DATE / TIME:

2013•03•29    13:00 - 14:30

Location:

Tokyo

UNU Interactive Seminar on Global Issues #18

“Management of Local Commons in the Age of Globalization”

Opening Remarks

• Kazuhiro Ueta, Dean, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University

Lecturers*

• Takeshi Murota, Professor, Department of Economics, Doshisha University
• Yoshio Takatsu, Associate Professor, Department of Regional Promotion, Nara Prefectural University

Discussant

• Erling Berge, Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning/Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and former President,International Association for the Study of the Commons

Globalization has completely transformed our institutions and our way of life, posing difficult new challenges in communities across the world. This interactive seminar will focus on one challenge in particular: managing common-pool resources for sustainable environmental governance.

Common-pool resources can provide an axis of resistance to environmental devastation and social inequality, while also creating a sustainable future for local communities and the society at large. Of course, with such a complicated issue, many questions need to be addressed. What exactly is a commons, and how far does it extend? How are ownership of nature and usage rights determined? How can we prevent excessive extraction and consumption? What role do local communities play in resource management? And how can we ensure equitable and fair use with such a complex ecosystem of resources?

In this seminar, Takeshi Murota, co-editor of the recently published UNU Press book Local Commons and Democratic Environmental Governance, and Yoshio Takatsu, Associate Professor at the Department of Regional Promotion of Nara Prefectural University, will help answer these timely questions. They will argue that the key to governing our shared environment, amidst the rising tide of globalization, is to integrate open and closed commons by synthesizing a new type of democracy from multilevel governance structures around the world.

Attendance is free, but advance registration (by 28 March) is required. Please click on the link above to access the online registration form.