United Nations Intellectual History Project Series:

Managing natural resources and promoting sustainable development:

"This timely study makes a seminal contribution to understanding the management of natural resources in the context of changing economic, environmental, and social realities. . . . Schrijver's work shows how research undertaken by the UN is contributing to the search for solutions to today's main challenge: safeguarding the global commons for tomorrow, while providing a decent quality of life for all." —Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development

"Schrijver's thorough account of the achievements of the UN across the field of natural resource management enables him both to assess that contribution and to make realistic, practical suggestions for improvement." —James Crawford, University of Cambridge.

Since 1945, the UN has been actively engaged in conceptualizing strategies for both economic development and a sustainable environment. From a broad historical perspective, Development without Destruction sketches the role played by organizations and individuals in the UN system in developing and consolidating principles of international law and international governance with respect to natural resource management. Nico Schrijver highlights the UN's efforts to generate and implement strategies to resolve tensions between economic development and environmental protection, conservation and exploitation, sovereignty and internationalism, and armed conflict and peaceful access to natural resources. Schrijver's thorough analysis is an indispensable guide to management of the critical environmental issues on today's global agenda.

Nico Schrijver holds the Chair of International Law and is Academic Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University. He is author of The Evolution of Sustainable Development in International Law: Inception, Meaning, and Status and Sovereignty over Natural Resources: Balancing Rights and Duties.

Commons Course: Operationalizing Sustainability

Hello Friends Around the World, thought you might be interested in participating in the next Common Course online.  There will be a short introductory conference call.  

I am putting this out to people i know who are working towards sustainability and justice in various fields.  I think you will find that the commons movement provides means to operationalize sustainability and enable transparency, sharing and justice in ways that have not been possible until recent times.

Outreach and development for the Common Course is through the Commons Knowledge Alliance and Commons Action for the UN.   Common Courses will soon be available for universities and organizations around the world via creative commons licensing.  

You can learn quite a bit about the 4 week intensive course and see the curriculum by following the links below.  The course is open to anyone.  Please share this with anyone who you think may be interested... those working towards human rights, rights of nature and sustainability. 

The Common Course is now open for enrollment.  A short introductory conference call is offered.
  
Click here to find out more details of the new Common Course.

Below you’ll find an overview of what will be offered during this Common Course curriculum.

Hope to have your participation, 
Mary Beth Steisslinger, MS
For the Common Course Team

 

The Common Course - an Overview

The full Common Course Curriculum 

Sponsors: The Anthroposphere Institute, The Commons Knowledge Alliance

Format:

1. Self-study; materials available on-line

2. Regular participation in on-line discussion group (minimum of 3x/week)

3. Participation in weekly conference call

Academic Director: Leo Burke

Online Discussion Facilitators: Leo Burke, Robin Temple, Mary Beth Steisslinger, Jay Bender

Webmaster:  Robin Temple

Tuition:  $25 for participants from OEDC countries; $5 for participants from non-OEDC countries

Website: The Commons Campus

Materials:  All text materials will be posted on the website in PDF format; audio materials in MP3 format; videos in YouTube format (.flv)

Course orientation conference call: Saturday, 29 January, 2011.

This orientation conference call will be the official start of the Common Course.

The orientation call will give you a chance to be introduced to your instructors on the Common Course, hear from others who are also participating, and ask any technical questions you may have about using this online learning platform for the course.

Topics:

Week I—Introduction to the Commons
 Overview of the commons, including history, current usage and definitions.  Major issues facing the commons today.

Week II: The Enclosure of the Commons
 History of the enclosure process.  Current attempts at enclosure, privatization, monetization of the commons.

Week III: The Commons and Climate Change
The impact of climate change on the commons and the use of commons trusts to protect the climate.

Week IV: The Depth and Breath of the Global Commons: From Philosophy to Action
Examining the philosophical underpinnings of the global commons and looking at ways of taking effective action to create a sustainable future.

Common Course Working Group 
globalcommons@gmail.com

~ ~ ~
THE COMMONS, n., gifts of nature and society; the wealth we inherit or create together and must pass on, undiminished or enhanced, to our children; a sector of the economy that complements and counterweights the corporate sector.
~ ~ ~

 

 

From: Glans Van Essen <glansvanessen@yahoo.com>
To: jvhuffines@gmail.com
Cc: chavezm@un.org; Lisinka Ulatowska <lisinka.ulatowska@gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, August 5, 2010 2:59:21 PM
Subject: Fw: Action: DPI-NGO Conf. on Commons

Common Course, 2010, Oct17-Nov13

 

From: Lisinka Ulatowska <lisinka.ulatowska@gmail.com>
To: Mr. J. Huffines <jvhuffines@gmail.com>
Cc: Doug Mattern <info@worldcitizens.org>; Glans Van Essen <glansvanessen@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thu, August 5, 2010 4:53:04 PM
Subject: Global Commons,the DPI NGO Conference and briefings

Dear Mr. Huffines,

Ir. Emile van Essen, who heads the Global Human Commons for us recently wrote to you regarding the global commons as topic for the 2012 NGO DPI conference. As U. N. Representative of the Association of World Citizens and upon request of our President, Doug Mattern, I should like to support this request and expand on our reasons for proposing the Global Commons as a fruitful subject for:

1. an NGO Briefing in the not too distant future; and
2. the subject for the 2012 DPI NGO Conference (possibly to be held in Macao?)

In this context, we would like to draw your attention to the attached UN document on the global commons.

The global commons is important because it embraces three aspects:

• commons goods, those aspects of nature and society inherited by all people that must also be passed on to succeeding generations,
• the well-being of all people and of nature as a whole, and
• local, national and international governance structures that allow all people both to have a say in how these are stewarded and to draw the benefits from them

The global commons approach to the solution of world problems is being used by some of the most eminent thinkers of today. Elinor Ostrom received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in this area. Jeremy Rifkin suggests that applying this approach to the energy crisis might be the only way to achieve results in time. Global networks of organizations, such as Geo Cities, Eco Cities, Transition Towns are using it to deal with global crises in the areas of energy, the environment, the economy and social relations that are now confronting the whole of humanity. Wikpedia, U Tube, U Tunes and many other initiatives show the success of a commons approach when it comes to democratizing access to information and culture.

These initiatives evidence also the existing trend: from large-scale problem solving by those in power to problem solving by large networks of people. This trend is a vital component when it comes to the United Nations mandate to build, make, and keep the peace. The United Nations has the task to help sovereign Member States, each with a limited jurisdiction and individual needs, to deal with crises that affect the survival of all human beings. Here the partnerships between the UN System and civil society are an essential element without which UN Member States can not come to grips with global crises.

The crises in the areas of the economy, energy and the environment are an accumulation of the actions of ordinary people worldwide and therefore also must be solved by people everywhere, working together. Responsibility must be born by all and benefits derived for all if humanity is to thrive, as is attested to in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Earth Charter, and many other normative documents.

Both a UN Briefing and a DPI NGO Conference would be well-suited to help civil society to work more closely together to further the endeavours of the United Nations.

With thanks for all you do for the NGO Community,

Dr. Lisinka Ulatowska, UN Representative for the Associations of World Citizens