Goods and resources—the oceans, Antarctica, outer space, and the atmosphere—that no person or state may own or control and which are central to life; as such they can be thought of as belonging to the whole of humanity. See J. Vogler (2000).
Economics
Formally, natural assets that are outside national jurisdiction such as the oceans, ozone layer, and the Antarctic. Informally, the term is used to refer to a wide variety of environmental resources. See alsotragedy of the commons.