Commons

Commons

Presented by: Amado G. Bugayong III 2006 – 46553

What are the Commons? 

the Romans divided properties into three types : – – –

res privitae – possessed by an individual or a family res publicae – possessed by the public res communes – consisted of things used by all

Res Communes  pertain

to the things common to ALL  Extra patrimoiium or something incapable of being possessed  “Shared by all, owned by none”

Two Categories of the Commons 

Cultural Commons –

Shared by all humanity, not just the inventors or owners



Natural/ Environmental Commons –

Shared by the entire world, not just humans

Two Categories of the Commons  Nature

is the basis of all of life and human culture has had a profound effect on the natural world.

The Human Resources and the Commons 



We continuously try to obtain resources from the environment to meet our needs and wants. Some resources are not readily available to us and we put great effort and knowledge of finding, extracting, and converting them into several products. All of our methods are constantly being improved over the years solar

energy

atmosphere

grasslands

surface

water fertile

soil

groundwater

forests

petroleum

wild

etc.

animals

iron

The Human Resources and the Commons  Some –

of our resources are renewable

e.g. sun (perpetual resource), forests, grasslands, wild animals, fresh water, fresh air and fertile soil

 The

time it takes for them to replenish may take a few hours to several decades.

The Human Resources and the Commons  Some –

of our resources are renewable

e.g. sun (perpetual resource), forests, grasslands, wild animals, fresh water, fresh air and fertile soil

 The

time it takes for them to replenish may take a few hours to several decades.

The Human Resources and the Commons 

Some of our resources are non-renewable (they exist in a fixed amount) –





e.g. fossil fuels, coal, copper, aluminum

Exhaustible because we are extracting & using them at a much faster rate than they are formed. The time it takes for them to replenish may take over hundreds of millions to billions of years.

Environmental Degradation  Sustainable –

yield

Definition: highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used w/o reducing its available supply throughout the world or in a particular area.

 Environmental

degradation occurs when we take too much and go beyond a resource’s sustainable yield

Environmental Degradation 

Examples: – – – – – – –

urbanization of productive land excessive topsoil erosion pollution deforestation (temporary or permanent removal of large expanses of forest for agricultural or other uses) groundwater depletion overgrazing of grasslands by livestock reduction in the earth’s form of wildlife (biodiversity) by elimination of habitats and species

Environmental Degradation  It

can be observed that there is an interconnection between these resources and whatever happens to one may affect the others as well.

Tragedy of the Commons

Tragedy of the Commons  one

of the major causes of environmental degradation is the overuse of common property or free-access resources. No one owns these resources, and they are readily available to users to little or no charge.

Tragedy of the Commons  In

1968, biologist Garrett Hardin (1915 2003) wrote an essay regarding the degradation of renewable free-access resources & called it “The Tragedy of the Commons.”  “If I do not use this resource, someone else will. The little bit I use or pollute is not enough to matter, and such resources are renewable.”

Tragedy of the Commons  is

a type of social trap, often, economic, that involves a conflict over finite resources between individual interests and the common good  Overexploitation dooms the resource!

Tragedy of the Commons  We

are able to satisfy this generation needs and wants because of overexploitation. But we obtain far more than we can sustain.  How will the future generations meet their needs?

Tragedy of the Commons  The

relation between the human population growth and the Earth’s environmental resources.  There are numerous Resource-Population problems that occur in different biological systems.

Tragedy of the Commons  Hardin’s –

example:

a pasture being share by several herders

Some Potential and Actual Tragedies

Uncontrolled Human Population  The

world’s human population is projected to increase from 6.5 to 8-9 billion or more between 2005 an 2050 with growth occurring especially rapidly in developing countries such as China

Uncontrolled Human Population  It

is said that 2 things may happen if the rate of increase in the world population: 1) death rate may increase because of declining health and environmental conditions in some areas

Uncontrolled Human Population 2) resource use and environmental harm may intensify as more consumers increase their large ecological footprint in developed countries and in some developing countries undergoing rapid economic growth.

Definition: Ecological footprint -the amount of biologically productive land and water needed to supply a population with the renewable resources it uses and to absorb or dispose of the wastes from such resource use; it measures the average environmental impact of populations in different countries and areas)

Water pollution and Water Crisis 

The major aspects of the water crisis are overall scarcity of usable water and water pollution e.g. the shrinking of the Aral Sea



Water crisis have several principal manifestations: a) inadequate access to safe drinking water b) groundwater over drafting c) overuse and water pollution harming biodiversity d) regional conflicts caused by scarce water resources.



The manifestations of the water crisis have become one of the leading causes of disease and deaths

Water pollution and Water Crisis  Solution: –

water management and water distribution companies  Pros:  Cons:

–

Desalinization of sea water  Pros:  Cons:

Deforestation  The

conversion of forested areas to nonforest and for use such as arable land, pasture, urban use, logged area, or wasteland. –

e.g. Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

 Results

to reduced or no biodiversity  Has been shaping climate and geography

Deforestation 





Human activities have reduced the earth’s forest cover by 20% - 50 %. Unless significant measures are taken, it is said that by 2030 there will only be 10% remaining and another 10% in a degraded condition Solutions: – – –

Reforestation Forest plantations Buying the forest lands before lumber companies can buy it

Energy Resources  It

is estimated that we can deplete the present supply of nonrenewable resources in hundreds to thousands of years.  If we can no longer find these nonrenewable resources then we have several choices: try to find more, recycle or reuse, waste less, use less, try to develop a substitute, or wait millions of years for more to be produced.

Habitat Destruction  Biologists

estimate that everyday 2 – 200 species become prematurely extinct primarily because of human activities. As the human population increases, natural biological resources are continuously used up to provide food and shelter. e.g. the passenger pigeons

Habitat Destruction  It

is said that evolution may at least take 5 million years but if do not allow natural speciation and biodiversity to rebuild because we can’t provide the different species the correct habitat and time, then we can only expect an extinction to occur.

Overfishing  Fisheries

are considered as the world’s third major food-producing system. The world’s commercial marine fishing industry is dominated by industrial fishing fleets that use global satellite positioning equipment, sonar, huge nets, an long fishing lines, spotter planes, and large factory ships that can process and freeze their catches.  Tragedy of the Grand Banks

Overfishing 



due to the recent advancements in technology and methods, global fishing stocks have decline to critical levels. A major international scientific study found that one third of all fishing stocks have declined to less than 10% of their maximum observed abundance. Solutions: – –

Privatization Fish farming

Modern Solutions We are all guardians of Mother Nature with an obligation to leave in our passing a sustainable environment that afford opportunities for quality of life comparable to or better than the legacy we discovered on our arrival.

Modern Solutions  Cultural

commons may become an integral part in the protection of the Natural commons if used to provide a free and open medium of disseminating data to humans regarding the preservation of the natural resources.

Modern Solutions  If

we are to find a solution, we must first be able to define our global or communal commons and be able to assign exclusive authorities to determine how the resources are to be used.

Modern Solutions  The

government should be able to control those who are given the property rights to the commons. The government should be determining who has the right to use the good/s, who has the right to earn income from the good/s, and who has the right to transfer the good/s to others.

Modern Solutions  Humans,

being the most intelligent and most capable life forms in nature, should be able to recognize the right of nature to exist. We have passed laws protecting human rights because we believe that humans have an inherent right to exist. But being part of the natural commons, we should also extend these rights to the rest of the commons.

Modern Solutions 



Coming up with solutions to the tragedy of the commons is one of the main problems encountered by scientists. The most common solution, however, is regulation by an authority. e.g. a permit system may be implemented for extractive economic purposes



People need to cooperate to conserve!

Modern Solutions   

Conversion of the commons into private property “Enclosure of the Commons” Accordingly, it will give the new owner an incentive to enforce its sustainability. Unfortunately, this solution may not apply to all commons, such as the air and global fish populations, because these may be difficult or totally impossible to privatize. –

e.g. Atmosphere

Modern Solutions  Another

simple solution: implementing a support system

Modern Solutions  Dunbar’s –

–

number

Dennis Fox experimented on human cooperative behavior and have estimated that the upper limit for a simple self contained, sustaining, well functioning commons may be as low as 150 people. People are able to work in smaller groups. e.g. the people of Coast Salish