Commons frequently constitute specific small-scale refugia and support survival of certain biota. Common pool resources contribute significantly to enhancing the patchiness of landscapes and thereby play an important role in sustaining diversity of species. Consequently, at a broader level of the habitat, common pool resources provide stability to and enhance the resilience of biophysical communities during disturbances. So also, the nature of interactions between people’s institutions and patterns of resource use also influence the resilience of ecosystems.

One of the important aspects of commons is the different ways in which groups of people interact with resources and with each other. The gendered differences in such relationships need a special focus, because, even taking into account variation in social context, gender is a fundamental and pervasive element. These differences may be perceived in terms of the extent of claims, entitlements and the power to influence decisions. These also influence the nature and criticality of dependence on commons. Gendered dynamics also mediate a society’s ‘understanding’ of commons and processes of commoning.

One of the major hurdles in understanding commons has been translating the usefulness of commons into economic value. Valuation of commons is an approach that is widely seen to be informing policy decisions regarding the commons. Valuation is not limited to products, stocks and resources, but may also extend to different processes (social, cultural, ecological, etc.) and their outcomes. Under present conditions of increasing uncertainty and risk, strengthening strategies and institutions that contribute to ensuring the security of livelihoods are of critical importance. Commons are thus an important element for coping with variability especially for communities engaged in primary production and dependent on local resources, and contribute in securing livelihoods, including but not restricted to cash incomes. It is important to capture and understand these aspects of commoning that would otherwise go neglected.

The collective and communal nature of common pool resources mark them out as distinct from resources that may be owned privately or controlled by governments. Commons are spaces where intervention necessarily involves engaging with collective expressions of power within communities enabling marginalized and vulnerable groups to negotiate with authority and power in local contexts. At the present time, apart from leveraging the existing channels and institutions, these negotiations can also take the form of struggles, movements, and everyday acts of resistance. Alongside community-driven initiatives involving direct stakeholders, such efforts can also involve a wider set of actors such as civil society organizations, activists, citizen groups.