Revitalizing Local Commons: A Democratic Approach to Collective Management

Abstract

This chapter examines the issue of revitalizing rural environments in Japan toward ecologically sustainable communities on the basis of the field research conducted during environmental restoration activities at the estuary called Kamoko on Sado Island, Japan. This estuary, which has been used for oyster farming for more than 70 years, has undergone serious eutrophication particularly after the construction of revetment. Responding to local fishermen’s desire to improve the environment, a collaborative platform was created in 2008 in order to facilitate the sharing of various knowledge and experiences and to promote grassroots experiments for environmental restoration. The key concern in the process of restoration is transforming the degrading environment to commons, viz., important shared resources. The notion of commons here contains a different implication from traditional commons that has been managed by a closed community. Alternatively, the revitalization of degraded commons requires the realization of a wider and deeper public participation through the development of an open platform. On the basis of the experiment of building an open system of commons, this chapter reports essential ideas for the growth of collaborative governance of the environment.