118 The Global Food System
use of environmental resources under particular conditions.6,28 We know most
about small-scale ecologies and institutions whose many successes and failures
have been studied for years. Researchers are now developing a knowledge base for
broader-scale systems. In this chapter, we address what science has learned about
governing the commons, how adaptive governance can be implemented and why
it is always a struggle.^29
Why a Struggle?
Devising ways to sustain the Earth’s ability to support diverse life, including a rea-
sonable quality of life for humans, involves making tough decisions under uncer-
tainty, complexity and substantial biophysical constraints as well as conflicting
human values and interests (Box 5.1). Devising effective governance systems is
akin to a co-evolutionary race. A set of rules crafted to fit one set of socio-ecological
conditions can erode as social, economic and technological developments increase
the potential for human damage to ecosystems and even to the biosphere itself.
Furthermore, humans devise ways of evading governance rules. Thus, successful
commons governance requires that rules evolve.
Effective commons governance is easier to achieve when (i) the resources and
use of the resources by humans can be monitored, and the information can be
verified and understood at relatively low cost (e.g. trees are easier to monitor than
fish, and lakes are easier to monitor than rivers);^30 (ii) rates of change in resources,
resource-user populations, technology, and economic and social conditions are
Note: ppt = parts per trillion; ppm = parts per million.
Source: Data are from note 169
Figure 5.2 Atmospheric concentration of CO 2 (solid line, right scale) and three
principal ODS (dashed line, left scale). The ODS are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 11,
12 and 113 and were weighted based on their ozone-depleting potential^168