There are many examples of communities governing their commons without market or governmental mechanisms. These were famously studied by Elinor Ostrom, who developed a framework to understand self-governance of the commons. Her 8 principles are:
Commons are not a free-for-all, but a carefully managed system with rules that are enforced by the community and adapted over time as demand for or stresses on the resource fluctuate.
Providing for everyone’s needs through the commons is “to live in relationships of necessity with other people.”
One of the key questions we face as a global society is, how can we apply the principles of local commons governance to the global commons?
Decentralized Commons Governance
Designing a system to optimize sustainable group coordination can be seen as designing incentives for a market that optimizes a sustainable objective. Source
Can we scale human economic cooperation with trustable machines?
Dive Deeper
Topic relates to:
Commons & Public Goods Tragedy of The Commons Theft of The Commons Decentralized Commons Governance
Further Reading:
Understanding the specificity of commons management systems Global climate governance: the role of the commons paradigm The tragedy of the commons Governing the commons by Elinor Ostrom Commoning in the periphery – The role of the commons for understanding rural continuities and change