Paper short abstract:

Environmental issues coupled with socio-economic crisis have pushed local governments to invest in traditional Anticipatory practices like community work “Corvée”, traditional the opening and cleaning of water channels, as a resource for tackling new socio-environmental issues.

Paper long abstract:

Environmental issues coupled with socio-economic crisis have pushed local governments to invest in traditional Anticipatory practices like community work "Corvée", traditional the opening and cleaning of water channels, as a resource for tackling new socio-environmental issues. In analysing communal water management within a progressive social change, ethnographic cases such as Saint-Marcel, in Italy, bring out the role of ancient community participation as a new response to new environmental problems. Anticipation is becoming increasingly important to Natural Risk Management debates. Research into Anticipation in this field is, however, still relatively fragmented and the concept of Corvée is rarely carefully examined by those concerned with both sustainability and natural risk management in the Western Alps. This paper explores the conditions that have favoured continuity and recent reintroduction of the ancient tradition of Corvèe in Aosta Valley and the ways this traditional practise emerged in the light of new socio-environmental change. Using Aosta Valley, Italy, as a case study the chapter analyses the environmental constraints; the structure, characteristic and role of communities and local institutions in Alpine water resource management within this transition. In addition, themes like motivations of the participants of Corvèe, community bonding and belonging feelings have been explored in the context of resilience e governance and the new social-environmental challenges that these factors forges to continuity. The paper also discusses how enhancing any form of knowledge, network and sense of community, at a community level improves the work towards Natural Risk Culture.