The Commons in a Glocal World

12Swiss alpine pastures as common property

A success story of bottom-up institution-building in Sumvitg, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland

Gabriela Landolt

Introduction

The institutions regulating access and use of common-pool resources (CPRs), such as alpine pastures, in the Swiss mountain village of Sumvitg date back to late Medieval Times. The creative force behind those norms, rules and regulations (institutions) is the farming population organized in corporations (Korporation or Genossenschaft), which are recognized under civil law and guarantee access and user rights (see Landolt and Haller 2015, p. 103). From the written regulations of 1805, it is clear that the farmers were willing and able to adjust their resource management to social, ...