ComMount

Mountain Commons - Questioning past and present Commons to address territorial development issues in mountain areas (ComMount)

In the face of global change, mountain regions encounter substantial environmental, economic, and social issues. Among the various strategies for addressing and adapting to these challenges, contemporary forms of collective action—termed “new mountain commons”—emerge as potential levers for change. These new commons, which have recently been established, are defined here as socio-ecological configurations that bring together a resource, a community, and a set of rules, characterized by flexible and varied forms of organization. They pertain to the provision of goods and services derived from sources other than natural resources.

During a preparatory project funded through the CIRM Seed Funding initiative, the research team identified new mountain commons in areas such as ski lifts, energy production, heritage management, and local service provision. The ComMount project aims to continue and deepen these investigations to understand how new commons emerge, how they are structured and organized, and how they relate (or do not relate) to the “historical commons” that persist in mountain regions.

This project is conducted at UNIL in collaboration with the Università della Svizzera italiana and the Regional Center for Alpine Population Studies (CREPA).

Project website : https://www.unil.ch/commount/

Contact : Prof. Leïla Kebir, project leader