3. STRATEGIES FOR THE RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE OF TENURE RIGHTS TO COMMONS 39
create or reform powerful and well-tailored legislation for commons via an inclusive and transparent process, and to improve enforcement structures to ensure efective
implementation of the law.
Speciic recommendations
A desired change in the legislation to recognize and protect tenure rights to commons must be approached from various angles. While advocacy work will ultimately be
directed towards political decision-makers, awareness raising should happen through various channels. Advocacy work can be carried out by diferent stakeholders, from
civil society organizations to government advisers, donors and lobbyists. Civil society organizations, and especially initiatives led by women, will have a special
role to play in arguing favourably for the commons, thereby demonstrating their value and importance in supporting secure livelihoods. Scientists will be crucial to
providing credible and reliable information and facts. Reporting by local, national and international media should be considered a critical tool for the dissemination of
arguments and evidence that may impact on the legislative text.
1. Messages for decision-makers and the broader public may include see also
Chapter 2.2: • the economic value of commons in: sustaining agricultural, ish-, forest- and
livestock-based production systems; providing a resource safety net in harsh times; strengthening rural livelihoods, contributing to poverty alleviation and
supporting food security, particularly in the context of climate change. The community may provide evidence for this value by, for example, calculating
the cost of buying all the products and services that they currently derive from the commons Knight, 2015;
• the important contribution of collective action in conlict resolution, to help
reinforce legal contracts through exemplary ‘social contracts’, and for the cost- efective local governance of natural resources;
• the social value of commons in terms of equity, justice and social stability,
cultural identity and religious meaning, livelihood and well-being;
• the ecological value of commons in terms of providing local and global
ecosystem services, contributing for example to water production, wildlife habitats, soil protection and climate change mitigation;
• countering and dispelling the widespread misconception of commons as ‘wastelands’, idle or under-utilized lands, ‘backward systems’, ‘tragedy’, and
instead emphasizing community governance of tenure as a viable alternative to individual and state-controlled tenure;
• the principles, provisions and recommendations of the Guidelines themselves; • reference to the human rights framework, asserting the right to food and other
related rights.
2. Instruments to reach out to political decision-makers and communicate brief and targeted messages, for example:
• policy briefs referring to concrete government objectives or the policy
40 GOVERNING TENURE RIGHTS TO COMMONS
guidelines of the relevant political party and their impact on commons, rather than lengthy papers;
• examples showing how recognizing and utilizing commons can work, demonstrating which beneits commons provide and which disadvantages
accrue if they are not recognized, for example by using texts and audiovisual materials;
• inputs on speciic characteristics of tenure rights to commons and their importance to local realities, for example through short videos and animations;
• dissemination of information on the country’s international human rights obligations and treaties.
3. Journalists in particular can contribute, for example, through researching and writing:
