Message from the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee

On behalf of the Overall Organizing Committee, it is my pleasure to invite and welcome you to the 14th Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC), to be held 3-7 June 2013.
The IASC has a rich history of scholarly inquiry into the wide variety of practices by which communities around the world use and manage shared natural resources.  The significance of this topic was not widely recognized even a decade ago, but today, as societies struggle to address threats to the Earth’s oceans, freshwater, and atmosphere—to name but a few precious resources we share in common—its significance cannot be denied. Indeed, it appears that if human societies do not learn to address such issues in common, we are in great danger of unprecedented environmental degradation and social instability.
It is fitting that a conference on commons should be produced through collaborative effort. And this is a special year in that for the first time in its history, local commoners are not only deeply involved in the planning of the conference, but will actually host it on their common lands. It has been a privileged to work together with the Onshirin Regional Public Organization, and we are certain that as experts in the field, you will find your visit to their commons on the north slope of Japan’s Mt. Fuji a unique and fascinating experience.
We look forward to welcoming to Japan the excellent scholars and practitioners of the IASC community—and indeed all people interested in commons and commoners.  The 2013 conference of the IASC will provide an unusual opportunity for dialogue with Japanese scholars as well as with many local residents and of course commoners themselves. The conference provides a number of fora, from paper sessions and round table discussions to field trips and social events, which have been designed to promote fruitful exchange, debate, and, we hope, future collaboration in areas of mutual concern.
With our sincere greetings and our warmest invitation to Mt. Fuji this coming June,

Tetsuzo Yasunari President, the Overall Organizing Committee, 14th Global Conference of the International  Association for the Study of the Commons Director-General, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan

Message from the Co-Chairs of the IASC 2013

Welcome to IASC2013 on Mount Fuji!
 
We are very pleased to open registration the forthcoming June 2013 global conference of the IASC, to be held on the Kitafuji Commons on Mount Fuji in Japan. The commoners of the Onshirin federation of 11 villages holding access rights to the north slope of Mount Fuji (Kita Fuji), along with Japan's Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), eagerly welcome participants to the first IASC meeting to be held on a commons and the first to be sponsored by commoners.
 
This wonderful venue at Kita Fuji [North Fuji] on Mount Fuji, a majestic peak that is also the emblem of Japan and a potential World Heritage Site, is actually the location of one of Japan's most valiant struggles to maintain legal rights and a functioning commons in the face of hostile pressures and massive social, economic, and political change. Japan’s long history of experience with commons is a source of both positive inspiration and lessons about the hazards involved to people around the world who face similar choices and challenges. The heritage of management practices and legal struggle on the Kitafuji commons was also a source of inspiration (and data!) for Elinor Ostrom’s prize-winning work on Governing the Commons. Attending the conference offers participants not only the benefits of attending an exciting international meeting of the IASC and of visiting one of the world’s most spectacular places, but also an opportunity to learn more about the Japanese experience with traditional, modernizing, and completely new commons in post-industrial society. The conference venue is easily and directly reached by airport express trains and buses from Tokyo's international airport, and the conference is scheduled at the time of the best weather and off-season prices that academic calendars permit. The conference will include a wide variety of field trips, cultural offerings, and excursions, and aims to maximize exchange among scholars, practitioners, and commoners.
 
Please reserve the date on your calendars, plan your participation, and register for the meeting so we can all make this conference as wonderful as the venue itself.

Tomoya Akimichi Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Japan

Margaret McKean Duke University, USA