Eight design principles for successful commons

• Clearly defined the group boundaries (and effective exclusion of external un-entitled parties) and the contents of the common pool resource;

• The appropriation and provision of common resources that are adapted to local conditions;

• Collective-choice arrangements that allow most resource appropriators to participate in the decision-making process;

• Effective monitoring by monitors who are part of or accountable to the appropriators;

• A scale of graduated sanctions for resource appropriators who violate community rules;

• Mechanisms of conflict resolution that are cheap and of easy access;

• Self-determination of the community recognized by higher-level authorities; and

• In the case of larger common-pool resources, organization in the form of multiple layers of nested enterprises, with small local CPRs at the base level.

• Elinor Ostrom - Wikipedia