ABSTRACT
Natural resource governance refers to the ways in which society manages the supply of, or access to, the natural resources upon which it relies for survival and development. It examines not only ownership of unconventional gas resources, but how the extraction of a non-renewable resource from below the surface of the land creates a new regulatory paradigm – that of prioritising or reconciling competing resource needs in an increasingly populous world casting the need for both food and energy security in the socio-legal spotlight. This chapter explores natural resource governance concepts relating to unconventional gas as well as agriculture. It examines the ownership and access to unconventional gas, and how this access can have a monumental and lasting impact on agricultural land, particularly when such impacts may be evident both above and below the surface. The chapter then considers the theoretical foundations of natural resource governance and its application in unconventional gas extraction. It then focuses on the collective governance of natural resources, which can be attributed Hardin’s theory of The Tragedy of the Commons. A related concept considered in this chapter is that of Community-Based Natural Resource Management. Finally, this chapter addresses how natural resource governance conflict can be managed within the unconventional gas context through a consideration of coexistence as the conceptual underpinning of this book.
