The Theory and Practice of Environmental Property Rights

Fall 2025 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series

About the speaker

Michael Cox is a Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College. He is an environmental social scientist specializing in environmental governance, with a particular emphasis on community-based natural resource management. He has conducted fieldwork on local resource management in the Southwestern United States and the Dominican Republic. His first book, Common Boundaries: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Property, delves into the significance of environmental property rights across academic disciplines, cultures, and types of environment policy. Additionally, Cox co-founded and co-hosts the In Common Podcast, which features discussions of the lives, research, and endeavors of scholars and practitioners dedicated to fostering sustainable human-environment interactions.

Abstract

How do we – and how should we – engage with the natural environment through the concepts of rights and responsibilities? In this presentation, Michael Cox will discuss how he addresses this question in his recent book, Common Boundaries. In the book, Cox develops the theory and practice of environmental property rights, moving beyond simplistic assumptions that do not reflect the diversity of arrangements we see in the world. Recognizing this diversity will help us craft better responses to environmental problems in the future with an interdisciplinary foundation in what has worked, or not worked, in the past. Synthesizing a variety of methods and disciplines, Cox explores rights-based environmental policies as well as different cultural approaches to environmental ownership.

About the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations. 

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.