“Commoning” is a new series of publications and videos on the commons and how they are practised at GRET. A first video was released to mark the launch of The “Commoning” handbooks. These short, easy to read publications share the lessons learned from concrete actions conducted by GRET, for example support for the development of bamboo value chains in Laos. The videos and handbooks are intended to enrich reflections by associations, donors and policy makers wishing to promote forms of social organisation and shared governance “in common”.
“At GRET, we use this concept to think about the way in which individuals join together and become organised to conserve a resource, a service or a territory on which they depend”, explains Marilou Gilbert, coordinator of the Commons and shared governance programme at GRET. “Populations, businesses and public stakeholders use these resources, but with different – and sometimes even opposite – motivations. Yet, they all have a role to play because together they can define and develop the rules that will enable these common goods to be conserved and ensure fair, equitable access to them.”
In this video, we go to the Niayes area in Senegal to take a look at a pilot integrated water resource management action
GRET takes a commons-based approach to integrated water resource management in the Niayes area in Senegal. Located between the capital Dakar and Saint Louis, this area produces 60% of the country’s fruit and vegetables and supplies part of the capital’s drinking water. In this territory, mining activities, agriculture and livestock farming all compete with each other and generate significant conflict around access to land and water.
“Integrated water resource management takes account of all ecological, economic and social factors relating to water and its uses. The objective is to reverse the tendency to overexploit resources and ensure it is fairly shared and better in quality”.
Ngor Maurice Sarr, environmental geographer, research coordinator at GRET
To learn more about the way in which the commons-based approach was put into practice, see the Gire locale dans la zone des Niayes au Sénégal – Faire commun autour des ressources en eau ? Handbook (in French only)
