This presentation was delivered at the Law Seminars organised by the Carlo Alberto Collegio and the University of Turin. It explores the origins of absolute propietary regimes over natural resources, the primacy of property rights over other fundamental rights to humans (food, water, land, health, housing) and the normative social construct of food as a private good and a commodity. This social construct, so prevelent right now in the global food system, can be changed if we so considered. The alternative narrative of food as a commons, based on multiple dimensions of food, is presented and practical implications are suggested. Finally, some examples of existing food commons are presented.

1. Food, Law &
the Commons
Carlo Alberto Law Seminars
Universita di Torino
24 March 2017 – Milan
JOSE LUIS VIVERO POL
PhD Research Fellow
in Food Governance

2. Food system is the greatest
driver of Earth transformation
• Food systems accounts for 48% of land use
• 70% of water use
• 33% of total GHG emissions
• 40% relies on agriculture for their livelihood
• Phosphorus & Nitrogen exceeded Planetary
Boundaries
(Ivanova et al., 2015, Clapp, 2012)
2

3. 3
The actual way of
producing & eating
(western diets &
industrial food
system) is
unsustainable
It cannot be
maintained for the
next 50 years
IAASTD (2008)
UNEP (2009)
UNCTAD
(2013)
UK Foresight (2011)

5. 5
Economic Epistemology on Commons:
reductionist + theoretical + ontological

6. Ideas/Narratives
Legal
frameworks
Policy Options

7. Everything started with the Romans
• Res singularum
(individuals)
• Res publica (state)
• Res communis
(everybody)
• Res nullius
(nobody)
Emperor Justinian 529-533 AD
Res communes: air, running water, sea & coastlines

8. Cautious about
superseding
proprietary rights
to other rights for
people to survive
“If the law stood between an
individual and the loaf of
bread he needed to carry on
living, then the law ceased to
have meaningful content”
Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679

9. Property rights conditional to non-wastage of the good.
“People should not enclose more land they could work on”
John Locke
1632-1704
My own labour (part of myself)
appropriates res nullius and res communis
(un-owned natural resources) by working
on them.
LOCKEAN PROVISIO
One may appropriate resources if
“there is enough, and as good, left
in common for others”
He took for granted the supply of
natural resources for all
Timmermman (2014)
1.- Resources are un-owned
2.- Enough & as good left for others
3.- Ownership is subject to non wastage

10. Property & Justice R
artificial ideas.
No property in Nature.
Social construct
Disagrees with
Locke on
property as
extension of self
through the
labour exerciseDavid Hume
1711-1776

11. Natural property: air,
land, water, wild food.
“Legitimate birthright
of everyman”
Land tax to fund
Universal Basic Income
Artificial property:
human invention.
It can be distributed
unequally
Thomas Paine
1737-1809

12. Founding father of capitalism
Individual proprietary rights R
pillars of free-market society &
they need to be enforced in all
cases & any circumstances
Human´s tendency to self-
interest would bring prosperity
for all.
Collective public goods would
be promoted through
individual selfishness Adam Smith
1723-1790

13. XX century Proprietary developments
• Natural rights were translated into absolute
proprietary rights to destroy everybody´s
natural resources
• Absolute primacy of proprietary rights over
other rights (life, water, food, house)
• Without right of absolute alienation, free-
markets would not work well (in theory)
Coase (1969), Alchian & Demsetz (1972)

14. Policies and Legal frameworks are
just tools serving a purpose
• Firstly, ideas; secondly, means to achieve
them. Ruling elites use policies & law.
• Commons R not defined by proprietary
regimes (public, private, collective)
• Commons R not defined by reductionist
economic epistemologies

15. Policies serving a purpose
plundering my share of commons to
somebody´s benefit

16. Who is fishing
my Tuna?

17. 17
Consideration of
food as
commodity is
social construct
that can / shall be
reconceived
WHY?
lue Flickr
Paradigm
Shift

18. Commons are material / non-material
resources, jointly developed and maintained
by a community/society and shared
according to community-defined rules,
irrespective of their mode of production
(private, public or commons-based means),
because they benefit everyone and are
fundamental to society’s wellbeing
18
Photo: ukhvlid, Creative Commons, Flickr

19. COMMONING CREATES
THE COMMONS
Dardot & Laval, 2014

20. 20
AIR
WATER
FOOD
SUNLIGHT

21. 21
The six food dimensions relevant to humans:
multi-dimensional food as commons VS mono-dimensional food as commodity
Source: Vivero-Pol (in press). http://www.preprints.org/manuscript/201701.0073/v1

22. EUROPA
leaving many behind
because food is not a right

23. • 123 M poor EU people
(1/4) (Oxfam, 2015)
• 50 M severe material
deprivation: food,
water…(EUROSTAT, 2015)
• 2009-15, + 7.5 M
poor
• 30-40% children (6
EU members) below
poverty line (UNICEF, 2014)
• Increasing children
at school with no
breakfast (UK,
Netherlands, Spain)

24. No RtF in EU: How is that possible?
• NOT in European Social Charter
• NOT in any EU constitution
• NOT in MDGs & SDGs narrative
• Proposal in Belgium: National Food Policy
Council including whole food chain (Eggen, 2014)
• Proposal in Spain: RtF in Constitution
• European Citizen´s Initiative + EP: water as
human right + commons
• Universal Food Coverage (non-existing)

25. Food as a commodity
mono-dimensional approach
whereby economic dimension of food
prevails and overshadows non-
economic dimensions.
Price (value-in-exchange)
25Photo: Dean Hochman, Flickr

26. Food as a commons
means revalorising
different dimensions
relevant to human beings
(value-in use) & reducing
the commodity dimension
(value-in exchange)
26
Food commons are what a
society does collectively,
through private, state and
self-regulated provision, to
guarantee everybody eats
adequately in quantity and
quality everyday

27. 27
Food is essential
for human life…
… so access to food
cannot be exclusively
determined by the
purchasing power

28. 28
De-constructing
Food-related
Elements:
everything is
commons but
cultivated food
and copyrighted
patents

29. 29
1. Cultivated
Food is a private
good
Completly
produced by
private means:
private
landholdings,
copyrighted
seeds and agro-
chemicals,
machineries

30. 30
2. Traditional agricultural
knowledge
Fotos:JoseLuisVivero

31. 31
3. Science-based
agricultural knowledge
by national institutions
Public
copyrights
Universities
National
Research
Institutions
Foto: Argonne National

32. 32
4. Cuisine, recipes &
national gastronomy
Foto:CarlaBqn

33. 33
5. Edible wild plants
and animals

34. 34
6. Genetic
Resources for
Food and
Agriculture
Seeds are commons
Patents prevent
innovation (Benkler,
2006)
Fashion world and
top cuisine are
rather innovative
without patenting
systems
ITPGRFA made
seeds a global
common good
Foto:
Edd.ie

35. 35
7. Food safety
considerations (Codex
Alimentarius)
Foto:Lianne
Milton
Foto:MarianoBonora

36. 36
8. Good
nutrition &
public
health

37. 37
9. Extreme food
price fluctuations
Foto: Megan Morgavan

38. 38
What if food
is considered
a commons…
Banning futures
trade speculation
Controlling land
grabbing, land
evictions
Binding Food
Treaties
Legislating collective
rights
Avoiding biopiracy,
patenting of life
forms,
Minimising
copyrighted
agriculture
Combating
oligopolies of agri-
food chains

39. Social Market
Enterprises
Supply-demand
Food as private good
Public
Private
Collective actions
Communities
Reciprocity
Food as common good
Partner State
Redistribution Citizens
welfare
Food as public good
Tri-centric
Governance
of Food
Commons
Systems
Incentives, subsidies,
Enabling legal
frameworks
Limiting privatization
of commons
Farmers as civil
servants
Banning food
speculation
Minimum free food
for all citizens
Local purchase
Rights-based Food
banks

40. 40
I am eager to exchange on right to
food, hunger eradication & food
as a commons
@joselviveropol
joseluisviveropol
http://hambreyderechoshumanos.blogspot.com
http://hungerpolitics.wordpress.com
Jose Luis Vivero Pol
joseluisvivero@gmail.com

41. La Partecipanza Agraria de Nonantola
• Collective Ownership of Agricultural Land in
Emilia Romagna
• Almost 1000 years: Carta del 1058 dell’Abate
Gotescalco, granting inhabitants of Nonantola the
user´s rights over arable land within the
municipal territory (now, 760 hectare)
• Guiding values: Solidarity, Respect, Identity,
Equality.
• “Boccas” are raffled every 18 years within
descendents still inhabiting Nonantola.

42. Hazas de
la Suerte
Vejer de la Frontera
(Spain)
Two entitlements:
cultivate & benefit
Established 1288 by
King Sancho IV
3500 hectare, 232
allotments, 13,000
inhabitants (raffles
yrs per generations)

43. 43
Universita Agraria
Medieval institution to govern
collective lands (Sacrofano, Italy)

44. 44
Territories of
Commons
5% of Europe (12 M Ha of
utilised agricultural area)
More in coastal and
forested areas
9% France
25% of Galicia is
onwed in communal
property
Not just private-state
duopoly

45. Territories of
Commons
• Climate adapted Food
commons
• Stewarding Nature &
Biodiversity
• Nurturing community,
citizenship & values
• Intergenerational
sustainability
• Public goods & services
(oxygen, soil, wáter)
• Participatory Governing
Systems
• Cultural Heritage &
Collective Knowledge

46. 46
2014: CAP (40% of EU
Budget) 52 Billion EUR
2013 CAP Reform: No single
mention to commons (water,
territories, land, seeds, food,
knowledge)

47. POLICY &
LEGAL
OPTIONS
with new
narrative of
Food as
Commons
47

48. To guarantee school
meals for all students in
public schools
48

49. To support local purchase
(small farming, agro-
ecology & cooperatives) to
satisfy food needs of
municipal premises
49

50. Stricter & innovative rules to
avoid food waste
To recycle all expired food (i.e. France)
Supporting citizens´ collective actions to
reduced waste,
promote food sharing
and co-producing
50

51. Shifting from charitable food
(Food Banks) to food as right
(Universal Food Coverage)
A food bank network that is
universal, accountable, compulsory
and not voluntary, random, targeted
51

52. Compulsory rooftop
greening for every new
building
(with edibles, non-edibles)
52

53. Establishing bakeries
where every citizen
can get access to a
bread loaf every day
(if needed or willing to)
53

54. Encourage Food Policy
Councils (open membership
to citizens) through
participatory democracies,
financial seed capital and
enabling laws54

55. Set target for food provisioning in
2030
(Food Council)
• 60% private sector
• 25% self-production (collective
actions)
• 15% state-provisioning (public
buildings, destitute people,
unemployed families) through
Universal Food Coverage
55