Pilot Phase: Better Outcomes on Upland Commons

Inspired by HRH The Prince of Wales the purpose of ‘Better Outcomes for Upland Commons’ is to improve long term working relations between organisations to strengthen our ability to safeguard and manage the uplands.

The Foundation for Common Land has just completed a pilot project working with fifteen national organisations and local stakeholders across five upland commons in England to examine what makes for succesfully delivery of  multiple outcomes on the same bit of land. Three objectives were addressed:

  • How better outcomes for each stakeholder can be delivered simultaneously on the same area of upland common,

  • How grazing commoners and common owners can be paid for the delivery of ecosystem services on common land by the market as well as the state, and

  • How the respective rights and responsibilities of all parties active on common land can be understood and recognized and then incorporated into management practice

In each case study we sought to discover what success looks like, the attributes of successful management and what local stakeholders considered is needed to deliver this in the future.

The project concluded that respectful and long enduring relationships between individuals and groups are at the heart of delivering better outcomes on upland commons.

Commons are known for their diversity, and these five case studies reflect that diversity, yet interestingly this project identified many shared attributes that characterise the successful delivery of multiple outcomes on upland commons. These are:

  • Strong and adaptive leadership and co-ordination

  • Good and regular communication

  • Effective and well established networks

  • Respectful attitudes

  • Clarity on rights and outcomes

  • Trade-offs negotiated fairly

  • Fair and transparent administration

  • Payments that reflect respective contributions and benefits

  • Value local knowledge and provide local discretion over prescriptions

  • Time: continuity of service, time for negotiations and duration of interventions

As summed up by one case study co-ordinator:

Danby Moor Common has just as many issues as any other moor but it is the attitude with which they deal with those issues which makes it successful.