Mitigating the Tragedy of the Commons

The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory wherein a resource is shared by

individuals who behaves according to their own self-interest without thinking of the common
good. The individual tries to reap the greatest benefit he/she can get thinking of his/her
short-term gains without having regards for its long-term consequences. When the demand for
the resources outweigh the existing the supply, an additional individual who will use the resource
will harm other people and they will no longer be able to enjoy the resources benefits. The
tragedy of the common usually happens when an individual neglect the societys well-being for
his/her own personal gain.
One example of the tragedy of the commons is the commonly-used grazing land. The
land could provide adequately for everyone as long as the number of herders grazing the cattle is
in on check. However, the land will not be sufficient for everyone once the numbers are
neglected. If each person using the land continues to act on his/her self-interest, keeping many
cattle as possible, when enough people do so, will result to overgrazing which will cause the
degradation of the grazing land. Thus, the grazing land will not be able to support them and
everyone who are using it or will be using it will not be able to enjoy the benefits anymore. The
tragedy of the commons is not the long term interest of anyone, but the immediate self-interest of
the people.
According to Hardin (1968), freedom in a common brings ruins to all. Since the
property is free for all, no one has the initiative to take care of the land and think for the future
generations who have yet to use the land. Everybody just reaps the greatest benefit they could get
without thinking if the practice will be sustainable or not.The tragedy of the commons has
implications on the use of resources and its sustainability. Since resources are shared by
individuals and everyone will be affected if the resource becomes depleted or unusable, it is
important to mitigate the tragedy of the commons to prevent further damage to the resources.
Active management and regulations of resources should be implemented, keeping in mind that
the use of resources should be sustainable.
One way to mitigate the tragedy of the commons is to enlighten individuals about the
consequences of their actions. Make them realize that there are negative long-term effects that

will be felt because of their short-term decision for their short-term gains. If an individual is able
to realize that his/her action may cause such consequences, they will have the initiative to limit
their use of resources and preserve it for the long-term.
If the people are not willing to cooperate, the government can intervene. They can impose
regulations and taxes to discourage the behavior that will lead to the tragedy of the commons. By
imposing regulations and taxes, the government can limit the use of resources. They can also
limit the access with regards to the resources. The government can also inflict punishment to
people who over-use or over-consume the resources while they can give incentives/encourage
people to under-use or under-consume the resources. The government can also establish an
institutional structure that will coordinate the actions of individual resources to ensure their
sustainable use of the resources. Theinstitutions could also help layout plans regarding the use of
the resource and how to manage it properly. It can also provide trainings and information for
people regarding environmental awareness. Since most people are ignorant about the nature and
cause of environmental problems, this can be one way of enlightening them. Education can
alleviate their ignorance. If the people are informed, they will be thinking twice regarding their
actions because they will also be thinking about the consequences that can happen.
It is also important to the people using the resources to be able to communicate with each
other so that they will be able to understand the situation. They could talk to them themselves to
make several rules to protect and benefit from the common pool of resources. They can also
make an agreement among the people regarding the use of the resource and the limitations. If all
individual will cooperate and abide by the arrangements set, the tragedy of the commons will
less likely to happen since everyone is doing their job to care and maintain the resources.
Another possible alternative is to establish property rights. The properties rights
regarding the resource should be well-defined and secure. If there are property rights, tragedy of
the commons is less likely to happen since an individual will have an incentive to act to prevent
the deterioration and over-used of the resource. This will both benefit the individual and other
people who also value the resource. By establishing property rights, the individual will deter to
exhaust the given resource.

References: