GEOG203 Lecture 5: GEOG 203 -- The Tragedy of the Common? Institutions and Environmental Governance

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Geography and Environmental Management
• Course: GEOG203
• Professor: Daniel Scott

Document Summary

Paradox: for many environmental problems, costs are often borne collectively, while benefits accrue to individuals, one the other hand, individual costs may lead to collective benefits . Some kinds of rules and trust must be established to cooperate when incentives constantly lure people and states to follow their own self-interest towards planetary ruin. Hardin"s tragedy of the commons" argument about how common property was used in practice fairs to consider: users of the commons do communicate with each other, the commons is not actually open to all individuals. Some are excluded: users are not only considered with maximizing benefits. Property rights represent the institution dimension of environmental sustainability. People interact with their environment through property right regimes. These rights are embedded in socio-cultural, economic, and political factors. The rules of the game" and norms governing collective activities. Can be: formal constraints (e. g. , laws, rules, constitutions) Informal constraints (e. g. , norms of behaviour, conventions, self-imposed codes of conduct).