The Tragedy Of The Commons
By: Fahad Khan
Tags: Economics, Ecology, Ecology And Environment, Microeconomics, Pakistan

Photo by Gary Ellis on Unsplash

In 1833, British economist William Foster Lloyd noticed a tragedy among humans. He posited that the egocentric nature of an individual is capable of bringing the whole system down. According to Lloyd, the selfishness of humans drives them to overuse shared environmental resources, also known as ‘commons’, for their short-term benefits, while ruining the system for everyone behind.

Here’s the classic example: Imagine a common pasture being used by multiple cattle herders with 10 cattle per herder. The cows grazing on this pasture are satisfied. But each herder sees an opportunity to bring more cattle to his herd. If that happens, a point will come when the pasture will be overgrazed, leaving all the cows hungry.

In 1968, ecologist Gareth Hardin wrote an article titled “The Tragedy of the Commons”, which highlighted Lloyd’s theory once again. Hardin believed that the self-interest of individuals leads to decisions that are not in favor of society, and that humans are incapable of solving these issues on their own. For this, people need governments or privatization to save the common resources.

Canadian waters are famous for their seafood. There was a time when an abundant natural supply of cod was enough to satisfy all the fishermen. With the help of technological innovations in 1960, fishermen started catching more cod. This resulted in overfishing and by 1990, the fishing industry of Canada saw a historical downfall.

Covid-19 spilling the beans

Today, we can find the tragedy of the commons in this pandemic. When governments imposed restrictions globally, people rushed towards supermarkets. They started hoarding food items, toilet papers, hand sanitizers and several other commodities. While many managed to get plentiful supplies, others couldn’t get anything at all. And by the time retailers limited the buying capacity of each individual, it was too late. The empty aisles of markets displayed nothing but self-centered behaviour of humans.

People assume that if they won’t stock up in time, someone else will. It makes sense logically, but collectively it’s a miserable approach. Hoarding is just one of the tragedies. Let’s take another example of face masks: We wear masks not only to protect ourselves but to protect others from us as well. This is a collective approach. If we stop using masks just because we feel uncomfortable and they hurt our ears, it’ll be in our self-interest and will eventually harm the greater cause.

Similarly, social distancing will prevent this infectious disease from widespread but staying indoors all the time isn’t easy. People want to come out of their homes for public gatherings. This is what happened in India back in March 2021, when a vast majority of people participated in public events like IPL cricket tournament, Holi and Kumbh Mela event, and political rallies. Despite pandemic, all the restrictions were ignored, which in result gave birth to the horrific second wave of Covid-19 in India. The Indian Delta variant has now started affecting Pakistan, which may result in another series of lockdowns.

Environment seeking shelter

It is difficult to make sacrifices for others. Benefitting ourselves without even considering our fellow human beings has unfortunately become a part of our subconscious. We are involuntarily destroying the very planet we belong to.

The overfishing incident in Canada affected life under the sea by killing the chances of sustainable breeding. The oceans are now being polluted. The governments have failed badly in regulating corporations for safe disposal of commercial waste. For corporations, an easy way out is dumping all the waste in water and getting rid of it as early as possible. It is in their self-interest. What they don’t realize is that these ill practices are making it impossible for species to live under such circumstances.

In 2004, the United States FDA warned pregnant women to avoid predatory fish due to high levels of mercury found in them. Tuna and Bluefin are some of the most desirable delicacies across the globe but they are full of toxins. Just because some metal or chemical factory decided to throw their waste in sea for their short-term benefit, the fish got affected, which’ll now contaminate its consumers.

The amount of trash in oceans shows how ignorant we have become. Initially, it was plastic that would hurt marine life. But now face masks are a greater risk. By mismanaging this situation, we have already caused an unwanted surge in marine pollution.

To save money, countries are using cheap fossil fuels — the result of which are greenhouse emissions that are responsible for environmental pollution. The scariest part is that damage doesn’t stop here. These greenhouse emissions have started increasing our planet’s overall temperature triggering glaciers to melt down and exacerbate the Arctic life.

Tragic state of Pakistan

Changa Manga is the largest man-made forest. However, in the early 2000s, with the help of black sheep among the government, timber mafia deforested nearly sixty percent of this place. It not only disturbed the wildlife but also left a question mark on Pakistan’s stance on dealing with global warming. Here, the forest was a common resource, which when left alone got abused by humans.

Let’s take a closer look at another example: To overcome the shortage of water for household use, bore wells were introduced to extract water from underground. Since water coming from bore wells is free of charge and taxes, people misuse and waste it. In the short-term, they benefit themselves by using this open access resource but wasting water is lowering the underground water levels.

A vast majority of Karachi are relying on borewells now, which means a time will come when shortage of underground water will leave people dissatisfied. The tragedy of the commons can be seen here as people have started deepening their borewells without thinking about its negative impact on earth and its inhabitants.

Solution to end this misery

Some experts deduce that only external intervention by governments can provide solutions to the tragedies of the commons. While regulating smaller acts such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance can be done by authorities, challenges of global warming remain unanswered by the conventional wisdom.

Where Lloyd and Hardin believed that people need guidance from authorities or else they will deplete the resources, an American economist named Elinor Ostrom rejected this theory and argued that Hardin’s ideology is based upon an imaginary world where humans don’t communicate with each other.

Ostrom travelled to different parts of the world to observe human behaviour. After conducting field studies backed by quantitative data, she concluded that humans are capable of self-governing their resources.

In real life, when such a situation arises, individuals communicate and try to find solutions to avoid ecosystem collapse. As per Ostrom, with the passage of time, people come up with their own set of rules and regulations to monitor the ecosystem and manage it accordingly. Ostrom disproved the idea of governance systems and privatization to save natural resources.

Incentivizing responsible citizens with rewards and punishing the irresponsible ones with penalties can maintain equilibrium of this ecological system. Like corporations, senior community members can take leadership roles to ensure that everyone in the system follows the rules.

While the dangers of global warming and the unpredictable human behaviour remain a risk, we can still manage to sail through these harsh times by putting in little more effort. Of course, acknowledging the problem is the first step towards progress.