4.3.2 Enclosure

Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives

Helpful prior learning:

Section 1.1.1 The economy and you, which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems
Section 1.1.3 Degenerative economies, which explain the problems for people and planet with the way our current economies operate.
Section 1.2.1 Human-nature relationship, which explains the need to return to a worldview that sees humans as part of nature rather than separate from nature
Section 3.2.1 Capitalism: definition and development, which explains what capitalism is and how it developed.
Section 3.2.3 Law and markets, which explains how law supports market and capitalist activities through creating trust, protecting private property, and establishing legal personhood for businesses.
Section 4.1.1 The commons as a system, which explains the parts, relationships, and functions of the commons and the relationship between the commons and other provisioning institutions
Section 4.1.4 The role of care in commoning, which explains the role of care in commoning and describes practices that enhance care in commoning, and the wider economy
Section 4.2.1 Eco-stewardship of nature, which explains how eco-stewardship of nature can protect and regenerate Earth’s life-support systems, particularly in the context of subsistence commons
Section S.1 What are systems?, which explains what a system is, the importance of systems boundaries, the difference between open and closed systems and the importance of systems thinking
Section S.2 Systems thinking patterns, which outlines the core components of systems thinking: distinctions (thing/other), systems (part/whole), relationships (action/reaction), and perspectives (point/view)

Learning objectives:

discuss how enclosure threatens commoning

For over a century, residents of Camberwell village in New South Wales, Australia, used the Glennies Creek floodplain as a commons. Livestock grazed on its pastures, and locals enjoyed the fertile land and waters for swimming, fishing, and horseback riding. Though the Hunter Valley region was state owned, the community managed it together.

In 2005, Australia’s land management authority ended this long-standing practice. The state reclaimed control, granting mining rights to the Ashton mine, owned by China-based Yancoal (Figure 1). Villagers lost access to the land, and the Ashton Coal Project disrupted their lives. Most residents, weary of fighting mining expansion, eventually moved away.

This story illustrates enclosure, a process with far-reaching impacts on communities and the resources they depend on.

Satellite image of Camberwell showing the mines around the village

Figure 1. Camberwell and the Ashton coal mine

(Credit: Google Maps)

What is enclosure?

Enclosure occurs when a resource managed by a community is taken over by an external authority, such as a private company, investors, or the state. This authority gains control and limits access, often charging for its use.

The state enables enclosure by redefining resources as capital or private property (Section 3.2.3). Politicians may support these actions to benefit businesses they are connected to or to increase tax revenues. Mining operations, for example, generate billions annually for the Australian state. While such activities may create local jobs, they often harm communities relying on shared resources.

Historically, enclosure involved fencing communal lands, denying access to farmers, herders, or gatherers. Colonisation expanded this process by forcibly taking land from indigenous communities, leading to massive loss of life and access to vital resources (Section 3.2.1). Today, enclosure extends beyond privatised land to include knowledge, cultural works, water, and digital resources (Section 3.2.3).

How does enclosure threaten the commons?

Enclosure has significant negative effects on commoners and their shared resources.

Restricting community access to resources

Enclosure denies communities access to resources they depend on, forcing them to pay for previously free necessities.

For instance, corporations that patent seeds force farmers to buy new seeds each season instead of saving their own, increasing arming costs and making farmers dependent on a few companies for seeds. Similarly, privatised water supplies can impose unaffordable fees, limiting access to this essential resource. Digital enclosures, like paid subscriptions to academic journals (Figure 2), restrict access to knowledge, making it harder for students and researchers to innovate.

Figure 2. The publishing industry is one of the most profitable in the world, but restricts access to the knowledge we need for innovation via paywalls

(Credit: Own screenshot from the journal Nature)

Losing local stewardship, knowledge and skills

Communities caring for commons develop detailed knowledge through generations of stewardship, or active care and management of resources. When businesses or investors take over, they often disregard this wisdom, prioritising profit or cost-efficiency over sustainable practices.

For example, Andean farmers traditionally use ayni, a principle of reciprocity, to manage land together. Their practices—crop rotation, selecting seeds suited to each plot, and conserving water—maintain soil fertility and prevent erosion, regenerating soils and promoting biodiversity. However, large-scale industrial farming in the region replaced these methods with monocultures, planting large areas of one type of plant, and heavy pesticide use, degrading the land and erasing local knowledge.

Figure 3. Indigenous knowledge systems are vital for eco-stewardship. Enclosure threatens indigenous communities and their wisdom.

(Credit: Nicole Marie Burton, used with permission)

Commodifying shared resources

Enclosure turns shared resources into commodities—products to buy, sell, or trade. This shift changes how people relate to these resources, encouraging exploitation rather than stewardship.

For example, when water is viewed as a shared resource, it is carefully managed as a commons to meet everyone’s needs. When commodified, it becomes a product with value tied to its price. Philosopher Michael Sandel argues this shift reduces our sense of responsibility (Section 3.2.5). People begin to see water as just another item to be sold in a market, not a shared resource, leading to waste, overuse, and even scarcity, where there is not enough to meet human needs. Commodification encourages consumption and profit-seeking while ignoring the ecological and social systems essential for resource regeneration.

Figure 4. Commodifying water transforms the resource from something the community cares for into something that businesses and states can profit from.

(Credit: nerea arance, Pexels license)

Weakening social relationships

Commoning relies on trust, cooperation, and shared decision-making to manage resources fairly. Enclosure disrupts these bonds by turning shared resources into exclusive commodities, replacing collaboration with competition.

For instance, social media platforms that prioritise profit often spread content designed to outrage users, boosting user engagement and their advertising revenue. This can weaken trust and make collaboration harder, isolating individuals and undermining community ties.

Photograph of a woman shouting and pointing at her phone

Figure 5. Social media platforms prioritise content that keeps people attention to sell advertising, often sparking outrage and conflict

(Credit: Alex Green, Pexels license)

To protect the commons, communities must plan for and resist enclosure. This involves safeguarding both shared resources and the community relationships that make commoning possible. Section 4.4.1 explores strategies to prevent enclosure.

Activity 4.3.2

Concept: Power

Skills: Thinking skills (critical thinking)

Time: varies, depending on the option

Type: Individual, pairs, or group

Option 1: Resisting enclosure of land for mining in Australia

Time: 20 minutes

Murrawah Maroochy Johnson blocked development of the Waratah coal mine in Queensland, Australia which would have accelerated climate change, destroyed the nearly 20,000-acre Bimblebox Nature Refuge, added 1.58 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere over its lifetime, and threatened Indigenous rights and culture. Murrawah’s case, which overcame a 2023 appeal, set a precedent that supports other First Nations people seeking to challenge coal projects by linking climate change to human and Indigenous rights. For her work, Murrawah Maroochy Johnson won the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize.

Watch the following (ca. 5 minute) video about the case.

Murrawah Maroochy Johnson, 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize, Australia

Murrawah Maroochy Johnson talks about the importance of the court doing “on country” evidence in the case.
- What is meant by “on country” evidence in this context
- How might such evidence help courts understand the multifaceted ways that enclosure harms commoning? (Hint: look back at the text in this section and think about how such evidence would make the various threats of enclosure more visible and understandable).
Write or audio record your ideas individually, discuss with a partner or in a small group.

Option 2: Enclosing happy birthday

Time: 25-30 minutes

Happy Birthday is widely considered the world’s most popular song. But most people do not know that Warner/Chappell Music owned the copyright to the song until 2015, earning more than US$2 million per year in royalties from people who wanted to use the song in public. The song moved into the public domain after a film producer challenged the copyright in court and won.

Listen to the following news story about the case and read the BBC news article about the court’s decision:

Write, audio record, or discuss the following questions about the Happy Birthday copyright story and enclosure:

How did the copyright on “Happy Birthday” affect how people could share or use the song?
How is this an example of enclosure?
How can making “Happy Birthday” freely available again in the public domain help support commoning?
How might copyright protections encourage people to create new works? How might copyrights hinder new creativity?
Where could these protections start to limit culture and shared creativity?

Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 4.5 Taking action

Checking for understanding

Further exploration

Upper Hunter community wins 22-year battle against Yancoal mine expansion - a news article describing the end of the conflict over the expansion of the Ashton coal mine. In the end, the refusal of Wendy Bowman to sell her land to the mine owners put a stop to the expansion. Here’s a 5-minute video about the case. Difficulty level: easy
Who loses when scientific research is locked behind paywalls? - an article from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation explaining how enclosing knowledge is hindering innovation. Difficulty level: easy
The Goldman Environmental Prize - this annual award goes to six people for their efforts to protect nature. Many of the prizes are awarded to people who resist enclosure. You can explore their stories on the site through 5 minute profile videos. Difficulty level: easy

Sources

Biewen, J. and McGirt, E. (Hosts). (2024). Capitalism. Scene on Radio, Season 7. Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University. https://sceneonradio.org/capitalism/.

Bollier, D. (2025). “3. Enclosures of Nature.” Think Like a Commoner, 2nd edition. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers. https://www.thinklikeacommoner.com/

Hickel, J. (2020). Less is More. London: William Heinemann.

Standing, G. (2019). Plunder of the commons: A manifesto for sharing public wealth. Pelican Books.

Terminology (in order of appearance)

Link to Quizlet interactive flashcards and terminology games for Section 4.3.2 Enclosure

floodplain: a generally flat area of land next to a river or stream

commons: a system where people self-organise to co-produce and manage shared resources.

state: a system that provides essential public services, and also governs and regulates other economic institutions

enclosure: the process that ended traditional rights on common land formerly held in the open field system and restricted the use of land to the owner

investor: an individual that puts money into an entity such as a business for a financial return

private property: the ownership of property by private individuals and groups

tax revenue: money collected by a government from individuals and organisations used for public spending and investment

colonisation: a process of establishing foreign control over a land area and/or peoples for the purpose of resource use and extraction

indigenous community: the original settlers of an area (pre-invasion/colonialism) who have retained their culture apart from colonisers

privatise: to transfer (a business, property or service) from public to private ownership and control

commoner: a person participating in a commons

patent: the sole right for an inventor to sell and profit from an innovation for a limited time

stewardship: the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organisation or ecosystem

profit: total revenue minus total cost

efficiency: the ratio of resource inputs compared to outputs

sustainability: meeting people’s needs within the means of the planet

reciprocity: exchanging things and favours with others for mutual benefit

crop rotation: growing of different crops in succession on a piece of land to avoid exhausting the soil and to control weeds, pests, and diseases

fertility: being able to reproduce living beings

erosion: process where soil or rock is worn away by wind or water

regenerate: the process of restoring and revitalising something

biodiversity: the variety of living organisms on Earth

monoculture: when a single crop is grown a given area

pesticide: a chemical that kills pests

commodity: something that can be bought and sold, often, though not always referring to raw materials

exploit: using and benefiting from resources; the term is often used negatively to imply using power to take advantage of a situation

scarcity: when there is not enough of something

consumption: using resources and products to meet needs

care: the act of providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, upkeep, and protection of someone or something

profit: total revenue minus total cost

commoning: when a group of people self-organise to manage shared resources

precedent: an earlier event or action that acts as a guide to be considered in later similar circumstances

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