource, e.g., communal work; and (3) the sanctions for noncompliance (Netting 1981, Kissling-Näf et al 2002, Tiefenbach and Mordasini 2006. The cheese produced is distributed to the farmers according to the relative amount of milk produced by each farmer's cows, which is measured twice a month.…”

Property Rights Characteristics Relevant for Innovation and Enterprise Development in Small-scale Forestry

“…Despite the recent research interest in innovation systems in the forest sector (Rametsteiner 2006), little work has been done to understand the complexity of property rights in European forestry. Property rights were analysed in the context of sustainable forestry (Bass and Hearne 1997), of forest law and regulations (Kissling-Näf and Bisang 2001;Schmithüsen 2004), of common property in Alps region (Kissling-Näf et al 2002;Glück 2002), of restitution and privatisation of forestland (Bouriaud and Schmithüsen 2005), and of joint community-state forest management schemes (Tuukka 2005).…”