When Multi-­level Governance Hits the Ground: European Nature Protection and Land-­use Change in Vrancea and Galicia

The project is situated at the convergence of two vast themes of academic inquiry: nature and property. It deals with environmental degradation and social conflicts from a historical perspective and shows how the latest transnational attempts for nature protection, the EU’s program Natura 2000, are perceived by local people in Galicia, Spain, and Vrancea, Romania, as new means of land dispossession. Natura 2000 is a multi-level mode of governance within the EU’s governance framework. Galicia and Vrancea are characterized by the survival of peculiar, yet similar, forms of common property regimes for forests and pastures. For historical reasons, the land of these villages is outside the market realm: it can neither be sold nor inherited according to modern private property principles. This image of waste attracted external attempts to break into the village commons, and memories of dispossession span over more than a century in the local discourse. Nowadays, these memories convert into a linchpin strategy to defend traditional land use in the face of EU policies for nature protection. This is yet another process within the political dynamics of property where rights over land and natural resources are claimed and contested by the actors involved: village communities, regional governments, transnational companies, national states, supra-national political entities. Therefore, the question this study builds upon is: How do the local actors involved in the EU’s multi-level governance regime for nature protection use the open policy-making chess board as a resource for attaining their aims?Chapter 1 – Introduction 1.1. What this study is about 1.2. The outline of the study 1.3. How this study came about - a personal note Part I: The Warehouse Chapter 2 – Methodology and Methods 2.1. The cases, multi-sited ethnography and historical investigation The selection of cases Multi-sited ethnography The historical investigation 2.2. Methods for gathering the data Observation The Film Interviews 2.3. Methods for analyzing the data Comparison The ideal types Chapter 3 – The theoretical tool-box 3.1. Governance related concepts Non-state actors and transnational governance A triangular deficit Empirical, normative and critical governance Transnational governance and neoliberalism Multi-level governance as EU’s transnational political arena Territoriality Cultural brokers Creative compliance 3.2. Nature related concepts The intrinsic value of nature Environmental conflicts Environmental justice Socionatures and the agency of nature 3.3. Property related concepts Property and property relations Access Primitive accumulation Accumulation by dispossession, accumulation by extra-economic means 3.4. Time related concepts The Past in the Present Collective memory Memories of dispossession Part II: Protecting Nature Chapter 4 - Conceptual mapping 4.1. Nature, wilderness, waste – ţiher, monte, vast 4.2. From animism to anthropocentrism 4.3. The natural right to property Chapter 5 - From Waste to Parks 5.1. Vanishing the frontier 5.2. The Public Garden of Yellowstone Chapter 6 - The translation of the American National Parks in Spain and Romania 6.1. Spain – Cavadonga 6.2. Romania – The Mountain Without Crest Chapter 7 - From Parks to Biodiversity: The institutionalization of environmentalism 7.1. Ecocentrism vs. Ecological Modernization 7.2. The institutionalization of environmentalism Chapter 8 – Natura 2000 on the paper 8.1. The Birds and the missiles’ chant 8.2. The Habitats Chapter 9 – Natura 2000 at Brussels, and not only 9.1. Some preliminary remarks 9.2. 18% of EU’s territory 9.3. The need for numbers 9.4. An important remark 9.5. Natura 2000 on its way to Xistral 9.6. Natura 2000 on its way to Vrancea Chapter 10 - Conclusions Part III: Access to Natural Valuables and Environmental Conflicts in Galicia Chapter 11 - O Monte 11.1. The uses O Toxo and A Xesta As Fragas 11.2. The juridical status Chapter 12 - The Roots of State Forest Regulations 12.1. The Floating Forests 12.2. The Political Forests Chapter 13 - Franco’s forests 13.1. “La orden es de Franco – Basta!” 13.2. The law of Montes Veciñais en Man Común Chapter 14 - The EUropean environmental coordination 14.1. Seventeen ways to deal with Natura 2000 14.2. The burden of new land-use 14.3. A case of cultural brokerage and institutional hypocrisy Chapter 15 - The dynamic of bundle of rights 15.1. A community 15.2. Peasants and farmers 15.3. Party people 15.4. Hunters 15.5. Wind-mills 15.6. One night Chapter 16 - Consequences in landuse-change 16.1. The common property and the culture of approximation 16.2. The mental re-mapping of the properties within the landscape 16.3. The liminal environment - Fragabella Chapter 17 – Conclusions Part IV: Access to Natural Valuables and Environmental Conflicts in Vrancea Chapter 18 – Obştea 18.1. Ţara Vrancei 18.2. Past and present uses 18.3. The juridical status nowadays Chapter 19 – The expansion of transnational markets 19.1. Two land-based Empires 19.2. The Eastern Question and the Treaty of Adrianople 19.3. Being part of Europe and the cultural diffusion of capitalism Chapter 20 - The first forest protection measures and their consequences for Vrancea 20.1. The Moruzi Decree and the first Forestry Codes 20.2. Transnational companies for wood extraction in Vrancea and the memories of peasant resistance in Pǎuleşti 20.3. A lawyer for the people Chapter 21 - Fighting “The Red Pest” 21.1. The plot and the elites 21.2. The use of the common property during communism 23.3. Environmentalism and local patriotism Chapter 24 - Property restitution and the establishment of protected areas 24.1. Hotar 24.2. Double-edged swords 24.3. www.tara-vrancei.ro Chapter 25 - The Park, Natura 2000, Obştea Tulnici and Obştea Pǎuleşti 25.1. The land and the actors 25.2. The main economic interests in the park 25.3. The decision-making within the Consultative Council 25.4. The death of the father 25.5. Instruments and tactics in the formation of the memories of dispossession Chapter 26 - Conclusions Part V: Roundown - Crossing Borders for Nature Chapter 27 – Environmental conflicts as political dynamics of property 27.1. Early political and ecological pressures 27.2. Early ecological conflicts 27.3. The cultural diffusion of capitalism 27.4. The authoritarian regimes and the transitions towards EUrope 27.5. The present conflicts Chapter 28 – ‘The Aquarium’ and ‘the Globe’ 28.1. The natural valuables in ‘the aquarium’ 28.2. The political action in ‘the aquarium’ 28.3. The natural valuables in ‘the globe’ 28.4. The political action in ‘the globe’ Conclusion: When multi-level governance hits the ground Literatur