Creating a political voice for ‘commons’

Over two billion people worldwide depend on common property for at least some significant part of their livelihoods. But the majority of land and aquatic resources that are managed as 'commons' are often declared to be state property. Governments are variable in their policies of recognition of the rights of commoners over these resources, which in turn creates significant uncertainty, and limits incentives for sustainable management. One of the key issues to maintaining and protecting common property is to raise the political profile of commons and in particular recognition of the local, regional and global values of resources managed 'in common'. Thanks to sponsorship from the International Development Research Centre, Canada, a Policy Forum is set take place to provide the opportunity to hear a variety of experiences with... [read full story]