Abstract
In the Hautes-Pyrénées, pastoralism is facing agricultural abandonment. Simultaneously, society is showing a growing demand for more environmentally-friendly agriculture. Since the early 1990s, agri-environment contracts under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have been established on collective pastoral lands to maintain or promote the production of public environmental goods (biodiversity, open landscapes). Historically, collective entities consisting of a manager and livestock farmers manage these collective areas, known as "common lands," through a community-based system of resources and rules. Using primary and secondary data, this thesis aims to examine the relationship between CAP schemes and the collective management of mountain pastures by addressing three main questions: i) What are the challenges associated with the collective dimensions of pastoralism in the Hautes-Pyrénées? ii) What are the forms of collectives in mountain pastures? iii) What are the effects of CAP schemes on the utilization of collective pastures? In the first chapter, we employ the socio-ecological systems framework by McGinnis and Ostrom to describe the challenges of pastoralism. We identify three action situations: the exploitation of grass resources, the production of environmental public goods (landscapes, biodiversity), and the distribution of income support for farmers known as "Droits à Paiements de Base" (DPB) from the CAP. We demonstrate how these action situations are interconnected and can be the subject of collective action. Next, we examine the collective dimensions of mountain pasture management. For this, we analyze the "de facto" local governance, which we define as "how decisions regarding mountain pasture management are made between the manager and the livestock farmers." We also analyze the financial and time contributions of farmers to pasture management. Using factorial analyses, we distinguish a variety of local governance modes and levels of farmer contribution. From these results, we show that not all mountain pastures in the Hautes-Pyrénées are managed as commons; many involve a hybrid between common land management and externally outsourced management with market-driven motives. Finally, we evaluate the effects of two CAP schemes on the level of exploitation of collective pastures, measured by livestock grazing intensity: i) the collective agri-environmental measure "Systèmes Herbagers et Pastoraux" (SHP) from the 2nd pillar, which targets the manager and aims to maintain a minimum livestock grazing intensity, ii) the DPB from the 1st pillar, which targets livestock farmers and is distributed in proportion to their herds' use of the mountain pastures. Our results demonstrate that SHP contributes to maintaining livestock grazing intensity, especially in low-lying areas where land closure dynamics are significant. In contrast, DPB increases the attractiveness of high-altitude mountain pastures that were already in demand, thereby conflicting with SHP. Ultimately, the results show that SHP is more effective for collective entities following common land management practices. In conclusion, this thesis illustrates the evolution of mountain pastures from "traditional" commons to "complex" commons. It demonstrates that agrienvironmental management in the case of Hautes-Pyrénées mountain pastures involves a hybridization of community-based management, state involvement, and market forces. Finally, this thesis demonstrates the importance of considering the local context for the implementation of CAP schemes.