Contents
Bioregionalism is an economic model proposing that aligning economic and political activity with ecological boundaries (e.g. watersheds) rather than arbitrary human-drawn boundaries would increase citizens’ willingness and ability to protect the local environment. Some of the proposed benefits of bioregionalism are:
- By depending more on local resources, communities are less vulnerable to changes in global supply chains which are increasingly fragile and at risk of disruption due to conflict.
- It incentivizes communities to protect local natural resources and ensure their sustainability (a study in Bhutan supports this)
- Reliance on local resources rather than ones like oil which only a handful of countries produce would discourage war and international conflict over resources.
Further Reading
- Bioregionalism: A Model for a Self-Sufficient and Democratic Economy
- The Transition Town movement is a step in the direction of bioregionalism
- The (great) science-fiction novel A Half-Build Garden by Ruthanna Emrys takes place in a post-climate-change future in which watershed regions are the primary political entities.