Dear all,
I also like to add that the issue is not just about (inclusive) broad-based growth nor of redistribution. It is also about people's rights over resources, especially to so called commons. A whole new paradigm is required now as our entire life system is at stake. There is a growing sense - particularly among the civil society - that we need a
stronger common goods system accompanied with property rights to safeguard them.
Commons do not belong to the private sector nor to the government but to all of us. There is a role for the private sector in producing goods and services on the sectors on which people's lives do not depend. However, water, air, seeds etc. belong to all of us and should not be monopolised by a few wealthy owners. Corporations have also no in-built capability to say "enough!". The government has a role in establishing boundaries and rules for governing access and use of commons. Much more attention needs to be paid to still existing practices related to commons (many indigenous land-use practices and sustainable fishing-systems, Spanish 'huerta' irrigation system, Swiss grazing systems, Nordic everybody's rights etc etc) in use in many countries and how to expand and modernise them.
Global commons require also a special attention and analysis which dealing just with economic growth and (re)distribution is not able to provide.
Best
Anita Kelles-Viitanen,
Chair AEPF Finland, former Manager of Social Development
of the Asian Development Bank
I also like to add that the issue is not just about (inclusive) broad-based growth nor of redistribution. It is also about people's rights over resources, especially to so called commons. A whole new paradigm is required now as our entire life system is at stake. There is a growing sense - particularly among the civil society - that we need a
stronger common goods system accompanied with property rights to safeguard them.
Commons do not belong to the private sector nor to the government but to all of us. There is a role for the private sector in producing goods and services on the sectors on which people's lives do not depend. However, water, air, seeds etc. belong to all of us and should not be monopolised by a few wealthy owners. Corporations have also no in-built capability to say "enough!". The government has a role in establishing boundaries and rules for governing access and use of commons. Much more attention needs to be paid to still existing practices related to commons (many indigenous land-use practices and sustainable fishing-systems, Spanish 'huerta' irrigation system, Swiss grazing systems, Nordic everybody's rights etc etc) in use in many countries and how to expand and modernise them.
Global commons require also a special attention and analysis which dealing just with economic growth and (re)distribution is not able to provide.
Best
Anita Kelles-Viitanen,
Chair AEPF Finland, former Manager of Social Development
of the Asian Development Bank
