Courses 2008 - 2009

LAW B 593 Natural Resources Common Property

The term "common-property resource" is used variously to refer to property owned and defended by a community of resource users, to property owned by no one, and to property owned by a government. The persistent questions surrounding such property resources are who shall have access to them and how the resources themselves are to be managed for sustainability. This course will explore common property systems on both a theoretical and practical level. We will study a number of specific cases of commons governance and regulation in the United States and abroad, and varying approaches to the creation and maintenance of property interests in common resources. Specific case studies will include the Gulf Coast red snapper fishery, community irrigation systems of the Hispanic Southwest, national forest and public lands management, regional watershed and aquifer management, and the growing focus on redefining property rights in "common store" knowledge developed by indigenous peoples.