France: A common in Greater Geneva – European Commons and OECMs

France: A common in Greater Geneva – A common under the researchers' lens - European Commons and OECMs This article was adapted and translated from a publication by Camille Gilloots

Photo: From forest to pasture, the commons of Mont Mourex ©Olivier Hymas

These few lines summarize a research work carried out on a section de commune, a type of French land common, in 2021 (department of Ain). This work focused on the links between the nature present in the common property and the practices of grazing and forestry use by the rights holders.

The Mourex common in the Pays de Gex

The hamlet of Mourex is located in the Pays de Gex, halfway between the ridges of the High Jura and Lake Geneva, less than thirty kilometres from the very dynamic metropolis of Geneva. Hosting just under 300 inhabitants[1], the hamlet of Mourex is part of the commune of Grilly, in the department of Ain. Exempt from any construction, the Mont Mourex – which peaks at 750m altitude and whose main owner is the section de commune of Mourex – is an exception in the now highly urbanized landscape of the Pays de Gex. The status of the Mourex common confers to the inhabitants of the hamlet a collective right of use of the natural resources found there: grazing, wood, stones, game, etc. Like all the sections de commune of the metropolitan territory, the Mourex section was born for the French institutions at the end of the 18th century. Nevertheless, the collective use of the sectional property and the resources of the Mont Mourex is much older than the French Revolution and could date back to the Celtic era (2000 BC), like the old commons of the neighbouring commune, Divonne-les-Bains.

Photo:The Mont Mourex, with Geneva in the background ©Olivier Hymas

A high value area for biodiversity

The Mont Mourex is a low mountain of the Jura massif whose dry and nutrient-poor soils support a precious biodiversity[2], very rare in the Pays de Gex. Classified as a ZNIEFF[3] type 1 area, the site is a major component of the ecological continuities between the Jura reliefs and Lake Geneva: many species pass through the Mont Mourex to eat, move or reproduce. The Mont Mourex is also an important resting and stopover area for migratory birds and contains rare and threatened habitats and species. As an example, the dry meadow of the Mont Mourex, dotted with thorny shrubs, is home to more than a hundred bird species, a third of which are threatened with extinction[4]. The grazing of the Mourex common is thus classified among the dry meadows of the Haut-Jura Regional Natural Park (PNR) with the highest biological value[5]. However, the research in “historical ecology” and the interviews conducted as part of this study show that the Mont Mourex and its inhabitants have a very long history, punctuated by traditional agricultural, pastoral and forestry activities that have fully contributed to slowly co-construct the ecosystem now observed.

Photo:The common forest of Mourex ©Olivier Hymas

From the collective governance of the commons to the conservation of nature

Despite the rare biodiversity that still exists on the Mont Mourex, the lands of the section de commune have not been completely preserved from the widespread biodiversity decline observed in Europe since the 20th century. The study sketches for example a decline in biodiversity in the pasture, during the intensification of agricultural practices between 1960 and 2010. But the survey of the inhabitants also shows that this period was marked by a weakening of the relationships between the members of the section and by the scarcity of their traditional collective practices of maintaining the pastoral environment (cutting of thorns and pastoral burning). Indeed, in the 1950s, the members of the section became less dependent on forage and wood resources with the emergence of new sources of heat and tertiary economic activities in the region (opening of CERN[6], economic attractiveness of Geneva, etc.). Tensions between the members of the common appeared, particularly regarding the use of the pasture common, and only the collective collection of fuelwood in the forest common has persisted.

Photo: Cows on the Mont Mourex common pastures ©Camille Gilloots

Photo: Fuel wood collection on the Mont ©Olivier Hymas

Thus, the comparative analysis between the quality of social interactions between the members of the common and the evolution of biodiversity in the commonly managed pasture and forest[7] – between 1900 and today – shows temporal correlations between a high level of interactions and activities between the commoners and a good state of biodiversity on the Mont Mourex. This study shows that parameters such as trust, the existence of informal structures and rules, and deliberation among the members of the common have contributed to more effectively protecting the collectively managed ecosystems in Mourex, between 1900 and today (at least). In fact, the more the members of the common have had strong social interactions, the more they have used and cared for their natural resources together, the more the nature of the Mont Mourex has thrived. Finally, this research has traced the recent history of the struggles engaged by members of the section de commune against urbanization projects threatening the cultural, identity, landscape and ecological integrity of the Mont Mourex. This “reserve effect” of the commons as well as the return of collective practices of manual pruning of shrubs in the sectional pasture during the winter of 2022[8] – illustrate how the Mourex section is still very much alive despite the major socio-economic and cultural changes that have animated the Greater Geneva area since the beginning of the 20th century.

“Have a drink (in moderation), discuss, collect firewood & prune, use these sectional lands together, to pass them on to your children and future Mouraillis with lots of blue butterflies.”

Conclusion of the presentation of the research work to the inhabitants of the hamlet of Mourex, in May 2023.

Limits of the study

This study has two major limitations, both related to the necessary boundaries imposed by the research work. The joint analysis of the governance of the common and the state of its ecosystems only highlights correlations – and not the evidence of a direct causal effect – between these two factors of the complex socio-ecological system that the Mourex commune section constitutes. Thus, the quality of interactions between the members of the common would be one of the favourable parameters for the conservation of the ecosystems of the Mont Mourex. The relative weight of this criterion, compared to other internal or external factors to the commons – of an economic, legal, social, ecological or political nature – could not be established in a significant way. In addition, this work could only outline the role of another parameter that the scientific literature[9] suggests is necessary for effective collective governance for the long-term conservation of nature: it is the criterion of autonomy of the governance of the commons, questioning the power relations that exist between the commoners and the institutional or private actors who, in fact, intervene in the governance of the section. Furthermore, the results observed in the Mourex section are not generalizable to all the French sections de commune. Other similar cases probably exist and would deserve other research work, in order to better understand the ecological and social values of the collective governance modes that persist in the sections de commune in France.

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References

Find the full research report in PDF version, on the server of the Institute of Geography and Sustainability of the University of Lausanne. Titre : « Un commun jurassien à l’heure de l’impératif écologique » C. Gilloots, 2022.

[1] George Smith, “The section de commune of Mourex, France. A “power to be heard, to defend what is precious to us” (Lausanne, Suisse: Institut de géographie et durabilité, Université de Lausanne, 2020), 2.

[2] Biodiversity refers to the diversity and abundance of plant and animal species.

[3] ZNIEFF zones (Zone d’Intérêt Ecologique, Faunistique et Floristique) are areas identified by the Muséum national d’histoire nationale (MNHN) on the basis of a scientific inventory of natural heritage.

[4] Classified as Vulnerable or Endangered or Critically Endangered according to IUCN regional red lists.

[5] Jérémie Curnoau, “Caractérisation des ensembles fonctionnels de pelouses sèches sur le territoire du Parc du Haut-Jura » (Terroïko, 30 janvier 2020), 20.

[6] CERN: European Council for Nuclear Research

[7] Elements reconstructed as part of this work, based on interviews and bibliographical research carried out in Mourex between May and August 2021.

[8] Association Orilan, “Orilan participe au déboussaillage des prunelliers sauvages sur le Mont de Mourex | Bienvenue sur le site d’ORILAN”, February 2022, https://orilan.fr/orilan- participe-au-debroussaillage-des-prunelliers-sauvages-sur-le-mont-de-mourex/.

[9] Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend et Rosemary Hill, « La gouvernance pour la conservation de la nature », in Gouvernance et gestion des aires protégées, éd. par Graeme L. Worboys et al., 1st éd. (Canberra: ANU Press, 2020), 211, https://doi.org/10.22459/GGAP.07.