Tragedy Of The Commons Research Paper

Shreya Shirodkar

3/10/16

To understand human-environment relationships, it is crucial to look to a phenomenon known as the Tragedy of the Commons. Human-environment relationships determine how humanity interacts with the natural world, and how these interactions shape both the physical space around us as well as society’s idea of what nature truly is. The Tragedy of the Commons exemplifies how basic human instinct can, and often does, lead to environmental degradation. The Tragedy of the Commons is a rather simple principle in theory. A commons is defined basically as a public resource that many people have access to, as opposed to private property in which access is limited to one person. Rational human beings, we theorize, work for their

Here the problem is a well-documented one, written by Garett Hardin in his paper Tragedy of the Commons, with the region becoming more and more arid as a result of overgrazing. The pastures in the area are the common resource, a place where people live and where they can feed their cattle. Unfortunately, the herders in these areas add more and more to their livestock, increasing their benefits while disbursing the negative effects of the lack of pasture among all the herders. These herders are again acting rationally, as adding to their stock is necessary to increase income and not adding to their stock could result in receiving negative impacts from the decisions of the other herders anyway. Unfortunately, the overgrazing is causing pastureland to disappear rather quickly. As the grasses disappear, sand becomes more easily blown in the wind, which is one cause of desertification of the Sahel

The degradation of these various common resources is not merely a natural burden, but also a social and economic one. As these resources are degraded, the implications for humanity become increasingly problematic. As a source of financial wellbeing, these resources tend to be the center of many communities. When depleted, this can lead to financial ruin for entire communities, leading to problems for the country’s economy as a whole. A few solutions have been proposed to stem the effects of the Tragedy. One such solution is privatization of the resource. For example, the pasture can be split up into various parcels, with each parcel being owned by just one person. Privatizing resources limits access to one person, and since every person will now gain total benefits as well as total loss, the rational thing to do is to be more careful with the land. Now every herder will have to make a careful analysis as to whether adding another animal to their livestock is profitable or not. This is one of the more well-known and most successful