Disturbances, robustness and adaptation in forest commons: Comparative insights from two cases in the Southeastern Alps

• Our analysis sheds light on typical forms of community forests of Italy and Slovenia.
• States disturbances were crucial in Slovenian and Italian Forest Commons' history.
• Several of our Forest Commons are robust examples of Social-Ecological Systems.
• Even now, Forest Commons show adaptive capacity to new challenges.
• Cross-border analysis of Forest Commons' case-studies provides learning chances.

Exposure to disturbances of different nature and scale can represent a threat for the survival of rural communities but also a stimulus to adjustment. Disturbance, robustness and adaptation are here examined through the lens of Forest Commons, as a typical institution, developed by communities in the southeastern Alps since several centuries. The paper relies on Commons' theory and further developments and carries out a historically-embedded analysis of disturbances, robustness and adaptation in Forest Commons of Slovenia and Veneto (Italy). Data have been drawn from multiple sources, following an approach based on an area scale and later on case-studies. The analysis focuses on evidence of Forest Commons' reactions to disturbances induced by political changes and State actions. Ostrom's design principles are used to test robustness of eight selected cases and identification of their adaptation patterns. The paper concludes by confirming Forest Commons as robust and adaptive social-ecological systems and thus useful in Community Forestry conceptualisation. However, thanks to its cross-border analysis, it also points out future research needs for their better understanding.