Tragedy of the Commons

1. Tragedy of the Commons Garrett Hardin

2. Garrett Hardin – Economist Authored essay in 1968 titled “The Tragedy of the Commons”. explored the following issues: 1. environmental degradation 2. population growth 3. limited natural resources 4. privatization of land and other public resources 5. 5. pollution

3. What does ‘commons’ mean? “Held in common” means the resource is owned by: • Tax payers not an individual or corporation =all who have access to the resource holds it in common

4. Imagine… • Hardin’s parable involves a pasture "open to all." • He asks us to imagine the grazing of animals on a common ground. • Individuals are motivated to add to their herds to increase personal wealth out of their own self-interest and short term gain

6. Tragedy of the Commons • Every animal added to the total degrades the commons a small amount. • Although the degradation for each additional animal is small, the gain in wealth for the owner is greater. • Each owner gets the benefit of adding to his herd (more milk, meat to sell). Each owner shares the cost of the depletion of the pasture (less grass and more soil erosion and GHG). Adding more animals make sense economically to the farmer

7. Tragedy of the Commons • As selfish stewards, each owner adds another to their herd and the pasture. If all owners follow this pattern the commons will ultimately be destroyed. • The use of the commons give the farmer (or corporation) all of the benefits but none of the responsibility or cost for the degradation, called an EXTERNAL COST or externality

9. Tragedy of the Commons • As a result, the pastures were overgrazed, pollutedand degraded to the point that they were no longer able to support any cattle. • This failure to preserve the natural resource for short term gain and self interest is known as "the tragedy of the commons."

10. What is the “tragedy”? • “We can avoid tragedy only by altering our values.”Hardin, 1968 This means we can change the way we live by sustainably managing our resources

11. Sustainability… • Meeting presentneeds of without compromising the needs of future generations. • 3 pillars of sustainability are SEE (social, environmental and economic needs) • use resources at a rate lower than the rate at which they are replenished.

12. Examples of current tragedy of the commons (think and discuss: how do these actions lead to degradation of the commons?) • Over pumping (mining) of groundwater • diverting of fresh water from rivers for agriculture, cities and industry that very little reaches the sea • Overfishing of seafood in the Atlantic and Pacific • Air pollution (adding GHG and smog to the air) • Water pollution (nitrogen, phosphorus, pesticides, heavy metals and so on) • Uncontrolled human population growth leading to overpopulation • Deforestation for agriculture • Habitat disruption and fragmentation

13. Case study: overfishing in the Atlantic, Grand banks fisheries • Use of technology and poor management practices resulted in Overfishing. • bottom trawling (dragging nets across the seafloor, collecting bycatch, destroying underwater habitat) off the east coast of Canada and the US depleted fish stocks • Canada was forced to ban all cod fishing for years to allow the stocks time to breed and replenish the population

14. Other unsustainable commercial fishing techniques • Long-lining uses baited hooks on lines1-30 miles long, often catching non-target fish, turtles and birds called by catch, in addition to target fish (mainly swordfish, tuna and halibut)

15. Commercial fishing techniques • Dredging involves towing a dredge along the bottom of the sea in order to collect bottom-dwelling species such as scallops, oysters, crabs and sea cucumbers. By catch is inevitable here too

16. Commercial fishing techniques • Purse seining uses a large wall of netting- closed like a drawstring bag- to herd fish into the center. • Entire schools of fish, including juveniles, and large quantities of by catch make this practice unsustainable • https://youtu.be/kljRgbODbOw

17. 3 effects of overfishing in the ocean commons Environmental impacts include 1. disrupting the shelter, breeding and feeding grounds of fish species • killing of non-target species (by catch) which further disrupts marine food webs.Bycatch are not just fish but can be turtles, birds, dolphins and other marine life • Economic impacts include the lower harvest of fish in subsequent years and therefore lower profits to the fishing industry

18. Governmental mitigation strategies for fish depletion • 1. EMBARGO (ban)on all fishing • 2. Banning certain fishing techniques: In 1990, the US banned the use of purse seines for catching yellow-fin tuna since this method killed many dolphins in the process. • 3. The US imposed a dolphin-safe label and required countries to attest to the status of their tuna shipments

19. Mitigation for fisheries (mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon) 4. Establish total catch quota for the area. Close the fishery when the quota is reached 5. Tax the catch 6. Issue licenses to fishermen (cap and trade catch limit) 7. Allocate fishing rights per area to each fisherman

20. Policy to protect fish populations • In US waters, cod stocks also collapsed and in 1994 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) closed the prime fishing areas on Georges Bank, protecting the fish from being harvested in that area.

21. Governments can establish marine sanctuaries to protect wildlife or ban unsustainable fishing practices • Areas declared sanctuaries effectively manage recreational, commercial and educational use of marine ecosystems • https://www.youtube.com/user/sanctuaries

22. In summary, the tragedy of the commons… • involves • Privatization of profits/benefits • Sharing of costs/ risks • ANY COST OF CLEAN UP IS AN EXTERNALITY FOR THE COMPANY. They do no have to pay for the damage, so why not fully exploit the resource? • “I get to use all of the resource I need to make money FOR ME but the cost of degrading the resource is tax payer (or no one’s) burden”

23. Farms are CAFOs and produce a large amount of BOD in the form of fish waste Farmed fish still need to be fed from wild caught small fish such as anchovies. These feeder fish populations are in being depleted. Farmed fish are genetically non-resilient and are more prone to diseases Converting shared resources to private ownership • Private ownership of fish is done through FISH FARMS which may increase yield BUT