From dismantling to current scenario in Galician mano commun mountains

Abstract

Common mountains are, like seeds, folklore or free software, good examples of commons. They all count on a community to autonomously manage a good in a collaborative manner by establishing rules to guarantee its sustainability.
Common mountains in Galicia represent a property modality and goods management breaking the classic dichotomy of pubic against private, by introducing a collective property alternative. The specificity of these mountains is determined by the fact that the holders of the property right are the regular inhabitants of the land; besides, it is important to stress how these communities have been able to create the rules to guarantee the sustainability of this good.
Despite the inherent importance of this modality of commons, a process of dismantling has taken place for a long time with the goal of privatizing these goals. This process was reflected in the shortening of the area of these 18.000 mountains from between 1.8 and 2 millions of hectares in Galicia to the current 640.000 hectares.
With the analysis of the commons we can understand how communities can assume co responsibility in the sustainability of goods and how this modality is perfectly viable. The study of these goods brings us closer to the idea of new models in social relations and mutual support networks are possible.