UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Relational Commons: An Ontological and Governance Framework Beyond Protected Areas and the Boundaries of Conservation

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1111/conl.13137

Authors

Katie Moon · Dru Marsh · Benjamin Cooke · Richard T. Kingsford

Reported year

2025

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:14:25.144661+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:14:25.144661+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Australian National University · RMIT University · UNSW Canberra · UNSW Sydney

Documentary abstract — original language

ABSTRACT As conservation efforts accelerate to meet global targets like 30 × 30, they risk deepening exclusion, enclosure, and ecological fragmentation. We interrogate the legal and institutional foundations of conservation to reveal how territorialization, centralized authority, and human‐nature separation persist in dominant governance models. In response, we propose relational commons as “an ontological and governance framework that centers the interdependence of human and more‐than‐human beings, and the abiotic entities and ecological processes that sustain them, where care for these dynamic relations becomes the basis for shared responsibility and decision‐making.” Relational commons are not tenured spaces but practices that unsettle the illusion that individual rights, fixed boundaries, independence, or human‐centered governance ever provided a meaningful foundation for conservation. Extending commons scholarship, this approach shifts focus from managing resources to cultivating the conditions for multispecies flourishing. We articulate four principles: (1) relations, where rights structure reciprocal responsibilities; (2) power‐sharing, where boundaries become interfaces of collaboration; (3) interdependence, which foregrounds care and co‐flourishing; and (4) multispecies–ecosystem justice, which distributes agency across human and more‐than‐human worlds. Together, these principles offer an inclusive and future‐oriented alternative to fragmented conservation logics.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W4413956219

DOI

10.1111/conl.13137

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Natural entities mentioned

Ecosystem · Territory

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13137
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W4413956219

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w1494039901 · CITES
• openalex:w1525958767 · CITES
• openalex:w1527163437 · CITES
• openalex:w1596087623 · CITES
• openalex:w1862378738 · CITES
• openalex:w1949797249 · CITES
• openalex:w1990328179 · CITES
• openalex:w1999082873 · CITES
• openalex:w201476261 · CITES
• openalex:w2034994370 · CITES
• openalex:w2054351251 · CITES
• openalex:w2069728230 · CITES
• openalex:w2080846127 · CITES
• openalex:w210647385 · CITES
• openalex:w2106856169 · CITES
• openalex:w2111107079 · CITES
• openalex:w2119904838 · CITES
• openalex:w2125931397 · CITES
• openalex:w2145850526 · CITES
• openalex:w2159454496 · CITES

1 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Detected scholarly publication

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.