The Commons Amidst Complexity and Change
The International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) is a multidisciplinary academic organization focused on building and mobilizing knowledge around many integrated social-economic and environmental issues with a particular focus on how to avoid the “tragedy of the commons”. The organization is over 20 years old and gained significant notoriety in 2009 when one of its founding members (Elinor Ostrom) won the Nobel Prize in Economics. A significant body of research and practice speaks to the importance of common pool resource management to local and global sustainability.
The 2015 conference will focus on many kinds of common pool resources including fisheries, forests, and water resources as well as a host of emergent problems of social and environmental change. Participants in the conference will be invited to share ideas, evidence and practical solutions on questions of poverty, food security, social-ecological resilience, effective governance, human rights, indigenous knowledge, sustainable natural resource development and climate change. You can find more research and publications related to the Commons on the Library of the Commons.
Event Contact:
Dr. Brenda Parlee, University of Alberta at bparlee at ualberta.ca
