Description:

Globalization, population growth, and resource depletion are drawing
increased attention to the importance of common resources such as forests, water
resources, and fisheries. It is critical that these resources be governed in an
equitable and sustainable way. The Commons in the New Millennium presents
cutting-edge research in common property theory and provides an overview and
progress report on common property research.The book analyzes new problems that
owners, managers, policy makers, and analysts face in managing natural commons. It
examines recent findings about the physical characteristics of the commons, their
complexity and interconnectedness, and the role of social capital. It also provides
empirical studies and suggestions for sustainable development. The topics discussed
include the role of financial, political, and social capital in deforestation,
community efforts to gain political influence in Indonesia, the Maine lobster
industry, outcomes of the implementation of individual transferable quotas in New
Zealand and Iceland fisheries, and design of multilateral emissions trading for
regional air pollution and global warming.

**

Review

"A useful addition to the literature that will have a wide audience. The issues addressed in this book will be of particular interest to those who study and work with common property resources."--Gary D. Libecap, Professor of Economics and Law, University of Arizona

"As the editors point out, the commons are not a nearly extinct topic, but rather a vitally important one." Randall J. Hannum Natural Resources Forum

"It is hard to imagine a person who would not learn something from examining this book." Forest Reinhardt Environment

The early literature on common property struggled with the legacy of Hardin's 'tragedy of the commons,' while the later literature often focused on small-scale, community-based systems to build a new theory. The Commons in the New Millennium takes the next logical step forward. Essays in this expertly crafted collection represent common property scholarship that looks to the future, and there are lessons here for alternative ways of devising new institutions to meet the challenges ahead.--

(Fikret Berkes, Professor, University of Manitoba, and Canada Research Chair in Community-Based Resource Management)

About the Author

Nives Dolšak is Assistant Professor in the Master of Arts program in Policy Studies at the University of Washington, Bothell.

Elinor Ostrom is Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, Codirector of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, and Codirector of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC) at Indiana University.Ostrom was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.