Tragedy of the commons
Topic: Natural Resources: Classification, Planning and Sustainable Use · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The tragedy of the commons is an idea from Garrett Hardin (1968). When anyone can use a shared resource, such as a pasture, a fishery or an aquifer (a layer of underground water), each user gains from taking more. The cost of damage is shared by everyone. So each person keeps taking more, and the resource gets overused. Elinor Ostrom (1990; Nobel Prize 2009) showed that communities with clear rules can manage commons well, so the "tragedy" is not certain.
Example
India's biggest commons problem is groundwater. In Punjab, in north-west India, almost 80% of the area is classed as "overexploited" because every farmer pumps freely from the same water table. In contrast, the van panchayats (village forest councils) of Uttarakhand manage shared forests well.
Don't confuse with
- Community-owned resource: this is simply a type of ownership. It becomes a "tragedy" only when nobody makes or follows rules for its use.
Related concepts
- Community-owned resource
- International resource
- Potential resource
- Developed resource
- Stock
- Reserves