Common Land And Resources in Global Mountains: Challenges in Coexistence

For centuries, mountain resources such as pasture, forests and water have been governed as common resources by local communities. Such land and resource governance is at odds with hegemonic neoliberal values of private property and capital accumulation. Yet commons hold great potential to foster democratic use of resources, equity in access and regenerative land management, which can help combat the multiple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and social inequalities while accounting for local specificities. However, commons are threatened by inadequate legal tutelage, putting them at risk of absorption into private property markets. Furthermore, commons’ governance may itself reproduce power imbalances through the exclusion of some stakeholders (e.g. women, newcomers), may be socially conservative and resistant to change/innovation.

We invite practical and theoretical contributions from multiple disciplines which investigate commons and their role in just and regenerative transition, particularly in the context of conflictual development paradigms and disruptive change.

Important: This session is closely related to session ID71 and therefore it’s planned that the sessions will be scheduled consecutively.