Commons From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Commons refers to the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately. The resources held in common can include everything from natural resources and common land to software. The commons contains public property and private property, over which people have certain traditional rights. When commonly held property is transformed into private property this process alternatively is termed "enclosure" or more commonly, "privatization." Common Pool Resource ‐ CPR DEFINITION A resource that benefits a group of people, but which provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues his or her own self interest. The value of a common‐pool resource can be reduced through overuse [or abuse] because the supply of the resource is not unlimited, and using more than can be replenished can result in scarcity. Overuse of a common pool resource can lead to the tragedy of the commons problem. From: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/common‐pool‐resource.asp From Ostrom, “Revisiting the Commons” We use the term common‐pool resources (CPRs) to refer to resource systems regardless of the property rights involved. CPRs include natural and human‐ constructed resources in which (i) exclusion of beneficiaries through physical and institutional means is especially costly, and (ii) exploitation by one user reduces resource availability for others. These two characteristics‐difficulty of exclusion and subtractability‐create potential CPR dilemmas in which people following their own short‐term interests produce outcomes that are not in anyone’s long‐term interest. .