For too long the self-governing commons has been a maligned and misunderstood institution while in fact it is often a robust protector of environmental resources and a significant source of social benefits as well. Local commons can continue to provide these benefits if not undermined from the outside. In this era, community initiative is extolled in political settings as different as development-oriented non-governmental organizations (NGO) and the US Congress. Casebooks that distinguish the commons from open-access resources and provide guidelines and examples for building local commons could stimulate new experiments. The common property institution (CPI) probably has benefits to offer at the regional and global levels as well. The creation of a CPI may be the only way to protect some truly global resources such as the atmosphere. On the basis of our knowledge about the benefits and requirements of common property, it is time to begin the systematic evaluation of alternative schemes to protect specific, large-scale environmental resources as common-pool resources.
