Studies of the commons predominantly focus on identifying and testing the ‘right’ governance conditions. In Indonesia, so-called ‘design principles’ are embedded into policies aimed at the forest commons, but lack attention to the ‘why’, ‘who’, and ‘how’ the commons are shaped and governed, i.e., processes of commoning. Addressing these questions repositions relational dimensions between ‘commoners’, ‘non-commoners’, and the State, elucidating dynamics between human and non-humans, and provides insights into broader implications of commons governance.
We argue for centering the processes and practices of commons governance, including a focus on the abandonment of the commons; as well as for more explicitly understanding and nurturing the corollary movements towards commoning. As (participatory action) researchers we aim to at once diagnose and facilitate the shaping of conditions that enable commoning processes to emerge among existing and new commons. In this presentation, we underscore our position by critically reflecting on longstanding engagements in Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) projects initiated by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in the early 2000s.
Past research views ACM as “an emergent governance approach for complex social-ecological systems that connects the learning function of adaptive management with the linking function of co-management.” We reflect on these learning and linking modalities and scrutinize the added value of fostering enabling conditions for commoning. We specifically seek answers on the extent to which ACM enables conditions for commoning to take shape as a social practice as well as the ways it catalyzes rules and procedures for use, distribution, stewardship, and responsibility for given resources.
We examine two Indonesian cases from Jambi (central Sumatra) and Sulawesi through their attendant commoning processes, specifically the who’s, why’s, and how’s. Doing so allows us to focus on both the possibilities of ACM while also remaining clear-eyed on what gets overlooked in shaping the conditions of commons governance.
