We set out to investigate the state of Welsh common land in collaboration with the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism. Common land makes up almost 12% of the agricultural land of Wales and is used by around 3,295 farmers. It is very important for delivering a large range of ecosystems services, from public recreation to biodiversity (58% of the Welsh farmland designated as Special Areas of Conservation). Anecdotal evidence is of a decline in use, leading to fears of an irreversible collapse in commons' management systems. We wished to cast some light on this light on this commonly-held view.
The findings of our study are based on the information provided by over a third of Grazing Associations who responded to our questionniare. These Associations manage 54,941ha of common land, which is ~ 40% of all common land within Wales. We also held five face-to-face meetings with 44 Grazing Associations covering north, east, south and southwest Wales, to corroborate the results.
The Key Messages are:
- Graziers recognise the value of commoning as an agricultural, cultural and environmental practice.
- Resilience in commoning is drawn from tradition, practice, knowledge, collective discussion and action.
- Change on commons is a constant, but the current rate of change in succession to the practice is of significant concern.
- There are a threshold number of commoners beyond whom management becomes non-economic, which is associated to the size of the common.
- The size and location of commons affect their ability to be resilient to change, small, but agriculturally viable commons will be the most resilient to environmental and economic uncertainty.
- The condition of legally registered common land is fundamental in achieving environmental policy commitments within national and European designations
- Support from Pillar 1 payments requires parity, and should incentivise active practice on the poorest quality land at the highest risk of abandonment.
- Commoning practice should be evaluated and recognized for its role in natural resource management
- Communication within the commoning community and with external public and private bodies needs to be improved
- Fundamental to the commons well-being is the ability to co-produce with partners policy that will positively impact upon commoning practice, within the context of a national vision and strategy which will provide confidence in the practice for the next generation
You can download the report here.
| Attachment | Size |
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 socw-report-version-10.pdf | 5.04 MB |
