Dominium

The declining situation of planet Earth is, by all indications, becoming profound and far reaching in its many manifestations. One of the more obvious causes of this decline is climate change that is already affecting fundamental life-giving and life-sustaining components of the biosphere. The scientific evidence of the rapid degradation of the earth’s ecosystems, as a direct consequence of human activity, is overwhelming. Science tells us that humanity is engaged in the process of rapidly and permanently damaging the earth’s life-supporting systems. Because of the dominant role that humanity is playing in the present epoch, which is being named the Anthropocene, it becomes imperative to reconsider the Human-Earth relationship. More particularly, we must consider the concepts of property, ownership, and dominium, where property is seen as “an institution for allocating resources and distributing wealth and power” according to Dukeminier and Krier—a view which is having a direct impact on already strained global ecological limits. Book One of Genesis (King James Version) has historically provided a convenient principle: According to this story, humanity was placed in an intermediary position between God and Nature. God gave humanity ownership of the planet, which traditionally has included “the right to use, enjoy and dispose” thereof “fully and freely.” As this principle evolved over the centuries, humanity has considered itself at the center of the universe and entitled to an unlimited right of appropriation. Even though we have clearly moved away from this oversimplified view, recognizing the fact that there are significant restrictions to the exercise of an “absolute” right, large portions of the inhabitants of this planet are still quite convinced that, ultimately, the earth belongs to humanity, for its exclusive use and enjoyment. For example, the commitment to perpetual economic growth is still the prevailing force driving humanity’s use of planetary resources without adequate reference to the depletion and pollution of Earth’s life systems and their sustainability. Humanity’s perceived dominion over the earth may well be one of the key factors in making this process possible. With the exception of notable examples provided by a number of Indigenous societies, we have neither developed nor evolved in a harmonious way with the biosphere of which humanity forms an integral part. This lack of harmony has now become a major source of destruction. What seems to be needed in addition to more scientific facts is a profound change of worldview, a shift in the way as human beings we relate to each other, to the other living beings on this planet, and ultimately to the planet itself. The Genesis narrative is clearly no longer acceptable within the framework of evolutionary cosmology derived from contemporary science. The required shift will entail a redefinition of the characteristics of dominium, ownership, and property as fundamental concepts. The recent developments in the fields of ecological economics, property rights, and sustainability and planetary boundaries seek to relate law, governance, and economics to renewed definitions of dominium that would take into account the impacts of human activity on the biosphere by recognizing not only rights of appropriation but also duties to protect and preserve Earth’s life systems. But the change of worldview and the shift of understanding that are required at this time have yet to be explicitly developed so that a meaningful consensus can emerge to support the kind of concerted action now called for. Such changes, to the extent that they seek to curtail traditional attributes of dominium, are neither shared nor underwritten by most of those in power, by the members of the political, financial, and economic elites who are the immediate beneficiaries of …