Comon – The “communaux” in the mountains

This multi-disciplinary project, led by the USMB law faculty, brings together jurists from different disciplines (public law, private law and legal history), geographers and sociologists. Its academic partners include CRJ and Pacte, Labex ITTEM member laboratories,IDE (Lyon 3) and LLSETI (USMB). Its institutional partners include the DDFIP, Cerema, local authorities and associations. Ademe, the Savoie Mont Blanc Council and the USMB Foundation provide financial support for the project.

Comon analyzes the legal and social nature of a form of collective land ownership. Surveys were carried out in Savoie and Haute-Savoie at several sites where “communal property” or “communal section property” was located.

The aim is to find out how these ancestral systems work, and what they can contribute to local territorial governance, social cohesion or even how they can enable sober resource management in the socio-economic context of the 21st century. The project also focuses on the functioning of local democracy and the local economy.

Comon tackles several issues:

• How are assets managed in the mountain regions studied?
• How are these systems governed?
• What are the links between the various stakeholders (public/private)?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of these land tenure systems?

A better understanding of land management issues can ease tensions and resolve conflicts of use. It is also a question of bringing together the responses required to ensure that a region’s economy is sustainable and respects both natural resources and the rights of its inhabitants.

Finally, comparisons are made with massifs other than the Alps in France and abroad (Italy), and with other forms of collective land use.

As part of this project, Jean-François Joye co-edited the dossier La montagne et la gestion collective des biens : quelles influences ? quelles interactions, published in May 2021 in the Revue de géographie alpine (n° 109-1, 2021).