Mihkel Kangur - What is a Tragedy of the Commons?
Who owns natural resources? Turns out most resources are in one way or the other connected to commons. Mihkel Kangur, associate professor of sustainable development at the Tallinn University Institute for Ecology, explains what this situation means.
Who owns natural resources? Turns out most resources are in one way or the other connected to commons. Mihkel Kangur, associate professor of sustainable development at the Tallinn University Institute for Ecology, explains what this situation means.
In 1968, Gerret Hardin published a story in Science magazine called “The Tragedy of the Commons”. In this article he discusses a conflict situation, which comes about between people use common limited natural resources for personal gain only. The user of the natural resource receives all of the profits, but the costs are left to the society.
Gerret Hardin was inspired by the ever-growing volume of population and the use of non-renewable resources. The size of Earth’s population has tripled since this article was written, and we have understood that the well-being of the human kind is not threatened by the expiration of non-renewable resources, but rather the state of natural resources such as the climate, clean water and biological diversity.
The atmosphere, for example, is a common resource, which could not be claimed by any person, company or country. Fossil fuels have helped many countries and their people to improve their lives. But using oil, coal or oil shale as fuel has changed the state of the atmosphere to a point where the climate is changing, bringing problems to every inhabitant of the earth.
Our forests could also be regarded as a common resource. Even though the trees in the forests belong to the owners of the lands, who have the possibility of earning profits by selling them. By using incorrect methods of foresting, such as excessive drying or deforestation, or planting monoculture forests, we will affect our water bodies and deplete natural diversity. These are problems that the society has to face.
If we keep up this discussion, we will see that all natural resources, are in a way, common resources. Communities who wish to be sustainable have no other choice than regulate the use of common resources, as neglecting the situation will lead to a tragedy.
Environment issues have no technical solutions, but demand a principle change is our morals and education.