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The Tragedy Of The Commons Summary

Satisfactory Essays

Aruna Somwaru
GEOG 337
Summary #2

In Hardin’s, The Tragedy of the Commons, he makes two major points that are still widely accepted. He argues that people act in their own self interest which causes them to over use the resources in the commons and that the only way to solve this problem is by utilizing socialism or privatizing free enterprises. This is not always true because there are people who have organized themselves in a way to manager common pool resources that allowed them use a long-term sustainable institution for governing resources. Government ownership and privatization does not always work. In China, Mongolia, and southern Siberia, there are signs of degradation where there is government regulation of the land. China and …show more content…

They are natural or human constructed resources that connect to short-term thinking. One user can reduce the quality or quantity of a resource by using too much of it and excluding beneficiaries are costly. CPR’s include renewable and delectable resources such as ground water basins and atmosphere. Basically, anything that is on land or in the water. In order to save CPR’s we must restrict people’s access and create incentives for people to invest in the CPRs instead of over using the resources. The notion that CPR depletion is due to resource users overexploiting an area is based on the idea that individuals are selfish, norm-free, and only cares about their short-term gains. Users of CPR are usually narrow and self-interested. These people are free riders, altruist, or people who want to gain something from their interactions with other people. This is why cooperating is better for individuals when they are interacting with people they know rather than strangers. People within this group become trust worthy and others will want to cooperate with them. This is good for their offspring and their access to the resource. Well-managed CPRs exist in Nepal where they have a monitored irrigation system that relies on locally crafted rules and evolved norms. When the government became involved, their yields were reduce, people’s access to the resource was cut off and lead to the possibilities of people having to pay in the future. Solving these dilemmas are never easy or error free. However, we need to figure out a way in which we could take what we’ve learned from the past, our failures, and success and use it to better the way we look at CPRs

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