This document is the result of a collaborative effort opened for 2 years on AgroforestDAO’s chatgroup of 200+ members:
The Rooted Society Manifesto
Most human societies have depleted the environment around them and for that reason had to conquer new territories. The culture of the conquerors have dominated modern societies and with the advent of Globalization the regional depletion pattern that led to the collapse of the roman empire and other ancient civilizations has scaled to a globalized pattern and is threatening all life forms.
In face of this possible global collapse, a lot of people in the environmental movement advocate for a return to ancient forms of organization and governance such as bioregionalism and localism. According to Tristan Bove, “bioregionalism considers bioregions to be defined by the people that inhabit them, who share a unique cultural identity and consider themselves equally at home within the bioregion”.
Today most of the population directly or indirectly consumes globalized goods, and some find it hypocritical to advocate for localism while consuming globally produced goods. A lot of people don’t want to let go of their coffee, chocolate, sugar, meat or global social media. Most of the urban population is more engaged with the global supply chains than with the local ones, and therefore bioregionalism feels alien to them and there are currently no incentives to change their mindset.
Localized organization models alone were not strong enough to keep people in the land or incentivize urban people to exit the city to engage in local regeneration. Very often local communities are empty and degraded, the ones still living there are not recognized by their contribution to the environment and face a lot of deprivation compared to urban dwellers. Common examples are lack of jobs, training, quality education, diversity of food, retirement plan and cosmopolitan conviviality.
We believe that we must integrate the urban and rural dwellers in the natural regeneration via agroecosystems that evolve and live longer than our own generation. The Bioregional layer alone is not enough to regenerate the depleted ecosystems and must be complemented by a global layer of coordination to insure stewarded regeneration and seeds inputs. Fortunately in this 21st century we have the internet and the blockchain and it can be used as the place where we deploy digital stigmergy, co-creating recognition, incentives and reward systems to help re-integrate humans to forestry agendas.
We advocate for the understanding that we are a global tribe and that our planet is our bioregion. With this awareness in mind we can create governance systems that allow for participation of all humans in building a common culture of socio-ecological inclusion across bioregions, building our commons following Elinor Ostrom 8 principles for governing the commons:
Clearly defined boundaries.
Regulations made by the commoners that correspond to the needs and conditions of the community and their environment.
An established system for decision-making that allows individuals affected by the regulations to change the regulations.
Monitors drawn from, or accountable to the community of commoners who actively ensure the rules established by the commoners are being adhered to.
Graduated sanctions for members who violate regulations. These are determined by members of the community, or by individuals accountable to the community.
Conflict-resolution mechanisms that are low cost and easily accessible for members of the commons.
The ability to create regulations without the infringement of an outside authority.
Decentralized decision-making in the case of larger commons.