The Sustainable Economics of Elinor Ostrom: Commons, Contestation and Craft, by Derek Wall (original) (raw)

The Sustainable Economics of Elinor Ostrom

2014

This document is the author's post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

Nature, economics, property and commons. Subversive notes inspired by Elinor Ostrom

E3S Web of Conferences, 2014

Nature-economy relations also are the result of economics' concepts, ideas and paradigms. Heterodox economic views and paradigms are urgently needed to foster shifts towards the planet's future sustainability paths. Elinor Ostrom, 2009 Nobel economics laureate, stands as one of the authors whose long neglected views are most inspiring in subverting mainstream paradigms on property regimes and natural resource management. Challenging the tragedy of the commons orthodoxy, she shows humans are able to escape the prisoner's dilemma, as well as the public vs private property, and state vs market modern dichotomy in natural resources' management models, by recognizing common property as a third option, and re-inventing the commons as indeed diverse and resilient institutions to foster more sustainable economy-nature relations. Brazil's indigenous territories are cited as a living example of commons' sustainability, although increasingly threatened by economic growth.

A Nobel for the Commons: A Tribute to Elinor Ostrom

Economic and political weekly

The Nobel Prize in Economics co-awarded to Elinor Ostrom marks a rare departure from the traditional approach of the selectors which hitherto has been characterised by adherence to sub-disciplines more explicitly recognised as falling within the discipline of economics, rather than those that govern an economic system from its exterior, created at the interface of political economy, economics and social anthropology. This essay is a tribute to her work taking into consideration the implications of her thought in the context of governance of commons in general, and in south Asia, in particular.

From Local to Global Commons: Applying Ostrom's Key Principles for Sustainable Governance

This paper, prepared for the 2012 Conference on Earth Systems Governance in Lund, Sweden, explores a possible new local-to-global system for the equitable governance of the “common pool resources.” As normally understood, the “Commons” refers to resources that are owned or shared among communities. Such resources (forests, fisheries, etc.) when located within national boundaries are subject to that country’s laws. Areas beyond national jurisdiction, including the high-seas, Antarctica, the ocean sea-bed, outer space and the Earth’s environment, are known as “Common Heritage of Mankind” (CHM) and subject to Public International Law (PIL). The object and subject of traditional PIL is the nation-state. However, since the 1972 Conference for the Human Environment, individuals and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) have been legally recognized under PIL as having direct responsibility for protection of the global environment, by working for transparency and accountability in its management. With this opening for direct participation by individuals and NGOs in working for sustainable management of the global Commons, it may be now feasible to extend the precedents identified by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom for successful economic governance of local common pool resources to wider CHM areas. A recently developed legal concept – nondominium – offers a framework for recognizing user rights toward this end. Combining Ostrom’s principles with this new approach for shared use of the Commons promises to give a more solid legal grounding for the 5 “As” (Architecture, Adaptiveness, Accountability, Allocation and Access) in the governance of the global commons for the benefit of humanity."