Global commons is a concept to describe international, supranational, and globalresource domains in whichcommon-pool resources are found. They are "areas that lie outside of the political reach of any one nation State".^[1] Globalcommons include the earth's shared natural resources, such as the high seas (international waters), theatmosphere andouter space and theAntarctic in particular.^[1] The global commons concept investigates how those shared resources that lie outside of national borders can be managed or governed.^[2]

"Global commons" is a term typically used to describe international,supranational, and global resource domains in which common-pool resources are found. Ineconomics,common goods arerivalrous andnon-excludable, constituting one of the four main types ofgoods.^[3] Acommon-pool resource, also called a common property resource, is a special case of a common good (orpublic good) whose size or characteristics makes it costly, but not impossible, to exclude potential users. Examples include both natural or human-made resource domains (e.g., a "fishing hole" or an irrigation system). Unlikeglobal public goods, global common-pool resources face problems of congestion, overuse, or degradation because they are subtractable (which makes themrivalrous).^[4]

The term "commons" originates from the termcommon land in the British Isles.^[5] "Commoners rights" referred to traditional rights held by commoners, such asmowingmeadows forhay orgrazinglivestock on common land held in theopen field system of oldEnglish common law.Enclosure was the process that ended those traditional rights, converting open fields toprivate property. Today, many commons still exist inEngland,Wales,Scotland, and theUnited States, although their extent is much reduced from the millions of acres that existed until the 17th century.^[6] There are still over 7,000 registered commons in England alone.^[7]

According to theWorld Conservation Strategy, a report on conservation published by theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in collaboration withUNESCO and with the support of theUnited Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and theWorld Wildlife Fund (WWF):

"A commons is a tract of land or water owned or used jointly by the members of a community. The global commons includes those parts of the Earth's surface beyondnational jurisdictions — notably the open ocean and the living resources found there — or held in common — notably the atmosphere. The only landmass that may be regarded as part of the global commons is Antarctica ..."^[8]

Some refer to theInternet,World Wide Web and resultingcyberspace as global commons.^[9] Cyberspace is more commonly calleddigital commons. Other usages sometimes include references to open access information of all kinds, including arts and culture, language and science, though these are more formally referred to as thecommon heritage of mankind.^[10]

The key challenge of the global commons is the design of governance structures and management systems capable of addressing the complexity of multiple public and private interests, subject to often unpredictable changes, ranging from the local to the global level.^[11] As withglobal public goods, management of the global commons requires pluralistic legal entities, usually international and supranational, public and private, structured to match the diversity of interests and the type of resource to be managed, and stringent enough with adequate incentives to ensure compliance.^[12] Such management systems are necessary to avoid, at the global level, the classictragedy of the commons, in which common resources becomeoverexploited.^[13]

There are several key differences in management of resources in the global commons from those of the commons, in general.^[14] There are obvious differences in scale of both the resources and the number of users at the local versus the global level. Also, there are differences in the shared culture and expectations of resource users; more localized commons users tend to be more homogeneous and global users more heterogeneous. This contributes to differences in the possibility and time it takes for new learning about resource usage to occur at the different levels. Moreover, global resource pools are less likely to be relatively stable and the dynamics are less easily understood. Many of the global commons are non-renewable on human time scales.^{[citation needed]} Thus, resource degradation is more likely to be the result ofunintended consequences that are unforeseen, not immediately observable, or not easily understood. For example, thecarbon dioxide emissions that driveclimate change continue to do so for at least a millennium after they enter the atmosphere.^[15]

Severalenvironmental protocols have been established (seeList of international environmental agreements) as a type ofinternational law, "an intergovernmental document intended as legally binding with a primary stated purpose of preventing or managing human impacts on natural resources."^[16] International environmental protocols came to feature inenvironmental governance after trans-boundaryenvironmental problems became widely perceived in the 1960s.^[17] Following theStockholm Intergovernmental Conference in 1972, creation of international environmental agreements proliferated.^[18] Due to the barriers already discussed, environmental protocols are not a panacea for global commons issues. Often, they are slow to produce the desired effects, tend to thelowest common denominator, and lack monitoring and enforcement. They also take an incremental approach to solutions wheresustainable development principles suggest that environmental concerns should be mainstream political issues.^{[citation needed]}

TheLaw of the Sea is a body ofpublic international law governing relationships between nations in respect to navigational rights,mineral rights, and jurisdiction over coastal waters. Maritime law, also calledAdmiralty law, is a body of both domestic law governing maritime activities andprivate international law governing the relationships between private entities which operate vessels on the oceans. It deals with matters including marine commerce,marine navigation,shipping,sailors, and the transportation of passengers and goods by sea.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has identified several areas of need in managing the global ocean: strengthen national capacities for action, especially in developing countries; improve fisheries management; reinforce cooperation in semi-enclosed and regional seas; strengthen controls over ocean disposal of hazardous and nuclear wastes; and advance the Law of the Sea. Specific problems identified as in need of attention include Currentrising sea levels;contamination by hazardous chemicals (including oil spills); microbiological contamination; ocean acidification;harmful algal blooms; andover-fishing and otheroverexploitation.^[19]

The atmosphere is a complex dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. A primary concern for management of the global atmosphere isair pollution, the introduction into theatmosphere ofchemicals,particulates, orbiological materials that cause discomfort, disease, or death to humans, damage other living organisms such as food crops, or damage thenatural environment orbuilt environment.

Pollution of breathableair is a central problem in the management of the global commons. Pollutants can be in the form of solid particles, liquid droplets, or gases and may be natural or man-made. Although controversial and limited in scope by methods of enforcement, in several parts of the world thepolluter pays principle, which makes theparty responsible for producingpollution responsible for paying for the damage done to thenatural environment, is accepted. It has strong support in mostOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) andEuropean Community (EC) countries. It is also known asextended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR seeks to shift the responsibility dealing with waste fromgovernments (and thus,taxpayers and society at large) to the entities producing it. In effect, it attempts to internalise the cost of waste disposal into the cost of the product, theoretically resulting in producers improving thewaste profile of their products, decreasing waste and increasing possibilities forreuse andrecycling.^{[citation needed]}

The 1979Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, or CLRTAP, is an early international effort to protect and gradually reduce and prevent air pollution. It is implemented by the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP), directed by theUnited Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

TheMontreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, or Montreal Protocol (a protocol to theVienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer), is an internationaltreaty designed to protect theozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible forozone depletion. The treaty was opened for signature on 16 September 1987, and entered into force on 1 January 1989. The Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol were widely regarded as highly successful, both in achieving ozone reductions and as a pioneering model for management of the global commons.^[20]

Global warming and climate change in general are a major concern of global commons management. TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988 to develop a scientific consensus, concluded in a series of reports that reducingemissions of greenhouse gases was necessary to prevent catastrophic harm. For example, the IPCC concluded in a2018 report that dangerous climate change was inevitable unless much greater reductions were promised and carried out.

The 1992 United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) pledged to work toward "stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic [i.e., human-induced] interference with the climate system" (as of 2019 there were 197 parties to the convention, although not all had ratified it).^[21] The 1997Kyoto Protocol to the FCCC set forth binding obligations on industrialised countries to reduce emissions. It expired in 2012 and was followed by the 2015Paris Agreement in which nations made individual promises of reductions.

TheAntarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulateinternational relations with respect toAntarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and currently having 50 signatory nations, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bansmilitary activity on that continent.^[22]

Management ofouter space global commons has been contentious since the successful launch of theSputnik satellite by the formerSoviet Union on 4 October 1957. There is no clear boundary betweenEarth's atmosphere and space, although there are several standard boundary designations: one that deals withorbital velocity (theKármán line), one that depends on the velocity of charged particles in space, and some that are determined by human factors such as the height at which human blood begins to boil without a pressurized environment (theArmstrong line).^{[citation needed]}

Space policy regarding a country'scivilian space program, as well as its policy on bothmilitary use andcommercial use of outer space, intersects withscience policy, since national space programs often perform orfund research inspace science, and also withdefense policy, for applications such asspy satellites andanti-satellite weapons. It also encompasses government regulation of third-party activities such as commercialcommunications satellites andprivate spaceflight^[23] as well as the creation and application ofspace law andspace advocacy organizations that exist to support the cause of space exploration.

Scientists have outlined rationale for governance that regulates the current freeexternalization of true costs and risks, treatingorbital space around the Earth as part of the global commons – as an "additional ecosystem" or "part of the human environment" – which should be subject to the same concerns andregulations likee.g. oceans on Earth. The study concluded in 2022 that it needs "new policies, rules and regulations at national and international level".^[25][24]

TheOuter Space Treaty, signed in 1967, provides a basic framework for international space law. It covers the legal use of outer space by nation states. The treaty states that outer space is free for all nation states to explore and is not subject to claims of nationalsovereignty. It also prohibits the deployment ofnuclear weapons in outer space.

Beginning in 1958, outer space has been the subject of multiple resolutions by the United Nations General Assembly. Of these, more than 50 have concerned the international co-operation in the peaceful uses of outer space and preventing an arms race in space. Four additionalspace law treaties have been negotiated and drafted by the UN'sCommittee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Still, there remain no legal prohibitions against deploying conventional weapons in space andanti-satellite weapons have been successfully tested by the US, USSR and China. The 1979Moon Treaty turned the jurisdiction of all heavenly bodies (including the orbits around such bodies) over to the international community. However, this treaty has not been ratified by any nation that currently practices crewed spaceflight.

• Digital commons (economics)
• Environmental economics
• Environmental law
• Goods
• Global public goods
• Human ecology

• The Global Environmental Facility
• Share the World's Resources Sustainable Economics to End Global Poverty – the Global Commons in Economic Practice.

• Goldman, Michael (1998).Privatizing Nature: Political Struggles for the Global Commons. Rutgers University Press.ISBN 978-0-8135-2554-9.
• Amstutz, Mark R. (2008).International Ethics: Concepts, Theories, and Cases in Global Politics. Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN 978-0-7425-5604-1.
• Harrison, Kathryn; Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom (2010).Global Commons, Domestic Decisions: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change. MIT Press.ISBN 978-0-262-51431-6.
• Milun, Kathryn (2010).The Political Uncommons: The Cross-cultural Logic of the Global Commons. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.ISBN 978-0-7546-7139-8.
• Jasper, Scott (2012).Conflict and Cooperation in the Global Commons: A Comprehensive Approach for International Security. Georgetown University Press.ISBN 978-1-58901-923-2.

• Public commons
• World
• Goods (economics)
• Globalization
• Human ecology

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