The four-year Our Common Cause project was designed to be a focus for concerted and collaborative action. It signified a step-change from talking, convening and championing, to a time of action filled with demonstrating, delivering and empowering.

This book makes a major contribution to common pool resource studies. It offers a new perspective on the sustainable governance of common resources with multiple, often conflicting, uses.

This report presents data from five upland commons across England to draw out the characteristics of the successful delivery of multiple outcomes over the same area of land.

This report was commissioned by Natural England to provide an understanding of the extent, role and significance of pastoral commoning in England and to identify trends from which likely future scenarios can be predicted. 

This landmark volume provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject and outlines how the concept can be applied in 35 European states. It is richly illustrated throughout with colour photographs, maps and figures.

This report examines the reasons for a very low uptake of agri-environment schemes on common grazings in Scotland, even though these are natural candidates for this type of scheme.

This 2013 report, commissioned by the Foundation for Common Land and supported by the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism, examines the distribution and management of agri-environment scheme (AES) funds on common land across England.

This report investigates the state of commoning in Wales in 2015.

This 2012 document provides guidance concerning community engagement and consensus building for those contemplating works on common land. Mainly written for lowland commons with no active graziers, where there is a range of stakeholders with no legal interest but a strong emotional interest—in recreation, natural history or archaeology, for instance. The principles can also be applied to actively grazed upland commons.

 The Contested Common Land project was a collaborative project between Newcastle Law School, Lancaster University History Department and the Informatics Research Institute at Newcastle University. It aimed to examine the environmental governance of common land from an interdisciplinary, historical and contemporary perspective.

The project has now drawn to a close but there is a website which serves as an archive of the project.

A summary of the Healthy Trees for Tomorrow Project which aimed to gain a better understanding of the number, age distribution and health of trees on commons. We are sharing three survey reports from the commons we surveyed, including: Harford and Ugborough Moor (South Dartmoor), Holne Moor (East Dartmoor), Walkhampton Common (West Dartmoor). 

This management plan looks ahead to managing Hartford and Ugborough Commons over the next 20 or 30 years. The work programme identifies and proposes work to improve the condition of the commons and the public benefits they provide, including the condition required by the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the two Premier Archaeological Landscapes (PALs). This management plan is written primarily for the owners of the commons and the farmers whose livestock graze the common. 

This study aimed to establish a baseline for dung beetle population in two Common Land areas and associated inbye lands, with a methodology designed for future monitoring. Key objectives included assessing species diversity and abundance compared to a control site and understanding the impact of current livestock management practices on dung beetle populations.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Farm Conservation Team compiled a Farmer-Led Habitat Assessment process for commoners to assess the quality and quantity of various special and specific habitats on Ingleborough. As Ingleborough is an SSSI, it is paramount that the farmers have the right data to support ongoing conversations with conservationists and those interested in the land. This report is the culmination of that work.

This report describes the results of a shepherding trial on Stiperstones during the grazing seasons of 2021 and 2022. After first observing where the sheep and cattle naturally grazed, in the second year, the shepherd actively moved the sheep to areas less grazed. Despite the very hot summer and drought of 2022 making the trial more challenging, this report sets out several other factors affecting the sheep grazing patterns on the Stiperstones.

As part of the biodiversity strand in the Our Commons Cause project, a survey was commissioned to identify Ring Ouzel habitats on Grassington Moor and examine whether numbers had increased or declined against previous reports.

Our Common Cause: Our Upland Commons was a landmark project that worked to conserve, enhance and broaden understanding of the cultural and natural heritage of commons and commoning in upland England, working in the Lake District, Dartmoor, the Yorkshire Dales and Shropshire Hills. Read the project’s executive summary.

This leaflet is available to download and has jointly been produced by AONBs, National Parks England, National Sheep Association, Foundation for Common Land, Dartmoor Commoners Council, New Forest Commoners Defence Association, Federation of Cumbria Commoners.