Humans have a basic desire to develop meaningful social relationships and create shared social identities, thus creating communities. We cannot undermine the role of the community in taking control of common pool resources and setting rules regarding the distribution and use of resources among its members.

Within a community, people share similar values and goals, subscribe to the same set of social roles, rules and norms. A strong sense of identification with one’s community facilitates cooperation among individuals and allows them to be able to enforce rules without government intervention.

Community management is more effective in a small, controlled environment with a limited range of resource types. Global issues such as global climate change, ozone depletion and migratory marine resources exist on a far larger scale that renders it impossible to be solely managed by communities, no matter how strong the communities are.