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123-470: The Digital Library of the Commons defines "commons" as "a general term for shared resources in which each stakeholder has an equal interest". The term "commons" derives from the traditional English legal term for common land , which are also known as "commons", and was popularised in the modern sense as a shared resource term by the ecologist Garrett Hardin in an influential 1968 article called " The Tragedy of

246-435: A marking fee is paid each year for each animal turned out . However, if excessive use was made of the common, for example, in overgrazing , a common would be stinted , that is, a limit would be put on the number of animals each commoner was allowed to graze. These regulations were responsive to demographic and economic pressure. Thus rather than let a common become degraded, access was restricted even further. The lord of

369-407: A parish council is normally given guardianship by vesting the property under section 8 the act. An online database of registered common land was compiled by DEFRA in 1992–93 as part of a survey of the condition and wildlife of commons. The official up to date registers of common land are held by the commons registration authorities. The following registration information is held: This includes

492-422: A collective psychological shift: it also entails a process of subjectivization, where the commoners produce themselves as common subjects. A commons failure theory, now called tragedy of the commons , originated in the 18th century. In 1833 William Forster Lloyd introduced the concept by a hypothetical example of herders overusing a shared parcel of land on which they are each entitled to let their cows graze, to

615-414: A commons discourse that actively resists this re-branding. Secondly, articulations of the commons, although historically present and multiple have struggled to come together as a unified front. For the latter to happen she argues that a "commoning" or "commons" movement that is effectively able to resist capitalist forms of organizing labour and our livelihoods must look to women to take the lead in organizing

738-451: A community and that tend to be non-exclusive, that is, be (generally freely) available to third parties. Thus, they are oriented to favor use and reuse, rather than to exchange as a commodity. Additionally, the community of people building them can intervene in the governing of their interaction processes and of their shared resources." Examples of digital commons are Misplaced Pages , free software and open-source hardware projects. Following

861-467: A community has rights or access to. The older texts use the word "common" to denote any such right, but more modern usage is to refer to particular rights of common, and to reserve the name "common" for the land over which the rights are exercised. A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others is called a commoner . In middle Europe, commons (relatively small-scale agriculture in, especially, southern Germany, Austria, and

984-575: A community-run organization known as Acequia Associations supervises water in terms of diversion, distribution, utilization, and recycling, in order to reinforce agricultural traditions and preserve water as a common resource for future generations. The Congreso de las Acequias has since 1990s, is a statewide federation that represents several hundred acequia systems in New Mexico. In the late 1980s, Nepal chose to decentralize government control over forests . Community forest programs work by giving local areas

1107-684: A community. In Paris, France, there are over 1,200 free drinkable water fountains distributed throughout the city. The first 100 were donated by Englishman Sir Richard Wallace (1818–1890) in 1872, called the Wallace fountains, and since then the Parisian water company "Eau du Paris" have put more of them around the city, this give people living Paris and tourists all around the world access to free drinkable fresh water in Paris. Since then, many other countries like Spain, Brazil, Italy or Portugal have put these fountains on

1230-722: A complex ecosystem that operates as a common – a shared resource that is subject to social dilemmas and political debates. The focus here was on the ready availability of digital forms of knowledge and associated possibilities to store, access and share it as a common. The connection between knowledge and commons may be made through identifying typical problems associated with natural resource commons, such as congestion, overharvesting , pollution and inequities, which also apply to knowledge. Then, effective alternatives (community-based, non-private, non-state), in line with those of natural commons (involving social rules, appropriate property rights and management structures), solutions are proposed. Thus,

1353-469: A decentralized approach, there is a strong emphasis on inclusion and democratic regulation which has led Commons as an alternative, emancipatory and emerging form of social organization that goes beyond democratic capitalism. Accordingly, through the cooperation of diverse stakeholders and the equitable distribution of means of production, technological development becomes more accessible and bottom-up projects are fostered in communities. Urban commons present

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1476-415: A description of the land, who applied to register the land, and when the land became finally registered. There are also related plans which show the boundaries of the land. This includes a description of the rights of common (e.g. a right to graze a certain number of sheep), the area of common over which the right is exercisable, the name of the holder of the right and whether the right is attached to land in

1599-818: A financial stake in nearby woodlands, and thereby increasing the incentive to protect them from overuse. Local institutions regulate harvesting and selling of timber and land, and must use any profit towards community development and preservation of the forests. In twenty years, some locals, especially in the middle hills, have noticed a visible increase in the number of trees, although other places have not seen tangible results, especially where opportunity costs to land are high. Community forestry may also contribute to community development in rural areas – for instance school construction, irrigation and drinking water channel construction, and road construction. Community forestry has proven conducive to democratic practices at grass roots level. Many Nepalese forest user groups generate income from

1722-498: A group of colleagues, such as in a producers' cooperative. The precision of this distinction is not always maintained. Others conflate open access areas with commons; however, open access areas can be used by anybody while the commons has a defined set of users. The use of "commons" for natural resources has its roots in European intellectual history, where it referred to shared agricultural fields, grazing lands and forests that were, over

1845-479: A group was able to restrain access to a resource from outsiders, while regulating the communal use in an effective manner. This has allowed the local communities to reap the benefits of the rewards of their restrain for decades. Essentially, the local lobster fishers collaborate without much government intervention to sustain their common-pool resource. Acequia is a method of collective responsibility and management for irrigation systems in desert areas. In New Mexico,

1968-471: A house on common land, raise the roof over their head and light a fire in the hearth, then they would have the right of undisturbed possession. The belief—sometimes called "keyhole tenure", and which persisted as recently as the early 20th century—was actually a fallacy, but to stop landless peasants unlawfully squatting on commons, the Erection of Cottages Act 1588 ( 31 Eliz. 1 . c. 7) was introduced. Under

2091-572: A low cost, contrary to physical resources which are quite limited. Shared resources represent in this context data, information, culture and knowledge which are produced and accessible online. In accordance with the "design global, manufacture local" approach digital commons may link the traditional commons theory with existing physical infrastructures. It further connects with the degrowth communities since transformations in use-value creation by employing new technologies, decoupling society from GDP growth and lower CO2 emissions, are envisioned. Moreover, as

2214-547: A lower scale. In the Stockholm region, green spaces are predominantly owned and managed in either private or municipal forms, allotment gardens being the most common form. The system provide cultural ecosystem services to lot holders, as well as the offer of vegetables, fruits, and ornamental flowers. The majority of allotment land in Stockholm is owned by the local municipality, and leaseholds are set for extended periods of time (up to 25 years). The local allotment association makes

2337-405: A manor. A commoner would be the person who, for the time being, was the occupier of a particular plot of land. Most land with appurtenant commons rights is adjacent to the common. Other rights of common were said to be in gross , that is, they were unconnected with tenure of land. This was more usual in regions where commons were more extensive, such as in the high ground of Northern England or in

2460-439: A part of the cooperative gives them consistent access to the best whiting grounds in the area which allows them to be highly successful, sometimes even dominating regional whiting markets during the winter season. It is a relatively high price to be a member of the collective, which limits entry, while also establishing catching quotas for members. They prevent unlimited entry or access to cap the number of members that are allowed in

2583-607: A period of several hundred years, enclosed, claimed as private property for private use. In European political texts, the common wealth was the totality of the material riches of the world, such as the air, the water, the soil and the seed, all nature's bounty regarded as the inheritance of humanity as a whole, to be shared together. In this context, one may go back further, to the Roman legal category res communis , applied to things common to all to be used and enjoyed by everyone, as opposed to res publica , applied to public property managed by

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2706-442: A restoration of the population and commerce that beavers provided by the 1950s. The experience of the 1920s is not an isolated incident in the community either. Business conflicts among fur trading companies has led to a couple other times of resource overuse, but gradually resource use was restored to a proper balance once local control was restored. This case study reflects how communal resource sharing can be effectively propagated by

2829-447: A right to over pollute. It is a type of cap and dividend program. Ultimately the goal would be to make polluting excessively more expensive than cleaning what is being put into the atmosphere. While the original work on the tragedy of the commons concept suggested that all commons were doomed to failure, they remain important in the modern world. Work by later economists has found many examples of successful commons, and Elinor Ostrom won

2952-462: A seasonal lake and wetland area – into smaller parcels of land that were bought by people from Grassy Park who shared experiences of oppression and marginalization during apartheid. After 10 years of being utilised as a landfill, the area was covered in "non-indigenous" plants. While constructing their homes, the locals decided to do something different: rather than erecting security walls to demarcate and guard their individual property, they would restore

3075-495: A series of private acts of Parliament, mainly from about 1750 to 1850, which enclosed large areas of common, especially the arable and haymeadow land and the better pasture land. The maintenance of fences around a common is the responsibility of the occupiers of the adjacent enclosed land, not (as it would be with enclosed land) the responsibility of the owners of the grazed livestock. This can lead to difficulties where not all adjacent occupiers maintain their fences properly. However

3198-438: A social relation with a common whose uses are either exclusive to a social group or partially or fully open to all and sundry. At the heart of the practice of commoning lies the principle that the relation between the social group and that aspect of the environment being treated as a common shall be both collective and non-commodified-off-limits to the logic of market exchange and market valuations." Some authors distinguish between

3321-455: A watershed role in landscape development and cooperative land use patterns and property rights. However, as in the British Isles, such changes took place over several centuries as a result of land enclosure . Economist Peter Barnes has proposed a 'sky trust' to fix this tragedic problem in worldwide generic commons. He claims that the sky belongs to all the people, and companies do not have

3444-489: Is "not negated but revolutionized". Communalizing housework also serves to de-naturalize it as women's labour, which has been an important part of the feminist struggle . As reproductive rights over unwanted pregnancies have been denied in many countries for many years, several resistance groups used diverse commoning strategies in order to provide women safe and affordable abortion. Care, knowledge, and pills have been made commons against abortion restriction. In New York, U.S.,

3567-521: Is an example of the production and maintenance of common goods by a contributor community in the form of encyclopedic knowledge that can be freely accessed by anyone without a central authority. Tragedy of the commons in the Wiki-Commons is avoided by community control by individual authors within the Misplaced Pages community. The information commons may help protect users of commons. Companies that pollute

3690-560: Is crucial to development. One of the main drivers for the implementation of the community forestry program in Nepal was to reduce the effects of environmental degradation and to improve the conditions of the Himalayan forests. According to one study, biodiversity in community forestry program plots was significantly higher than non-community forestry plots in forests in Terai . The overall effects of

3813-424: Is not to be construed, therefore, as a particular kind of thing, asset or even social process, but as an unstable and malleable social relation between a particular self-defined social group and those aspects of its actually existing or yet-to-be-created social and/or physical environment deemed crucial to its life and livelihood. There is, in effect, a social practice of commoning. This practice produces or establishes

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3936-410: Is substantial support among those with interests in the land, such as; the commoners (especially those who actively exercise their rights); owners and other legal interests. Commons councils enable decisions to be made by majority voting, so relieving the burden of trying to reach unanimous decisions. They will have the power to make rules about agricultural activities, the management of vegetation, and

4059-399: Is the prime consideration and where the owner and commoners do not require a direct voice in the management, or where the owner cannot be found. There are at least 200 schemes of management made under the 1899 act. The Law of Property Act 1925 ( 15 & 16 Geo. 5 . c. 20), which still forms the core of English property law, has two provisions for common land: The UK government regularised

4182-550: Is usually called a commoner . In Great Britain, common land or former common land is usually referred to as a common ; for instance, Clapham Common and Mungrisdale Common . Due to enclosure , the extent of common land is now much reduced from the hundreds of square kilometres that existed until the 17th century, but a considerable amount of common land still exists, particularly in upland areas. There are over 8,000 registered commons in England alone. Originally in medieval England

4305-468: The Commons Act 1876 ( 39 & 40 Vict. c. 56) some 36 commons in England and Wales were regulated. The act also enabled the confirmation of orders providing for the inclosure of common land or common fields. The Commons Act 1899 ( 62 & 63 Vict. c. 30) provides a mechanism of enabling district councils and National Park authorities to manage commons where their use for exercise and recreation

4428-505: The Fens , but also included many village greens across England and Wales. Historically manorial courts defined the details of many of the rights of common allowed to manorial tenants, and such rights formed part of the copyhold tenancy whose terms were defined in the manorial court roll. Example rights of common are: On most commons, rights of pasture and pannage for each commoner are tightly defined by number and type of animal, and by

4551-500: The Nobel prize for analysing situations where they operate successfully. For example, Ostrom found that grazing commons in the Swiss Alps have been run successfully for many hundreds of years by the farmers there. Allied to this is the "comedy of the commons" concept, where users of the commons are able to develop mechanisms to police their use to maintain, and possibly improve, the state of

4674-488: The Parliament of England . The exact usufruct rights which apply to individual commons were in some cases documented, but more often were based on long-held traditions. A major reform began in 1965, with a national register of common land which recorded the land ownership and the rights of any commoners, and two other important statutes have followed. Owners of land in general have all the rights of exclusive ownership, to use

4797-510: The common arable fields and common haymeadows assigned annually by lot . When not in use for those purposes, such commons were grazed . Examples include the common arable fields around the village of Laxton in Nottinghamshire, and a common meadow at North Meadow, Cricklade . Lammas rights entitled commoners to pasture following the harvest, between Lammas day, 12 August ( N.S. ), to 6 April, even if they did not have other rights to

4920-617: The community forestry program is to empower local communities whilst encouraging environmental conservation benefits on the Himalayan forests. Nepal has become one of the first developing nations to adopt a community forestry management program which gives authority to the community and groups to manage forest resources . As a result, Nepal now stands as one of the leaders in community based forest management as they have made direct progress in halting environmental degradation and by regenerating forests in barren areas. Studies have proven

5043-502: The 16th century. By the 19th century, unenclosed commons had become largely restricted to large areas of rough pasture in mountainous areas and to relatively small residual parcels of land in the lowlands. Enclosure could be accomplished by buying the ground rights and all common rights to accomplish exclusive rights of use, which increased the value of the land. The other method was by passing laws causing or forcing enclosure, such as Parliamentary enclosure. The latter process of enclosure

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5166-836: The 2006 act, and to add land omitted under the 1965 act. Other than for those commons covered by the Law of Property Act 1925 , the Commons Act 1899 and certain other statutes, the public did not have the right to use or enjoy common land if they were not a commoner. However, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37) gave the public the freedom to roam freely on all registered common land in England and Wales. The new rights were introduced region by region through England and Wales, with completion in 2005. Maps showing accessible areas have been produced, and are available online as "open access maps" produced by Natural England. Commons are included in

5289-407: The Commons ". As Frank van Laerhoven and Elinor Ostrom have stated; "Prior to the publication of Hardin's article on the tragedy of the commons (1968), titles containing the words 'the commons', ' common pool resources ', or 'common property' were very rare in the academic literature." Some texts make a distinction in usage between common ownership of the commons and collective ownership among

5412-673: The Commons Preservation Society found a champion in Augustus Smith who had the inclination and the money to act, and himself held commons rights. Smith hired 120 navvies armed with hammers, chisels and crowbars, who on the night of 6 March 1866, under the aegis of the newly formed Commons Preservation Society (now the Open Spaces Society ), felled to the ground two miles of iron railings. Soon after, local people flocked in. Lord Brownlow took action against Augustus Smith and

5535-495: The Himalayan slopes. The first institutional shift began in 1978 when the forest regulation of Panchayat Forest and Panchayat-protected Forest Rules allowed local governments the right to oversee and manage selected forest areas. An even greater shift began in the early 1990s under the Forest Act 1993 . This act enacted even greater government decentralisation and allowed local communities to have direct access and management over

5658-476: The Second World War as a result of the advance of woodland into traditional heathland areas when, as one commentator stated: ...returning soldiers gave up trying to scratch a living out of the forest. Whereas once hundreds of commoners used the wood and heath—their livestock obliging by chewing down young tree shoots—today there is only one commercial grazer. The conservators were forced to intervene to stem

5781-648: The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, you need consent to carry out any restricted works on land registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Restricted works are any that prevent or impede access to or over the land. They include fencing, buildings, structures, ditches, trenches, embankments and other works, where

5904-947: The UK and the former dominions have till today a large amount of Crown land which often is used for community or conservation purposes. Based on a research project by the Environmental and Cultural Conservation in Inner Asia (ECCIA) from 1992 to 1995, satellite images were used to compare the amount of land degradation due to livestock grazing in the regions of Mongolia, Russia, and China. In Mongolia, where shepherds were permitted to move collectively between seasonal grazing pastures, degradation remained relatively low at approximately 9%. Comparatively, Russia and China, which mandated state-owned pastures involving immobile settlements and in some cases privatization by household, had much higher degradation, at around 75% and 33% respectively. A collaborative effort on

6027-500: The Welsh and 16% of the English commons. Cattle are registered on 35% of Welsh and 20% of English commons, whilst horses and ponies are registered on 27% of Welsh and 13% of English commons. In some cases rights to graze goats, geese and ducks are registered, whilst in others the type of livestock is not specified. These figures relate to the number of common land units, and due to discrepancies in

6150-456: The Witch", Federici interprets the ascent of capitalism as a reactionary move to subvert the rising tide of communalism and to retain the basic social contract. The process of commoning the material means of reproduction of human life is most promising in the struggle to "disentangle our livelihoods not only from the world market but also from the war machine and prison system". One of the main aims of

6273-405: The addition of walkways, benches, and areas for barbecues. Here, management is done by the locals themselves, often with assistance from the local government, through paid employees and voluntary labour. Because of its immense size, governance is extremely difficult. Currently, the project spans 6-7 ha, potentially even more. Its proximity to a busy road and hundreds of residential homes exacerbates

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6396-567: The alpine countries) were kept, in some parts, till the present. Some studies have compared the German and English dealings with the commons between late medieval times and the agrarian reforms of the 18th and 19th centuries. The UK was quite radical in doing away with and enclosing former commons, while southwestern Germany (and the alpine countries as e.g. Switzerland) had the most advanced commons structures, and were more inclined to keep them. The Lower Rhine region took an intermediate position. However,

6519-462: The association represents the land owners in various administrative proceedings. In the post-apartheid metropolis of Cape Town, South Africa, the history of land rights is particularly noticeable since a large number of residents have vivid memories of being forcibly evacuated from their homes or of being assigned to live in specific regions. In 2005, the city re-zoned the Northern shore of Zeekoevlei –

6642-609: The authorities at other heathland areas in the New Forest and Surrey". In 2008 the Foundation for Common Land was created in the UK to try to enhance the understanding and protection of commons. The legal position concerning common land has been confused, but recent legislation has sought to remedy this and remove the legal uncertainties so that commons can be better used and protected. Most commons are based on ancient rights under British common law , which pre-date statutes passed by

6765-444: The betterment of their livelihoods. However, there has been question regarding the incentives created to allow the involvement of socio-marginalized peoples within the community forestry program. Wealthy households have greater decision-making power when it comes to forest management and governance. This puts those who are of lower caste , women, and so on in a position of lower decision-making authority as well as participation within

6888-456: The centre of a dispute between some local residents and the forest's governing body, the Board of Conservators, which is responsible for administering the forest's 24 km of common land. The conservators wished to restore the forest's landscape to one that predominantly consisted of heathland—its defining characteristic until the mid-twentieth century, but something that was in danger of being lost after

7011-431: The cities in a complementary way with the state and the market. Some examples are community gardening , urban farms on the rooftops and cultural spaces. More recently participatory studies of commons and infrastructures under the conditions of the financial crisis have emerged. In 2007, Elinor Ostrom along with her colleague Charlotte Hess, did succeed in extending the commons debate to knowledge, approaching knowledge as

7134-399: The club. This is done through a closed membership policy, as well as having control over the docking spaces. This leads to exclude outsiders from entering the regional whiting market. The "quotas" are established based on what they estimate can be sold to the regional markets. It directly contrasts government imposed regulations which are typically considered to be inflexible by the fisherman in

7257-510: The collectivization of our daily lives and the means of production . Women have traditionally been at the forefront of struggles for commoning "as primary subjects of reproductive work". This proximity and dependence on communal natural resources has made women the most vulnerable by their privatization, and made them their most staunch defendants. Examples include: subsistence agriculture , credit associations such as tontine (money commons) and collectivizing reproductive labor . In "Caliban and

7380-550: The common was an integral part of the manor , and was thus part of the estate held by the lord of the manor under a grant from the Crown or a superior peer (who in turn held his land from the Crown; it is sometimes said that the Crown was held to ultimately own all land under its domain). This manorial system, founded on feudalism, granted rights of land use to different classes. These could be appurtenant rights whose ownership attached to tenancies of particular plots of land held within

7503-458: The commoners were able to find better-paid work in other sectors of the economy. As a result they largely stopped exercising their rights; relatively few commoners exist today. Much common land is still used for its original purpose. The right to graze domestic stock is by far the most extensive commoners right registered, and its ongoing use contributes significantly to agricultural and rural economies. Rights to graze sheep are registered on 53% of

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7626-461: The commons metaphor is applied to social practice around knowledge. It is in this context that the present work proceeds, discussing the creation of depositories of knowledge through the organised, voluntary contributions of scholars (the research community, itself a social common), the problems that such knowledge commons might face (such as free-riding or disappearing assets), and the protection of knowledge commons from enclosure and commodification (in

7749-522: The commons. This term was coined in an essay by legal scholar, Carol M. Rose, in 1986. Silvia Federici articulates a feminist perspective of the commons in her essay "Feminism and the Politics of the Commons". Since the language around the commons has been largely appropriated by the World Bank as it sought to re-brand itself "the environmental guardian of the planet", she argues that it is important to adopt

7872-466: The community forestry program include the increase of biodiversity from the result of rejuvenating and expanding the diversity species of trees and plants. It is evident that the community's active participation on forest management had a positive effect on increasing biodiversity and forest coverage on the once barren slopes. Although there has not been comprehensive studies assessing the implementation of community forestry and improved forest conditions, it

7995-477: The community forests, although the amount can vary widely among groups and is often invested in the community rather than flowing directly to individual households. Such income is generated from external sources involving the sales of timber from thinned pine plantations such as in the community forest user groups of Sindhu Palchok and Rachma, and internally in Nepal's mid-hills' broad leaf forests from membership fees, penalties and fines on rule-breakers, in addition to

8118-441: The community. Due to the program's overall success, one fourth of national forests in Nepal are under the community management where 1.6 million households are included as community forest user groups. There are over 19,000 community forest user groups. Within the community forestry user groups there are wealthy, middle income, and low-income households that participate in the forest resource management. The contribution between

8241-537: The court case lasted until 1870 when it ended with the complete vindication of Smith. Development of common land is strictly controlled. The government states that common land should be open and accessible to the public, and the law restricts the kind of works that can be carried out on commons. HM Planning Inspectorate is responsible for determining applications under the 2006 Act regarding common land in England, and several other pieces of legislation regarding commons and greens. All applications are determined on behalf of

8364-488: The decisions about who gets land rights. Only residents of multifamily homes inside the municipality were permitted to sign contracts, signifying a commitment to the original goals of allotments, which were to enhance the health of city dwellers in outdoor settings. Land is organised and managed cooperatively; outside enterprises are not involved in any way. The allotment association recognises lot holders as official members, granting them equal voting rights and shares. In turn,

8487-510: The deeds of another property. A number of commoners still exercise rights, for example, there are 500 practising commoners in the New Forest , and there is a federation of commoners in Cumbria . In many cases commons have no existing commoners, the rights having been neglected. It was a common a belief that if a squatter and their friends could—between sunrise and sunset in a single day—build

8610-479: The definitions of common land with the Commons Registration Act 1965 (c. 64), which established a register of common land. Not all commons have owners, but all common land by definition is registered under Commons Registration Act 1965, along with the rights of any commoners if they still exist. The registration authorities are the county councils, and when there is no ownership, a local council, such as

8733-450: The degrading Himalayan slopes. The continuing growing population put a strain on the resources and the government was seeking methods in order to protect their forests whilst achieving better livelihoods of the Nepali people. The government came to the conclusion that they needed active participation of local people in forest management in order to further reduce the environmental degradation in

8856-427: The detriment of all users of the common land. The same concept has been called the "tragedy of the fishers", when over-fishing could cause stocks to plummet. Forster's pamphlet was little known, and it wasn't until 1968, with the publication by the ecologist Garrett Hardin of the article "The Tragedy of the Commons", that the term gained relevance. Hardin introduced this tragedy as a social dilemma, and aimed at exposing

8979-409: The different socio-economic households and forest management is relatively equal. Resources within the forests such as fuelwood , timber , as well as fodder are used by the locals to generate income from sales. The program encouraged community development work that has had a direct effect on lower income households. Due to community development activities, they are able to generate daily incomes for

9102-507: The earlier legislation is provided by the Commons Act 2006 . Under Schedule 2(4) to the Act, applications that failed to achieve final registration under the 1965 Act may, in certain circumstances, be reconsidered – offering, in effect, a second chance for the land to be confirmed ('re-registered') as common. Land that is re-registered in this way will enjoy the special legal protection afforded to common land. It will also become subject in due course to

9225-880: The effect of those works is to prevent or impede access. They also include, in every case, new solid surfaces, such as for a new car park or access road. Some commons are managed by boards of conservators for the wider public benefit. However, for areas where these are not established, or an improved system is required, the Commons Act 2006 provides for the establishment of commons councils to manage common land. The Standard Constitution Regulations relating to commons councils were formally approved in April 2010, and commons councils are most likely to be useful where they can improve current management practices. This may be where commons are in agricultural use, but where it can be difficult to reach agreement on collective management. Commons councils are voluntary and can be established only where there

9348-463: The environment release information about what they are doing. The Corporate Toxics Information Project and information like the Toxic 100, a list of the top 100 polluters, helps people know what these corporations are doing to the environment. Mayo Fuster Morell proposed a definition of digital commons as "information and knowledge resources that are collectively created and owned or shared between or among

9471-519: The exercise of common rights, which are binding on all those with interests on a common. Community forestry in Nepal The community forestry program in Nepal is a government effort to reduce forest degradation and to promote sustainable forestry practices as well as to improve the livelihood of the community. It incorporates distinct policies, institutions and practices. The two main goals of

9594-417: The fencing of land within a registered common is not allowed, as this is a form of enclosure and denies use of the land to others. A celebrated landmark case of unauthorised fencing of a common was in 1866 by Lord Brownlow who illegally enclosed 434 acres of Berkhamsted Common to add to his Ashridge Estate . Brownlow had failed to buy out the commoners, so resorted to this action. A public outcry followed, and

9717-410: The forests that they depend on for resources. However, that is not to say that the government has not forfeited their ownership of the forests. The state still maintains ownership while communities have the rights to utilize and manage the forests. The Forest Act 1993 and Forest Regulation 1995 guaranteed two rights: 1) right to self-governance and 2) right to forest management and utilisation. One of

9840-906: The form of intellectual property legislation, patenting, licensing and overpricing). At this point, it is important to note the nature of knowledge and its complex and multi-layered qualities of non-rivalry and non-excludability. Unlike natural commons – which are both rival and excludable (only one person can use any one item or portion at a time and in so doing they use it up, it is consumed) and characterised by scarcity (they can be replenished but there are limits to this, such that consumption/destruction may overtake production/creation) – knowledge commons are characterised by abundance (they are non-rival and non-excludable and thus, in principle, not scarce, so not impelling competition and compelling governance). This abundance of knowledge commons has been celebrated through alternative models of knowledge production, such as Commons-based peer production (CBPP), and embodied in

9963-800: The former is not to be equated automatically with urban commons. Public spaces and goods in the city make a commons when part of the citizens take political action. Syntagma Square in Athens, Tahrir Square in Cairo, Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv, and the Plaza de Catalunya in Barcelona were public spaces that transformed to an urban commons as people protested there to support their political statements. Streets are public spaces that have often become an urban commons by social action and revolutionary protests. Urban commons are operating in

10086-415: The free software movement. The CBPP model showed the power of networked, open collaboration and non-material incentives to produce better quality products (mainly software). Scholars such as David Harvey have adopted the term commoning , which as a verb serves to emphasize an understanding of the commons as a process and a practice rather than as "a particular kind of thing" or static entity. "The common

10209-409: The fynbos and wetland ecology and establish a public communal garden. As stated by the locals, the initial plan was to build a "blueprint" for communal gardening that would serve as an example for other abandoned green areas, with the goal of "correcting the imbalances of apartheid" and "beautifying and dignifying". The nine residents and the city's conservation managers signed an agreement that allowed

10332-410: The government. The examples below illustrate types of environmental commons. Originally in medieval England the common was an integral part of the manor , and was thus legally part of the estate in land owned by the lord of the manor , but over which certain classes of manorial tenants and others held certain rights. By extension, the term "commons" has come to be applied to other resources which

10455-447: The group Haven Coalition volunteer provide pre and post abortion care for people who have to travel for abortion which is considered illegal in their places of origins, and with New York Abortion Access Fund, they are able to provide them with medical and financial assistance. Underground networks outside medical service establishments are where women's networks oversee the abortion and assist each other physically or emotionally by sharing

10578-424: The inevitability of failure that he saw in the commons. However, Hardin's (1968) argument has been widely criticized, since he is accused of having mistaken the commons, that is, resources held and managed in common by a community, with open access, that is, resources that are open to everyone but where it is difficult to restrict access or to establish rules. In the case of the commons, the community manages and sets

10701-469: The invasion of trees, scrub and bracken that threatened the ecologically precious heathlands, cutting down saplings, removing scrub and mowing the bracken. Some residents complained that the results looked like a First World War battle field. This is not a problem restricted to this common, but according to Jonathan Brown writing in the Independent on 21 April 2007 "similar debates are raging between locals and

10824-599: The knowledge of herbalism or home abortion. These underground groups operate under codenames like Jane Collective in Chicago or Renata in Arizona. Some groups like Women on Waves from Netherlands use international waters to conduct abortion. Also, in Italy, Obiezione Respinta movement collaboratively map spaces related to birth control such as pharmacies, consultors, hospitals, etc., through which users share their knowledge and experience of

10947-434: The land as they wish. However, for common land the owner's rights are restricted, and other people known as commoners have certain rights over the land. The landowner may retain other rights to the land, such as rights to minerals and large timber, and to any common rights left unexercised by the commoners. The commoners will continue to exercise their rights, or have a document which describes their rights, which may be part of

11070-424: The land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be land for the use of commoners. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of arable farming in open fields . Under enclosure, such land is fenced ( enclosed ) and deeded or entitled to one or more owners. The process of enclosure began to be a widespread feature of the English agricultural landscape during

11193-452: The land. Such rights sometimes had the effect of preventing enclosure and building development on agricultural land. Most of the medieval common land of England was lost due to enclosure. In English social and economic history, enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay , or grazing livestock on common land formerly held in the open field system . Once enclosed, these uses of

11316-473: The local area. The cooperative on the other hand is considered to be effective and flexible in their sustainable use of the resources in the region. The widespread success of the Maine lobster industry is often attributed to the willingness of Maine's lobstermen to uphold and support lobster conservation rules. These rules include harbor territories not recognized by the state, informal trap limits, and laws imposed by

11439-484: The manor must only exercise his rights so far as to leave a "sufficiency" of resource for commoners. This was at issue in 1889 when the lord of the manor and owner of Banstead Downs and Heath, a Mr Hartopp, excavated gravel and threatened to reduce the available pasture. The meaning of sufficiency was challenged in court, expert witnesses stated that the grazing capacity was 1,200 animals, the commoners rights totalled 1,440 animals, and 600 animals were normally turned out. It

11562-497: The narrative of post-growth, the digital commons can present a model of progress that guide commoners to build counter-power in the economic and political field. Being able to digitally share knowledge and resources through internet platforms is a new capacity that challenges the traditional hierarchical structures of production, allowing for a higher collective benefit and a sustainable management of resources. Non-material resources are digitally reproducible and therefore can be shared at

11685-526: The need for fences while maintaining their effective individual interest in them, as each ewe remains on her particular area. Lambs usually learn their heft from their mothers. Also known as 'hoofing' in some areas like North Yorkshire. This ability to keep sheep from straying without fences is still an important factor in sheep farming on the extensive common land in upland areas. Surviving commons are almost all pasture, but in earlier times, arable farming and haymaking were significant, with strips of land in

11808-402: The number of licenses themselves. In practice there are many restrictive exclusionary systems that are generated, dictated, and upheld by the community through a series of "traditional fishing rights" that have been locally grandfathered in. One must obtain confirmation to fish from the community to actually be granted access. Once an individual is granted access, they are still only able to access

11931-421: The opportunity for the citizens to gain power upon the management of the urban resources and reframe city-life costs based on their use value and maintenance costs, rather than the market-driven value. Urban commons situates citizens as key players rather than public authorities, private markets and technologies. David Harvey (2012) defines the distinction between public spaces and urban commons. He highlights that

12054-433: The ownership of the holder of the right (the commoner) or is a right held in gross i.e. unattached to land. This includes details of the owner(s) of the common land. Entries in this section however, are not held to be conclusive. Numerous inconsistencies and irregularities remained, mainly because a period of only three years was given for registration submissions. However, there is now an opportunity to clear these up under

12177-508: The part of Mongolians proved much more efficient in preserving grazing land. A trawl fishery in the Blight region, located in New York, provides a completely different example of a type of community-based solution to what is sometimes referred to as the dilemma or "tragedy of the commons". The multitude of fishermen in the region make up a fishing cooperative who specialize in harvesting whiting. Being

12300-471: The past, most pasture commons would have been grazed by mixtures of cattle, sheep and ponies (often also geese). The modern survival of grazing on pasture commons over the past century is uneven. The use of hefting (or heafing ) – the characteristic of some breeds of sheep for example, keeping to a certain heft (a small local area) throughout their lives – allows different farmers in an extensive landscape such as moorland to graze different areas without

12423-430: The place and provide access to information that is difficult to obtain. Common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights , such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood , or to cut turf for fuel . A person who has a right in, or over, common land jointly with another or others

12546-468: The potential benefits that community forestry will have in combating environmental degradation as well as utilizing resources in a sufficient manner. Prior to the community forestry program, the Government of Nepal had control of local forests during the mid 1950s. The community forestry project came into fruition during the late 1970s, when there was a great concern for environmental sustainability and

12669-455: The primary right is to pasture livestock . In the uplands, they are largely moorland , on the coast they may be salt marsh , sand dunes or cliffs , and on inland lowlands they may be downland , grassland , heathland or wood pasture , depending on the soil and history. These habitats are often of very high nature conservation value, because of their very long continuity of management extending in some cases over many hundreds of years. In

12792-418: The process of commoning is to create "common subjects" that are responsible to their communities. The notion of community is not understood as a "gated community", but as "a quality of relations, a principle of cooperation and responsibility to each other and the earth, the forests, the seas, the animals. In communalizing housework, one of the supporting pillars of human activity, it is imperative that this sphere

12915-501: The program. Wealthier households have greater access to state administrators allowing them to dominate decision-making positions. Because they are able to set forest resource prices, this can reduce incentives for poorer households who cannot afford the high prices to participate. For the community forestry program to reach and maintain its goal of the improvement of the livelihoods of the Nepali people, creating incentives of disadvantaged groups

13038-489: The public access land now shown on the Ordnance Survey Explorer maps. The Commons Act 2006 (c. 26) is an important recent piece of legislation. The act: Several hundred square kilometres of 'waste land' that was provisionally registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965 was not, in fact, finally registered. As a consequence, it ceased to be recognised as common land. A partial remedy for this defect in

13161-487: The public right of access introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; or depending on location, may qualify as a section 193 'urban' common (in which case, it would also be subject to a right of access for horse-riders). The act of transferring resources from the commons to purely private ownership is known as enclosure , or (especially in formal use, and in place names) Inclosure . The Inclosure Acts were

13284-431: The region due to a new railroad coming to the area, as well as an increase in fur prices at the time. The Amerindian communities' lost control over these territories for a short time during this period which helped to eventually lead to what is known as a "tragedy of the commons". In the 1930s conservation laws were enacted which prohibited outsiders from trapping in the area, and reinforced locals' customary laws. This led to

13407-436: The region. Beaver has been an important source of food and commerce for the area since the fur trade began in 1670. Unfortunately, beavers are an easy target for resource degradation and depletion due to their colonies being easily spotted. Luckily, the area has grandfathered in many traditions, and stewards of the land to safeguard certain territories populations. In the 1920s there was a massive influx of non-native trappers in

13530-692: The registers and large numbers of small commons with no rights in England, the apparent distinction between Wales and England may be exaggerated. Today, despite the diverse legal and historical origins of commons, they are managed through a community of users, comprising those who hold rights together with the owner(s) of the soil. Such communities generally require joint working to integrate all interests, with formal or informal controls and collaborative understandings, often coupled with strong social traditions and local identity. However, 26% of commons in Wales, and as many as 65% in England, have no common rights shown on

13653-520: The registers. Such areas are derived from wastes of manors , where rights probably existed formerly. When such open habitats are no longer grazed they revert to scrub and then dense woodland, losing the grassy or heathland vegetation which may have occupied the land continuously for many centuries. In 2007, Ashdown Forest , the Sussex heathland which was the setting for the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, became

13776-477: The residents to incorporate the public shoreline area into the rehabilitation project, even though the city had retained the area closest to the shoreline as public property. Meanwhile, the city saw an opportunity to restore the fynbos and provided labour and plants for clearing and planting. About 50,000 plants were planted (and "weeds" eradicated) along Bottom Road over the course of four years, drawing bees, birds, dragonflies, and toads in addition to humans through

13899-448: The resources shared (the common-pool resource s), the community who governs it, and commoning , that is, the process of coming together to manage such resources. Commoning thus adds another dimension to the commons, acknowledging the social practices entailed in the process of establishing and governing a commons. These practices entail, for the community of commoners, the creation of a new way of living and acting together, thus involving

14022-423: The rules of access and use of the resource held in common: the fact of having a commons, then, does not mean that anyone is free to use the resource as they like. Studies by Ostrom and others have shown that managing a resource as a commons often has positive outcomes and avoids the so-called tragedy of the commons, a fact that Hardin overlooked. It has been said the dissolution of the traditional land commons played

14145-503: The sales of forest products. Some of the most significant benefits are that locals are able to use the products they gather directly in their own homes for subsistence use. Hunting wildlife territories in James Bay, Quebec; located in the northeastern part of Canada, provide an example of resources being effectively shared by a community. There is an extensive heritage of local customaries that are used to effectively regulate beaver hunting in

14268-474: The same time productivity increased enough to create a surplus of labour. The increased labour supply is considered one of the factors facilitating the Industrial Revolution . Following the era of enclosure, there was relatively little common land remaining of value although some residual commoners remained until the end of the Second World War. By that time lowland commons had become neglected because

14391-440: The state of Maine (which are largely influenced by lobbying from lobster industry itself). Lobster is another resource that is sometimes considered vulnerable to overharvesting, and many people within the industry itself have been predicting a collapse for years. Nonetheless, the lobster industry has remained relatively unscathed by resource depletion. The state government of Maine establishes certain regulations, but they do not limit

14514-423: The territories held by that community. Outsiders may be persuaded by threats of violence even. It is impossible to know if the lobster resource would have been sustainably used if there was more regulation, or without the internal regulation, but it is certainly being used sustainably in its current state of affairs. It also seems to be run relatively efficiently. This case study of Maine lobster fisheries reflects how

14637-403: The time of year when certain rights could be exercised. For example, the occupier of a particular cottage might be allowed to graze fifteen cattle , four horses , ponies or donkeys , and fifty geese , whilst the numbers allowed for their neighbours would probably be different. On some commons (such as the New Forest and adjoining commons), the rights are not limited by numbers, and instead

14760-466: The traffic issue. In addition to the disregard shown by the city administration, the neighbourhood has deteriorated as a result of people setting up barbecues at random and cars driving around freely, both of which have been linked to criminal activity. Today, the commons are also understood within a cultural sphere. These commons include literature, music, arts, design, film, video, television, radio, information, software and sites of heritage. Misplaced Pages

14883-443: The two main goals under the community forestry program in Nepal was to alleviate poverty as well as improve the general livelihoods of the Nepali people. Various forms of discrimination on the basis of caste , economic status, ethnicity , gender, age and vulnerability exist in Nepal. This program's key objective was to increase the participation and empower the socially-marginalized peoples, allowing decision-making abilities within

15006-488: Was decided sufficiency was whether enough grazing would be available for all the animals that could be turned out. The judgment was that "The Lord is bound to leave pasture enough to satisfy the commoners rights whether such rights are to be exercised or not". Commoners also have the right to "peaceful enjoyment" of their rights, so that they cannot be hindered by the lord of the manor. This was first proposed in 1500 and became case law in 1827. Pasture commons are those where

15129-614: Was sometimes accompanied by force, resistance, and bloodshed, and remains among the most controversial areas of agricultural and economic history in England. Enclosure is considered one of the causes of the British Agricultural Revolution . Enclosed land was under control of the farmer who was free to adopt better farming practices. There was widespread agreement in contemporary accounts that profit making opportunities were better with enclosed land. Following enclosure, crop yields and livestock output increased while at

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