Commons
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.
[9] In middle Europe, commons (relatively small-scale agriculture in, especially, southern Germany, Austria, and the alpine countries) were kept, in some parts, till the present.
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.
[12] 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 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".
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.
This case study of Maine lobster fisheries reflects how a group was able to restrain access to a resource from outsiders, while regulating the communal use in an effective manner.
Community forest programs work by giving local areas a financial stake in nearby woodlands, and thereby increasing the incentive to protect them from overuse.
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.
[19] 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.
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.
[22] 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 – 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.
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 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".
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.
These commons include literature, music, arts, design, film, video, television, radio, information, software and sites of heritage.
Wikipedia 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.
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 a community and that tend to be non-exclusive, that is, be (generally freely) available to third parties.
[31] 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.
[32] 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.
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.
The CBPP model showed the power of networked, open collaboration and non-material incentives to produce better quality products (mainly software).
[40]Kopli 93 is a historic building in Tallinn that has undergone several transformations, notably evolving from a soviet army sailor's club into a vibrant community center equipped with a garden, an apiary, and a workshop.
[41][43] The center organizes workshops, training sessions, and events that encourage community members to collaborate and contribute to a sustainable future for the building and its garden.
In "Caliban and the Witch",[61] 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".
[60] 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.
Also, in Italy, Obiezione Respinta movement[66] collaboratively map spaces related to birth control such as pharmacies, consultors, hospitals, etc., through which users share their knowledge and experience of the place and provide access to information that is difficult to obtain.
