The Statement of Intent
Page currently being edited by Jay Bender
STATEMENT OF INTENT
We are part of a growing movement that recognizes the global commons as a third sector of human endeavor and world resources, one that is distinctly different from existing public and private sectors. The global commons belongs to all of humanity. It calls for an increasing awareness of global sovereignty on the part of all world citizens who, as groups and as individuals, need new structures of governance through which to cooperate.
Our intention therefore, is to assist in the creation of a decentralized, grassroots system of governance that works to protect and sustain the global commons. The nature of the "commons" varies broadly, from local fisheries to the world of knowledge, calling for different kinds of institutions. We are concerned here with governance that originates at the local community level, empowering people in their home places, as well as with governance structures at larger geopolitical levels, including the global level. Further, we are concerned that this local governance be supported at all levels, through all regions, by the United Nations and other international groups. We believe that the full emergence of the commons will provide a balance for existing public and private sectors, resulting in greater justice and more sustainable markets.
We therefore seek...
1. to join civil society organizations, businesses, governments, community groups, and individuals throughout the earth to heighten collective awareness, advancing a new dialogue among all peoples regarding our relationships with each other and with the global commons;
2. to facilitate cooperative action, direct participation, and global representation ofworld citizens with regard to the recognition, protection, use and preservation of their commons;
3. to promote the creation of commons trusts, which are founded on the principles of transparency; equitable decision-making processes; accountability to all human and non-human species, as well as, present and future genrations; and responsible for protecting, maintaining, and rebuilding their resource domain.
Comments (1 - 10 of 10)
|
|
The phrase "commons trusts" in the 3rd point sounds like some kind of legal entities. Is this what we are seeking to create?
|
|
Hi Friends, I like the progress on this statement of intent very much! It's also great to see the connections growing -- welcome, Rafael! And Amy from Alaska! blessings, p |
|
I´m so happy that I found you... Wiserearth is really awesome as a tool to find people around the world that are interested in the same things.
At this time, i´m trying to do something similar as the Common Governance Work Group in Brazil - but unfortunatedly everithing is (and will be) written in brazilian portuguese. In my coutry there are few people that dominate english the necessary to mantain a conversation.
I´ll trying to keep track of the happenings here and, when we got more structurated, will post here our advances.
|
|
This edit (in red) replaces the second sentence, second paragraph of Intent.
The nature of the "commons" varies broadly, from local fisheries to the world of knowledge, calling for different kinds of institutions. We are concerned here with governance that originates at the local community level, empowering people in their home places, as well as with governance structures at larger geopolitical levels, including the global level. |
|
suggestions
first pagagraph
to recognize > that recognizes
in the second sentence, we're using 'recognizes' a secondt time - can we use another word?
second paragraph
therefore,
will work > works
I do not agree with the emphasis on localism - the realization of commons also needs to be global
#3
I don't think that the 'full disclosure of financial supporters' is really part of our task -- that's the work of Transparency International and similar social justice groups
|
|
MISSION STATEMENT:
3. to further transparency and power-sharing in developing commons
organizations by advocating locally-based decision-making processes as
the foundation for international cooperation and collaboration on the
commons |
|
|
I had an excellent discussion with Pat today. I'd like to share a key insight that I received from that talk.
I believe we both got clearer about the value of separating our Statement of Intent (ie, the what, why & how of going forward now), from our statement of what we've learned over these ten weeks about co-governance processes, based on experiences & insights of the last year. One looks back, to offer constructive, supportive guidance ... the other looks forward....
Somehow, (not sure how) those two have gotten mixed together in our discussions of the project set for this wiki page -- our Statement of Intent. So, to begin separating them, we thought we'd start by each putting down our ideas (privately, as we did with weekly reflections) about what we've learned -- ie, what we understand differently or better now, etc, through our 10-weeks of research, reflection & discussions. Then ... (as with our reflections, which we shared in limited ways over the second half of these ten-weeks), we'll begin comparing notes & deciding what's valuable to draw out & contribute to a 'report' (the final product that we promised, in our original Dec 1 letter, to offer when we finished), as the culmination of our 10-week group process.
Perhaps writing our statement of intent will become less confounding, as we 'clear the underbrush' of our own 'lessons learned' up to the present time. That, at least, is where I'm going to focus my energies first. patty
|
|
|
Hi Pat, I hope to work with you on this in the next couple days ... will try to phone you to check-in on the status & see how you want me to do a draft -- here, or in an email or attachment doc. blessings, ;-) patty ps, it's so nice when everything works!!! |
|
|
Patricia,
here are my suggestions of changes to the current statement of intention enclosed in parenthesis. We are part of a growing movement to recognize the global commons as a sphere of life, land and culture that is distinctly different from existing public and private spheres. The global commons belongs to all of humanity and calls for recognition of global sovereignty on the part of world citizens who, as groups and as individuals, need new structures of governance through which to cooperate. Our intention, therefore is to assist in the creation of a democratic, decentralized, locally-based system of governance for the protection, sustainability and realization of the global commons. (I would replace "democratic governance" with "governance by the people". Maybe remove "realization"? What does it mean to realize the global commons? ) Although the nature of the "commons" varies broadly, from local fisheries to the world of knowledge – calling for different kinds of institutions – we are most concerned here with governance that originates at the local community and market level, empowering people in their home places. ( I recommend removing "market". Does not make sense in this context, since market does not describe a level. The local community level includes individuals, markets, public and commons sectors. I recommend using "with governance that originates at the local community level empowering people in their home places." ) Further, we are concerned that this local governance be supported at all levels, through all regions, up to the United Nations or other similar international groups. ( I recommend changing 'up to the United Nations or other similar international groups' to 'and by the United Nations and another international groups.') We believe that the full emergence of the commons will become an energetic resource for re-creating and balancing existing public and private sectors, resulting in more just institutions and more sustainable markets. We therefore seek... 1. to join civil society organizations, businesses, governments, community groups, and individuals throughout the earth to heighten collective awareness, advancing a new dialogue among all peoples regarding our relationships with each other and with the global commons, its common goods and common trusts; ( I recommend ending the last sentence after 'the global commons', since what follows it seems to me to be parts of the global commons. ) 2. to facilitate cooperative action, direct participation, and global representation of world citizens with regard to the recognition, protection, use and preservation of their commons; 3. to further transparency and power-sharing in developing commons organizations by advocating consensus-based decision-making processes and promoting full disclosure of financial supporters. ( I would replace point three by the following: 3. to engender trust of commons organizations by advocating that they use transparent decision-making processes and full disclosure of financial supporters. ) |
Yes Max, in my mind 'commons trusts' are exactly the kind of thing that we are seeking to create.
You are exactly right, it would be a legal entity of some sort. This is the only way that I know of, so far, that would provide a commons with an institution that is not Market or State based.
As you are familiar Im sure, market based institutions are legally required to make a profit for its shareholders, so these institutions no matter how eco-minded they are, ultimately pledge their allegiance to the shareholder. And State based institutions, by default, typically only pledge their responsibility to voters over the age of 18 and campaign contributors.
These two types of institutions are a far cry from the type of institution a commons needs. Therefore, we need to create commons trusts that would be legally responsible to all people of all ages in all countries, non-human species such as plants and animals, and future generations.
For more on this subject see Peter Barnes' latest book Capitalism 3.0