Adapting Common Resource Management to Under-Use Contexts: The Case of Common Pasture Organizations in the Black Forest Biosphere Reserve

Commonly used pastures have provided great socio-cultural, economic and ecological values across European mountain ranges. Since the last century, under-use is threatening these socio-ecological systems. Preserving common pastures as an integral part of cultural landscapes is the principal objective of the recently established Black Forest Biosphere Reserve in south-western Germany. We use the example of Black Forest common pasture organizations to scrutinize organisational arrangements, challenges and support of common resource sustenance in under-use contexts by drawing on Ostrom’s Design Principles, the Socio-Ecological-Systems Framework and resilience theory. To this end, we use mixed methods for data collection (semi-structured interviews, expert survey, focus group discussion) rooted in qualitative empirical social-ecological science. The suggested tripartite framework offers insights for conceptual and theoretical advancements in under-use contexts. As such, this research shows that design principles for under-use should (1) consider broader social boundaries to include all actors benefiting from the resources, (2) achieve congruence of provision, appropriation and local conditions that focus on sufficient levels of landscape stewardship services involving new beneficiaries for burden sharing, (3) match appropriators’ rights and duties as well as incentives for and motivations of pasture management. Concerning practical aspects, measures to support common pasture organizations’ adaptation need to incorporate multi-level governance and to increase connectivity.