Embedded Files
Helpful prior knowledge and learning objectives
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 1.1.4 Regenerative economies, which explains how circular, distributive and caring, needs-based and sufficient economies can meet human needs within planetary boundaries
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 4.3.2 Enclosure, which explains how the privatisation of resources negatively impacts commoning
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 legal, local governance and civic engagement strategies to prevent enclosure
In the 1990s, scientists in the United States attempted to patent turmeric, a spice used in India for thousands of years to treat wounds and inflammation. A patent would have granted exclusive rights to use turmeric in products, preventing others from accessing it without paying. India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research challenged the patent by documenting turmeric’s traditional uses in the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a digital archive. This led to the patent being taken away.
The TKDL is a powerful tool against biopiracy—when private interests claim ownership of indigenous knowledge. By documenting and sharing knowledge openly, communities can prevent its enclosure, keeping valuable ideas accessible to those who developed them. This strategy, like others discussed in this section, is most effective when combined with other legal tools and hacks.
Figure 1. Turmeric root and power, a spice used in traditional Indian medicine to treat inflammation and wounds
(Credit: Karl Solano, Pexels licence)
How can formal legal strategies prevent enclosure?
How can formal legal strategies prevent enclosure?
Customary usage rights often recognize a community’s long-standing relationship with resources like land or water. However, these informal rights are rarely strong enough to prevent enclosure when states or businesses seek profits. There are a number of legal strategies to strengthen protection for commons.
Legal title
Legal title
Strengthening customary usage rights with formal legal titles can provide better protection. Ironically, this means using the same laws of enclosure that states and businesses use. The difference is that commoners gain legal title to protect and manage the resources for everyone in the community.
For example, indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon have gained legal titles to their ancestral lands through resguardos, or indigenous reserves. As of 2023, Colombia has 846 legally recognised reserves (2023), covering 35.6 million hectares—31% of the country’s land. These titles protect against logging, mining, and agricultural expansion, while affirming collective land management rights of indigenous communities. By formalising their connection to the land, communities can better safeguard resources and their role as stewards.
Figure 2. Indigenous territories in Columbia
(Credit: GeogrColombian, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Constitutional protection
Constitutional protection
Constitutions, the highest legal documents of a nation, outline fundamental laws and rights. When commons—resources, communities, and rules—are protected in constitutions, in theory they gain a stronger legal foundation, harder to change than regular laws, at least in theory. This may limit the ability of governments or corporations to act against them.
In 2008, Ecuador became the first country to recognize nature’s rights in its constitution, naming Pachamama, or nature, as a legal entity. While groundbreaking, such protections depend on governments upholding their constitutions—a commitment that isn’t always guaranteed.
How can legal ‘hacks’ prevent enclosure?
Legal hacks creatively use existing laws to protect commons. Like finding a clever workaround in computer code, they transform laws that have supported enclosure into tools for fairness and sustainability.
Figure 3. The Whanganui River in New Zealand, the first river to be granted legal personhood
(Credit: James Shook CC BY 2.5)
Legal personhood
Legal personhood
Granting legal personhood to natural resources allows elements of nature, like rivers or forests, to hold legal rights like a human. This means they can be defended in court against harm. The law already grants legal personhood for businesses as a separate legal entity from its owners (Section 3.3.4).
For example, New Zealand’s Whanganui River (Figure 3) was the first river in the world to receive legal personhood. Stewards or environmental groups represent the River’s interests in courts and policy-making, aligning with indigenous values that view nature as an equal partner. While courts may not always honor these rights, legal personhood ensures nature has a voice in decision-making.
Creative licencing
Creative licencing
Enclosure isn’t limited to physical resources. Knowledge and creative works can also be enclosed through patents or copyrights, granting exclusive ownership to individuals or businesses (Section 3.2.3). Many researchers and creatives want to enclose their work, because otherwise their work can be taken by others who may take it and sell it for profit. On the other hand, the same researchers and creatives might want to share their ideas with others. How can they do both?
Creative Commons (CC) licenses (Figure 4 and Section 4.2.5) allow creators to share their work under specific conditions, balancing protection of the work with openness. For example, this textbook uses a CC BY-SA 4.0 license, enabling free use and adaptation of the knowledge as long as credit is given and any changes made to it are shared under the same license. Such tools ensure knowledge remains accessible while preventing exploitation of the work for profit.
Figure 4. An explanation of the various Creative Commons licences
(Credit: Teaching and Learning Resource Center, CC0)
How can local governance and legal strategies work together?
How can local governance and legal strategies work together?
Legal protections are most effective when used with strong local governance. Community-developed rules ensure resources are managed sustainably, while legal recognition strengthens the protection of the commons.
In Bolivia, urban water cooperatives demonstrate this approach. These cooperatives, run by water users, manage distribution and set rules. The Bolivian government supports them with legal protections, preventing privatisation of water resources. This blend of local and legal strategies has kept water systems in the community’s hands.
Digital commons also benefit from this combination. Open-source software projects use community rules to govern code sharing and modification, while Creative Commons licenses protect access to the community’s work, ensuring these digital resources remain open.
What role does civic engagement play?
What role does civic engagement play?
Civic engagement, the ways that people take collective action to address issues of public concern, is crucial in protecting commons. Community campaigns can raise awareness, build support, and pressure governments to act to protect commons. Strong public opposition to privatisation often forces authorities to prioritise community interests over private profits.
Bolivia’s “Water Wars” in Cochabamba highlight this. In the early 2000s, the government privatised the city’s water supply, handing control to a multinational company. Prices skyrocketed, leaving many unable to afford water. The community united—farmers, workers, and indigenous communities—with mass protests that drew global attention. The government eventually canceled the privatisation, returning water management to public control. This victory shows how collective action can challenge enclosure and reclaim resources.
Figure 5. Public protests over water privatisation in Bolivia are an example of how vital natural resources can be defended from enclosure
(Credit: Tom Kruse)
Activity 4.4.1
Activity 4.4.1
Concept: Power, Regeneration
Skills: Thinking skills (transfer)
Time: varies, depending on the option
Type: Individual, pairs, or group
Option 1: The Bolivian Water Revolt
Time: varies, depends on how long students are given to explore the website, whether they divide and share the work, or whether they develop a case study or exhibit with the information
The water protests in Cochabamba in early 2000 became a global symbol of defending vital natural resources from enclosure. On the tenth anniversary of the protests The Democracy Center put a set of resources online to help people understand what happened there:
Explore the website to learn about this case study of water enclosure and how the community of Cochabamba were able to resist it.
If you are working with other students, you may wish to divide up the exploration of the website and then share what you found with each other.
You could write up a short case study, being sure to highlight some key points about commoning learned in Topic 4, or you could even do an exhibit on the case for your classroom or in the school.
Option 2: Rights of nature initiatives
Time: 40 minutes
The movement to grant rights to nature is gaining momentum around the world.
Do some quick research to find out whether there are movements to protect the rights of nature in the country where you live. If so, what is being protected and how?
AND/OR
Access the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor to find examples of rights of nature initiatives around the world.
What is being protected?
How do the legal approaches differ?
If you found an initiative in the country where you live that is not on the Monitor, you can report it so it can be added!
Ideas for longer activities and projects are listed in Subtopic 4.5 Taking action
Checking for understanding
Checking for understanding
Further exploration
Further exploration
Protecting Traditional Knowledge: India's Fight Against Biopiracy – An NPR article detailing India's efforts to safeguard its traditional knowledge, such as the medicinal use of turmeric, from biopiracy through initiatives like the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). Difficulty level: medium.
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) – The official website of India's TKDL, a pioneering digital repository documenting traditional medicinal knowledge to prevent misappropriation and inform patent examiners worldwide. Difficulty level: medium.
The Rights of Nature: A Global Movement – A documentary exploring the recognition of legal rights for nature, challenging traditional legal frameworks that treat nature as property. Difficulty level: medium.
Murrawah Maroochy Johnson, 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize, Australia – A YouTube video highlighting Murrawah Maroochy Johnson's receipt of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts in environmental conservation in Australia. Difficulty level: easy.
Eco Jurisprudence Monitor – A website tracking the global movement toward Earth-centered laws, providing resources and data on initiatives that protect the rights of nature. Difficulty level: medium.
Saving the Whanganui: can personhood rescue a river? - an article from The Guardian that explores whether legal personhood can protect the Whanganui River in New Zealand. Difficulty level: medium
The River is Me, a short (17 min) documentary about how the Whanganui River in New Zealand has been granted legal personhood, in keeping with the Maori worldview that the river is a living entity. Difficulty level: easy.
Creative Commons - the website with information about Creative Commons licensing. Difficulty level: easy
Sources
Sources
Bollier, D. and Helfrich, S. (2019). Free, Fair and Alive: The Insurgent Power of the Commons. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.
Bollier, D. (2025). Think Like a Commoner: A Short introduction to the Life of the Commons, 2nd edition. https://www.thinklikeacommoner.com/
3. Enclosures of Nature
9. Digital Rebels in the Big Tech Imperium
The Democracy Center. (n.d.). The Bolivian water revolt. https://www.democracyctr.org/the-bolivian-water-revolt
Glenza, J. (2024, November 20). Granting legal personhood to nature is a growing movement – Can it stem biodiversity loss? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/granting-legal-personhood-to-nature-is-a-growing-movement-can-it-stem-biodiversity-loss-227336
Horowitz-Ghazi, A. Beras, E. Messick, M. and Rubin, W. (2023 September 1). How one man fought a patent war over turmeric. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/09/01/1197321273/turmeric-india-biopiracy-patent-tkdl
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. (2024). Colombia: Indigenous world 2024. https://www.iwgia.org/en/colombia/5380-iw-2024-colombia.html
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Terminology (in order of appearance)
Link to Quizlet interactive flashcards and terminology games for Section 4.4.1 Preventing enclosure
biopiracy: the unauthorised and uncompensated collection of biological resources by individuals or companies who then use or patent them for their own benefit
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
customary usage rights: traditional practices and privileges that have evolved over time and are recognised by law due to their long-standing usage
profit: total revenue minus total cost
title: the formal document that states what a person's rights are related to property
indigenous reserve: land set aside by our federal government for the use and occupancy of an indigenous community
indigenous community: the original settlers of an area (pre-invasion/colonialism) who have retained their culture apart from colonisers
steward: to manage or look after something
constitution: the basic principles and laws of a state that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee rights to the people in it
legal hack: creatively use existing laws to achieve a goal, like protecting the commons
sustainability: meeting people’s needs within the means of the planet
legal personhood: the ability to have legal rights or responsibilities, like a person
value: ideas about what is important or good
copyright: legal ownership of intellectual property with the right to control its reproduction and distribution
creative commons license: one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work
governance: the process of overseeing the control and direction of something
cooperative: an organisation owned and controlled by people to meet their common economic, social, and/or cultural needs
digital commons: a form of commons involving the distribution and communal ownership of information resources and technology
civic engagement: all the ways that people take action together to address issues of public concern
campaign: work in an organised and active way towards a particular goal, often political or social
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse