For more than 1000 years, forests in Japan were the main source of essential materials such as water, wood for construction, thatch for roofs, food for domesticated animals, organic fertilizer (decomposing leaves) for farm fields and firewood and charcoal for cooking and heating. The Japanese used their forests intensively, but they were able to prevent tragedy of the commons by managing their forests as a closed-access common property resource. The forest around each village belonged to that village. The village controlled who used the forest and how. Although agricultural land such as rice fields was in private ownership, the forest belonged to the village as a whole. Everyone agreed that common lands such as the forest should be managed to serve the long-term needs of the entire village.