UNU Interactive Seminar on Global Issues #18
Opening Remarks
Lecturers*
Discussant
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.
Elizabeth Rose Hall (5F)
United Nations University
5-53-70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan