Fellessfelles

Fellessfelles is a Norwegian term that refers to communal resources that are jointly owned and managed by a community or a collective of stakeholders. The word combines “fellesskap,” meaning community or fellowship, with “felles,” meaning shared, and therefore literally translates to “shared community.” It is conceptually similar to the broader notion of the commons, where natural or cultural assets are available for the use and benefit of all members of a society.

In practice, fellessfelles can include a range of assets such as community forests, shared irrigation systems, public pastures, or jointly held cultural heritage sites. The management of these resources is typically carried out through democratic decision‑making processes, with representation that reflects the interests of all users. Local regulations and traditional consensus‑building mechanisms provide the legal and institutional frameworks for ensuring that decisions are made in the long‑term interest of the whole community rather than individual or commercial actors.

The concept is an important element of Norway’s approach to sustainable resource use. By maintaining certain natural and cultural assets as fellessfelles, communities can safeguard ecological integrity, preserve cultural traditions, and provide equitable access for current and future generations. Fellesfelles is also a key principle in land‑use planning in many rural municipalities, where collective ownership models help address issues such as land fragmentation and the depopulation of remote areas.

Because fellessfelles encourages shared responsibility, it fosters social cohesion and collective stewardship. The model has received academic interest in the fields of environmental economics, sociology, and public policy, where it is studied as part of comparative analyses of commons governance and cooperative management worldwide.