As diferentes relações construídas em torno da propriedade comunal galega

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the Galician woodlands which are collective private forest property. These areas present a model of property and production organization based on the collective property, where the land and use rights are drawn on favor of the neighborhood. We also analyse the relationship between the modernization processes, the roll of the State, legal transformations, different uses and management. Considering these points, the historical changes related to the use and access to the natural resources and the relationship established between user groups are explored. The chosen methodology was literature revision and twenty-two semi-structured interviews, dated between April and June 2014, with woodlands users in the Folgoso do Courel county, from the province of Lugo. The results indicate weaknesses in the management of these areas, caused by problems in the communication with the State, as well as the population´s aging process, or the fact that recent users, although juridically integrated in the woodland property, suffer social repulsion by the established users.