Shared resources like forests, water, and knowledge are essential for sustaining life and fostering community well-being. Yet, these commons face numerous threats, often rooted in how we relate to each other, nature, and the rules governing our world. A worldview that sees humans as separate from nature drives exploitation, while the enclosure (privatisation) of shared resources prioritises profit over community needs. Dominant economic narratives reinforce these trends, portraying scarcity, competition, and privatization as inevitable or desirable. Meanwhile, geopolitical pressures, such as resource conflicts and environmental inaction, exacerbate these challenges.
These threats are deeply interconnected. Together, they undermine the relationships and practices that make commons thrive. Understanding how these forces interact is vital to protecting shared resources and reimagining systems that prioritise care, cooperation, and regeneration over exploitation and control.
At the end of Subtopic 4.3 Threats to the commons, you should be able to:
discuss how human-nature dualism threatens commoning
discuss how enclosure threatens commoning
discuss how current mainstream economic narratives threaten commoning
discuss geopolitical threats to the commons