{"id":29542,"date":"2024-09-16T18:32:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T13:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=29542"},"modified":"2024-09-16T18:32:53","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T13:02:53","slug":"governance-of-commons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/16-09-2024\/governance-of-commons","title":{"rendered":"Governance of Commons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Environment and Conservation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Delhi hosted a first-of-its-kind<strong> dialogue on the conservation, restoration and governance of common resources<\/strong> usually referred to just as <strong>Commons.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are Commons?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Commons is a term used to refer to resources that are <strong>not owned by any individual or group or the government<\/strong>, but belong to, and are shared by, the <strong>community as a whole.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Forests, local ponds, grazing lands, rivers, and sacred sites are all Commons. In the urban setting, parks and lakes are Commons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They provide a variety of <strong>ecological and other services<\/strong> that are beneficial for the entire community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Intangible Commons:<\/strong> Language, folk art or dance, local customs, and traditional knowledge are all shared resources, and thus are Commons.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>At the international level,<\/strong> the polar regions, the Arctic and Antarctica, are considered global Commons.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Outer space, the Moon, and other planetary bodies are also<strong> global Commons.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In the digital age,<\/strong> most Internet and open-source software are Commons.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Digital resources with creative commons licences are meant to be used freely by everyone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>No country is allowed to take ownership <\/strong>of these areas, even though everyone can use them for certain kinds of activities.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Need to Govern Commons<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They need to be maintained, preserved, and used sustainably.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As these resources are accessible to all, they face a greater threat of over-exploitation and damage.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since no one owns Commons, the responsibility of maintenance and upkeep often becomes a problem.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commons have also come under increased stress due to climate change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Governance of Commons<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There are <strong>international agreements<\/strong>, for the use and management of <strong>polar regions, outer space, and high seas.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Paris Agreement on climate change, <\/strong>which seeks to maintain a liveable planet for everyone, is an example.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In urban areas,<\/strong> municipalities or other structures of local governance take care of the Commons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>At rural levels,<\/strong> the governance of Commons is often not very well-defined or is non-existent.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Local communities do get involved but in most cases, lack the resources or the legal sanction to manage these common spaces.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Do you know?<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Elinor Ostrom <\/strong>studied with several local communities across the globe and provided plenty of evidence to show that <strong>community-led governance structures <\/strong>resulted in more sustainable management of common spaces.<br>&#8211; It fetched her a <strong>Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009, <\/strong>the <strong>first for a woman,<\/strong> culminating in a book titled Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.\u00a0<br>&#8211; Ostrom\u2019s ideas now form the <strong>backbone of the governance structures of Commons in many parts of the world.<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Forest Rights Act and its significance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In India, the <strong>2006 Forest Rights Act (FRA)<\/strong> is considered a good template for managing common forest resources.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Act gives <strong>individual and community ownership rights<\/strong> to forest-dwellers to live in and carry out their livelihood in the forest areas.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The FRA recognised the <strong>legal rights of the forest dwellers over the land.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nearly <strong>one-fourth of India\u2019s landmass,<\/strong> about 205 million acres, is estimated to be Commons, comprising<strong> community forests, pastures or water bodies.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Almost<strong> 350 million rural people <\/strong>depend on these Commons for their livelihoods.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These Commons are estimated to <strong>generate economic value worth about Rs 6.6 lakh crore annually, <\/strong>through the provision of goods and ecological services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FRA is a good model for forest land but similar <strong>frameworks need to be developed for other common resources<\/strong>, particularly areas that are officially classified as wasteland.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/commons-governance-9567461\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Delhi hosted a first-of-its-kind dialogue on the conservation, restoration and governance of common resources usually referred to just as Commons.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29543,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29542\/revisions\/29543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}