Our natural environment constitutes a complex and dynamic global ecosystem that provides essential resources for well-being and survival. Yet the environment is also subject to unprecedented threats from human activities, such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, biodiversity decline, and the overexploitation of natural resources. This volume argues that such complex, multidimensional challenges demand equally complex, multi-dimensional solutions and calls for coordinated, multi-stakeholder action at all scales, including governments, civil society, the private sector, and individuals. To meet the moment effectively, such interventions require both scientific knowledge about how the environment functions and social and institutional knowledge about the actors involved in environmental governance and management. Chapters include case studies of environmental knowledge collection, management, and sharing to explore how data and knowledge sharing can inform effective, multi-stakeholder action to combat global threats to our environment. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘This book shows that data about the environment is not just a technical input, but itself a commons that must be governed with attention to trust, sustainability, and efficiency. By connecting theory with a wide variety of case studies, it demonstrates how managing environmental data as a commons can support more effective and resilient environmental governance. In doing so, it stands as a natural companion to Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons – bringing the insights of commons governance into the digital and environmental age.’

Kosali Simon - Herman B Wells Endowed Professor, Indiana University