From research on social-ecological systems (Ostrom and many colleagues world-wide), we know that a co-evolution of social and ecological systems, self-organization and adaptive local governance can ensure the long-term sustainable use and preservation of common natural resources, who are challenges by over-exploitation and free-riding. From empirical data worldwide, several design principles have been derived: clear social and geographical boundaries, local collective choice mechanisms acknowledge by higher-level state authorities, land use rules adapted to the local decisions, which can be adapted by the local resource users and ensure a fair allocation of benefits and tasks among them, low-cost monitoring and sanctioning systems as well as social-control by the local  resource users, co-learning on the natural resource and how it is effected by human use and intervention. All these principles depend on trust and self-organized collective action of local resource users, whose exchange with other user groups and are embedded in higher level governance structures.