State of the World Forum

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Glossary of important terms relevant to or used by this site

Commons (Elaborated)

We understand the commons to be a sphere of life that is distinct, both from the public sphere of government provision and distribution, and from the private sphere of property and trade.  

The commons are expressed in many contexts of life, spanning a continuum from observable exterior realms such as physical and biological resources and social institutions, to abstract interior realms such as learning processes and cultural histories.  

The commons are also expressed at many levels of human activity, ranging from local initiatives, to cross-border collaboration, to global cooperation on behalf of present and future generations.

The commons denote fundamental shared legacies, as well as shared sovereignty amongst diverse peoples.   

Commons ...

• support the growth and evolution of life, whether human or non-human;
• evolve as complex systems over time -- they cannot be manufactured, but must be preserved; 
• are vulnerable to enclosure, neglect, and misuse, but are likewise responsive to protection, restoration, and sustenance.
  

A commons legacy depends on the cooperative sovereignty of those who use them to preserve their vitality for the benefit of all. 

Development - on an international scale, the development of livelihoods and greater quality of life for human beings. Human and social development encompasses foreign aid, governance, healthcare, education, gender equality, disaster preparedness, infrastructure, economics, human rights, environment, and other associated issues

Bipolar paradigm - a system where two dominant functional components determine all implementations and solutions. In the case of state capitalism, the public-private dichotomy is actually a monoculture with more similarities than differences

Public Sector - deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the government, whether national, regional or local/municipal. Mainly funded through taxation

Private Sector - the economy run for private profit and not controlled by the state. For example: private banks and corporations

G-8, G-20 & G-192 - groups of nations that meet periodically for determination of interests that pertain to the nations within the group. The lower the number, the greater the tendency for concentrated self-interest in relationship to other nations outside of the group. G-192 represents all member states of the United Nations

Multilateral System - system of governance in which all nation-states work together to solve global problems

Commons - people sharing resources (both depletable and replenishable) including: air, water, fossil fuels, forests, fisheries, food resources, biodiversity, genetics, internet, open source info/ mass collaboration, human rights/ health/ culture, pollution, security, climate, communications. "Commoning" is the ability to organize, express the will of, and meet the needs of people without harm to systems on which we depend.

Resources: International Association for the Study of the Commons, www.iascp.org, also www.onthecommons.org

Commons Trusts - co-governance and co-production of a commons asset by a local community of producers and users with the primary goal of preserving the resource for future generations. Local trusts must coordinate regionally and cooperate across regions creating Global Trusts to effectively safeguard global commons

Co-Governance - process of participatory management in which decisions are made at the lowest levels possible (ie. subsidiarity and decentralization), thereby recognizing the decision of each member equitably

Co-Production - the outcome of synergistic cooperation; productivity, creative output and social capital created through a group working under a transparent process of co-governance

1. Sheth and Uslay, From Exchange to Value Creation, www.jagsheth.net/docs/Implications.pdf

2. Bauwens, The Political Economy of Peer Production, www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue37/Bauwens37.htm

3. Bollier, The Commons as a New Sector of Value-Creation, www.onthecommons.org/content.php?id=1813

Full Cost Accounting - transparent reflection of true costs of resource development, production and distribution, as well as long-term advantages for projects or proposals. 'Triple bottom line' (People, Planet, Profit) is an example, where financial considerations and also ecological and social performance are included in the equation for a model's success

Carbon Tax - an environmental tax on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases for the purpose of protecting the environment and slowing climate change by reducing greenhouse emissions

Cap and Trade - proposal to set a cap on carbon emissions and issue pollution credits. Emissions cap can be reduced over time. Some see this as a public-private sector system with its own market, which could lead to manipulation of the credits and a tendency toward privatization of the air

Cap and Dividend - a system where carbon credits are issued to limit carbon emissions. The revenues resulting from the credits and penalties are returned to the taxpayers as dividends, thereby increasing common wealth while suppressing the tendency for the private sector to manipulate credits and enclose (privatize) air resources

1. USA: Peter Barnes testifies to the US Ways and Means Committee on the benefits of paying carbon dividends to every American via a Sky Trust, www.onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2240

2. International: A worldwide agreement to secure drastic cuts, negotiate benefits to be shared equitably. Global Cap and Share proposal from FEASTA, www.capanddividend.org/?q=resources

Contraction & Convergence [C&C] - conceived in the 1990's by the Global Commons Institute to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas [ghg] concentration. To this end, global ghg emissions are decreased each year [contraction], while the international quota shares of this are predistributed by moving to equal per capita shares globally by an agreed date [convergence], www.gci.org.uk/briefings/ICE.pdf

Equity-Based Money System - system where creation and usage of money is based on, and determined by, existing commons assets (reserves), rather than assumed future assets (fractional reserves) based on debt and interest rates. Thomas H. Greco, Jr., "The End of Money and the Future of Civilization", 2009, or download an overview of his work: www.circ2.home.mindspring.com/Money_and_Debt_Part3_lo.PDF

Debt-Based Money System - the dominant economic paradigm, pervasive across the planet. Richard Greaves, The Negative Consequences Of The Debt-Based Money System, www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/negcon.html

Declaration of Respect for Life and Human Security across the Global Commons - Respect for the entire Sacred Web of Life: All human beings, all species, all flora and fauna, and the Earth, its elements and minerals, are required for survival and prosperity. The laws of cause and effect, energy, biodiversity and interspecies ethics have taught us to recognize and legitimate the essential rights of all of Earth's life forms. To this end, we declare our rights to the sustainability and security of this Global Commons, encompassing local, national, regional and global stability and the environmental and economic threats to our survival as societies, groups, and individuals. We have no need to petition government for entitlements or businesses for permissions to these rights - we claim them in partnership as our legal and moral birthrights and our responsibilities as Sovereign Beings on Earth, www.wiserearth.org/group/commonsgroup