Common Land for sustainable management
COMMONS project faces the challenge of territorial management in marginal lands in the framework of a continuous concentration of former rural population towards urban or peri-urban areas. Important natural areas risk environment depletion because of changing in the utilization patterns and abandoning of traditional practices. Some of these areas correspond to ancient common lands once managed for the livelihood of a whole village, but now subject to overgrowing. Generally common land is a natural area owned by one person, public or private, but over which another is entitled to excercise right of use in common with others, such as a local community. Common lands find their roots in ancient history, since Middle Age in Italy or the ancient Romanian state, Dacia, in 88 BC, in Romania.
Across centuries common lands were preserved by the managing system in use, and nowadays these areas cover habitats often of very high nature conservation value, because of their very long continuity of management. Commons were once widespread across Europe, there are still existing but  faces threats due to the complexity in defining the legal entity and rights of the commoners, and scarcely still represent an intersting source of income for communities.  Nevertheless the rights to use common lands  are exclusive and only people from the community can exploit the natural resources, but must as well take care of the area. This double sided aspect of common lands, being rich in nature and subject to special legal treatment, represent an opportunity which risks to be forget.
COMMONS intends to reasses the value of the uncoltivated common lands - called forest based common lands to distinguish from rural common lands – as a valid instrument for preserving natural resources and valorise natural products in order to both preserve the natural heritage and reduce the phenomenon of depopulation. In order to do so the partnership is composed mainly of PPs sharing the same situation, so that they can help each other in improving local policies, but as well of partners willing to witness an alternative although grounded in traditions.