Presidential Address: A Strategy for the Commons

Abstract

"This is not the time to rest on our laurels. There are too many remaining challenges to the commons, and new challenges emerging, as we have heard about these past few days. With these challenges come new opportunities, as well. What we need is a 'Strategy for the Commons'. We have abundant reminders, both during the 2008 biennial conference and in the news that many local commons are under threat. I realize that this is nothing new—we’ve had examples of almost 500 years of enclosures of one type or another, in this country alone. But the processes are accelerating as dramatically higher food and fuel prices create increased demand for land to produce both food and agrofuels. The price of rice, for example, has doubled in the last five months, and many other key food prices have been increasing rapidly. While enclosures of the commons may lead to intensification of production of these commodities, we also need to ask at what cost, and to whom? In many cases it is the very poorest people who lose out, and many subsistence, environmental, and even spiritual values that are hard to quantify and price are lost."