Rationalization, privatization and sustainability: debates and reforms involving management of the Lombard forests in the 18th century

Abstract

This work examines the changes that took place in the management of forest commons in eighteenth-century Austrian Lombardy. During that period, fiscal and administrative reforms facilitated greater knowledge of the territory and the relationships between communities and wood merchants-entrepreneurs. Conflicting views arose when the Viennese government, aware that vast forest resources were being badly managed, took inspiration from modern theories of political economy and decided to privatize all forest commons. However, after careful research some enlightened Milanese officials began to consider mountain forests as part of a complex ecological system and question the environmental sustainability of the policies implemented.