• On the commons of developed industrialized countries 

  Berge, Erling; Mckean, Margaret (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  The editorial discusses the status and prospects of the commons of developed industrialized countries, based on the literature. For the traditional commons, one key variable for long-term development prospects of the commons ...
• A social-ecological systems framework for food systems research: accommodating transformation systems and their products 

  Marshall, Graham R. (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  The social-ecological systems (SES) framework was developed to support communication across the multiple disciplines concerned with sustainable provision and/or appropriation of common-pool resources (CPRs). Transformation ...
• Multilevel governance challenges in transitioning towards a national approach for REDD+: evidence from 23 subnational REDD+ initiatives 

  Ravikumar, Ashwin; Larson, Anne M.; Duchelle, Amy E.; Myers, Rodd; Gonzales Tovar, Jazmin (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  Although REDD+ was conceived as a national approach to reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, many of the early advances have been at the subnational level. It is critical to link these subnational efforts ...
• Responding to disturbances: lessons from a Mayan socio-ecological system 

  González-Cruz, Gabriela; García-Frapolli, Eduardo; Casas, Alejandro; Dupuy, Juan Manuel (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  The Mayans of the Yucatán Peninsula, together with their environment, conform social-ecological systems with adaptation and resilience to natural, political and economic disturbances. In this study, we use the framework ...
• Bridging knowledge systems to enhance governance of environmental commons: A typology of settings 

  Rathwell, Kaitlyn Joanne; Armitage, Derek; Berkes, Fikret (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  We offer a typology of settings to bridge scientific and indigenous knowledge systems and to enhance governance of the environmental commons in contexts of change.  We contribute to a need for further clarity on how to ...
• Making Ostrom’s framework applicable to characterise social ecological systems at the local level 

  Delgado-Serrano, María del Mar; Ramos, Pablo (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  Ostrom’s framework to analyse the sustainability of social-ecological systems has attracted great interest in the last years. It was not conceived to characterise systems, but its nature and structure make it very appealing ...
• Turning conflict into collaboration in managing commons: A case of Rupa Lake Watershed, Nepal 

  Chaudhary, Pashupati; Chhetri, Netra B.; Dorman, Brian; Gegg, Tom; Rana, Ram B.; Shrestha, Milan; Thapa, Keshab; Lamsal, Krishna; Thapa, Surya (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  A growing body of literature on the commons has provided fascinating and intricate insights on how some local institutions have successfully managed to avoid a seemingly inevitable “tragedy of the commons” once popularized ...
• Evaluating local rules and practices for avoiding tragedies in small-scale fisheries of oxbow lakes, Southern Bangladesh 

  Mamun, Abdullah Al; Brook, Ryan K. (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  One of the key issues facing fishery managers, policy-makers and researchers has been acknowledging local institutions and rule systems for managing common pool resources. In this paper, we discuss local institutions and ...
• A study of institutional origins and change in a Canadian urban commons 

  Robson, James P.; Sinclair, Andrew J.; Diduck, Alan P. (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  Kenora is a small city located in northwestern Ontario, Canada. The study presented here focuses on Tunnel Island, 300 acres of forested land adjacent to Kenora’s downtown. The island is used and valued by both city residents ...
• Private provision of a public good: cooperation and altruism of internet forum users 

  Ros-Galvez, Alejandro; Rosa-Garcia, Alfonso (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  We ran an experiment with users of Internet forums. In a dictator game, we find that the level of altruism is positively related to the activity in the forum. In a public good game, there is no relation between cooperation ...
• Institutions for sustainable forest governance: Robustness, equity, and cross-level interactions in Mawlyngbna, Meghalaya, India 

  Oberlack, Christoph; LaHaela Walter, Philipp; Schmerbeck, Joachim; Tiwari, B K (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  This study adopts Ostrom’s Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework in empirical fieldwork to explain how local forestry institutions affect forest ecosystems and social equity in the community of Mawlyngbna in North-East ...
• Implementation of pasture leasing rights for mobile pastoralists – a case study on institutional change during post-socialist reforms in Azerbaijan 

  Neudert, Regina; Ruehs, Michael; Beckmann, Volker (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  Our study focuses on pasture reform in Azerbaijan within the context of transition and pasture reform in Central Asian and Caucasian countries. Despite the rapid emergence of individualised rights for pasture plots, which ...
• Land access and livelihoods in post-conflict Timor-Leste: no magic bullets 

  Batterbury, Simon P.J.; Palmer, Lisa; Reuter, Thomas; De Carvalho, Demetrio do Amaral; Kehi, Balthasar; Cullen, Alex (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  In Timor-Leste, customary institutions contribute to sustainable and equitable rural development and the establishment of improved access to and management of land, water and other natural resources. Drawing on multi-sited ...
• Multi-level natural resources governance based on local community: A case study on semi-natural grassland in Tarōji, Nara, Japan 

  Shimada, Daisaku (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  Japan is facing a bio-diversity crisis as a result of rapid industrialisation. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment formulated a National Biodiversity Strategy based on the Convention on Biological Diversity signed at ...
• Building a diagnostic ontology of social-ecological systems 

  Frey, Ulrich J; Cox, Michael (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  This article argues that research on social-ecological systems could profit from the use of ontologies. Ontologies, i.e. formalized conceptualisations of a domain in a computer-readable format, allow making progress in ...
• Democratic legitimacy and new commons: examples from English protected areas 

  Pieraccini, Margherita (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  This paper explores the relationship between protected areas and commons arguing that protected areas can be seen as a form of new commons because of the different objectives and beneficiaries compared to traditional ...
• On enclosure Norwegian style 

  Berge, Erling; Haugset, Anne Sigrid (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  More than 200 years after the King sold one of the “King’s commons” to urban timber merchants, local people in some ways still behave as if the area is a kind of commons. The paper outlines the history of the transformation ...
• Commons and the legacy of the past. Regulation and uses of common lands in twentieth century Spain 

  Lana, Jose-Miguel; Iriarte-Goñi, Iñaki (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  The authors explore the transformation of common lands in Spain in the second half of the 20th Century, when the nation experienced significant structural and political changes. If the 19th Century was defined by privatisation ...
• Rationality and complexity in the work of Elinor Ostrom 

  Lara, Arturo (Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2015-09-18)

  What role does the theory of rational choice play in the scientific evolution of the work of Elinor Ostrom? Ostrom accepts, rejects, and makes critical improvements to the prior achievements of the theory of rational choice, ...
• Furthering critical institutionalism 

  Cleaver, Frances Dalton; De Koning, Jessica (Igitur, 2015-03-16)

  This special issue furthers the study of natural resource management from a critical institutional perspective. Critical institutionalism (CI) is a contemporary body of thought that explores how institutions dynamically ...

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