InstitutionClaim Cited
Iriai forest commons
Japan's iriai forests joined customary village membership to collective rights, shared labor, consensus, and revenues for local public goods. Their endurance shows that a commons can be governed without individual title, while modernization, migration, aging, and legal conversion reveal how tightly ecological stewardship can depend on contested social boundaries.
How can a community hold and care for a forest across generations when membership, livelihoods, and state property law keep changing?