The Commons – What are they?

I’m hearing more and more these days about the concept of commons.  Commons seem to me to be something that is important for communities to understand and to get involved with. 

What are they?  

Commons are resources shared by communities.  Once upon a time, the common was the place where people grazed their animals.  They were managed or regulated collectively by the community that used the common.  The community ensured that the common did not get overgrazed and that all villagers got equal access to the resources that the common provided.

A bloke by the name of Garret Hardin wrote an interesting,  paper called The Tragedy of the Commons.  He imagined a situation where there was no collective oversight of the use of the commons and talked about how a common would collapse as individuals try to maximise their gains from the free common. As some have pointed out this is actually a problem with open access rather than with the commons

In reality, of course, communities worked together to look after their common, so that it kept looking after them (Hardin talked about this as mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon).

The critical elements of the commons are shared resources and a community that works together to control their own access to them so that their commons continue to provide for the needs of everyone. 

So what?  
Well, our wellbeing depends upon a wide range of commons, so we need to be aware of them, of how they work best and what they provide.  Another important aspect of commons is that they must be cared for.  We all need to participate in building, managing and maintaining them so that they function well in the long term and we can get our collective needs met, fairly,  from the use of them.  

More about this another time.