Download Tragedy and Comedy of the Commons

The Commons: Tragedy or Comedy?
Outline
•  What is the “tragedy of the
commons?”
•  Poker and Prisoner Dilemmas
Put on your cow hats everyone!!
“Tragedy of the Commons”?
•  ARTICLE: 1968 by Garrett Hardin.
•  CONCEPT: shared resource in which
users benefit from personal use,
leading to unbridled freedom to use
resources and ultimately to resource
destruction.
•  Result? Tragedy
Tragedy of the Commons
•  A CLASSIC EXAMPLE: cows on
shared pasture.
•  Other examples of commons?
• Air
• Water
• Highways
• ???
Costanza’s Poker Game
•  Robert Costanza: tragedy of the commons as a
“collective social trap.”
Edney and Harper (1978) study
using poker chips to study
resource use.
•  Each player can each take
between 1 and 3 chips a turn.
Each round, the pot is
replenished in proportion to the
amount of chips left. If there
were 5 players and 15 chips,
how many chips would you
take?
Those with a long-term perspective will
take fewer, end up with less: so much for future generations!!
Hardin’s Suggestion: Mutual Coercion, Mutually Agreed Upon
•  A regulation accepted
by the majority of
those affected and
imposed upon all
involved. Speed limits
–  Traffic Laws
–  Air??
–  Water??
Comedy of the Commons
In real-life communal zones,
multiple institutions and practices
create a basis for creative and
constructive resource use. Use that not only protects what
exists, but creates new resource
forms and functions
Mexican Communal Property
Land Access depends
upon Communal
Labor Participation in
Cargos
(administration) and
Tequios (collective
labor activities)
Institutions:
•  Communal Goods
Commission
(adjudication)
•  Community
Assembly
(legislation
Community Life is Collectively Organized:
Households and Cooperatives
Getting some cattle
‘We asked for a bull to improve our stock, but the [development
agency official] said, “The cows here are the size of a dog, you need some
real cows.” …we had to accept a whole package of a
bull and four milk cows [Holsteins]….’
‘It took us three days to walk the cows over the mountains to
the village...they arrived the worse for wear’.
Cows and Connections
What Happened?
i.  No Place for
Cows: need to
be in
communal
Pasture
ii.  Tried to Set up
Feed-lot, but
inadequate
preparation
iii.  No Time for
Cows
iv.  Cows dispersed
v.  Jaguar Solution
Getting Grass: how many hours does it take to consume the
20+ kilos of grass sufficient to allow cows to
produce a minimum 25 liters of milk?
•  bite size => ranges
from .20 to 2.5 g
DM/bite ･
•  eating rate => 50 to
65 bites/minute ･
•  time spent eating =>
2 hours to 10 hours/
day
Skim Milk
Daily Energy Requirement for Dairy Cows in Santa Cruz, Mexico.
Activity
Energy Cost (Mcal)
ME for maintaining a mature lactating cow:
16.28 MCal
Horizontal locomotion through trail:
.768 MCal
Vertical Climbing:
4.95 Mcal
Grazing (8 hrs):
2.64 Mcal
(2.2 kJ/kg.hr, according to Graham 1985, 96)
Total Daily ME Requirement:
24.63 Mcal
•  movement adds about 50% of additional energy cost
•  milk requires calories, extension research indicates
approximately .58 Mcal/liter. even assuming sub-par
production of 25 liters adds an additional 14.5 Mcals
Punchline
•  Based on field observations in Santa Cruz, the dry
matter per bite is likely to be at the low end (.28
grams DM per bite); thus, even assuming that high
cows consume at a higher bite rate, that gives a
rate of only 1.1 kilos/hour. Cattle would need to
be in the field over 18 hours to consume enough
grass to produce milk!
They give us funds and don’t follow
up on projects . . . this money is the
poison of the people.
We receive the project and begin
to work, but without organization… Problems arise: machines
break, we need a
veterinarian;
there are no resources, and no
end to this.
Jaguar Solution:
Farmer’s darkly ironic view!
"The last three cows were eaten by a leopardo
[Panthera onca], but I think that there is still a
torrito (bull calf) around."
"[Panthers] just eat the [cow’s] tongues and go
off, I guess they mean to come back and finish
eating them later, but they slaughter the bunch at
once." (Co-op members in conversation, Santa
Cruz, May 2006)
Solution to Problem?
Farmers set up a conservation reserve with
‘camera traps’, infrared cameras that detect
jaguars and take photos of them.
They currently receive funding from the
Mexican Government and international
donors to conserve jaguars and provide
ecotourism.
Funny? Tragic? Certainly a happy
‘comedic’ ending (except for the cows of
course…)
CAUTION: Road to Perdition Paved with Good Intentions
FIN
Common property: a how-to guide
What is common property?
1. A set of resources that are:
a) Collectively owned
b) Collectively managed
2. Examples:
a) Common lands for farming, forestry and g
b) Fishery resources
c) Rivers and streams? Watersheds?
d) CO2?
Common-pool resources: items that may be drawn
upon by any member of a group
Realpolitick of Common Property:
1. Ownership is linked to
participatory management:
communities exclude members
who do not participate
2. Rewards: ability to use the
resources
3. Responsibilities: Participatory use
4. Sanctions: malfeasants punished
Realpolitick of common property
Tequio/Cargo Structure
of Communal Labor
Major
Village
Governance
Areas
Selected
Project
Subgroups
Village Assembly
Infrastructure
Development
Communal Goods
(Bienes Comunales)
Powerline
roadway
building
construction
Cows
Mules
Common Pasture
Pine Forest
Borders
Secretaria–in charge of project
Cargo-holders handles village-government
liasons, draws up tequio lists,
typically
manages project operations
assigned to
subgroups
Village
School
School Coffee Plot
Teacher Assistance
Groundskeeping
Maintenance
Rural
Store
Administration
Food
Transport
Treasurer–Handles monetary transactions
connected with project
Vocal–Advises tequio participants of
tequios, registers tequio participants
and supervises production tasks
Clear powerline slash
Cargo/Tequio
Labor
Process
Tequio
T
participant
lists
e.g., powerline
tequio
Transport and place
powerline posts
Food
Provision
Comunero
(tequero)
assigned
to task
Registered
Tequio
Workday
Realpolitick of community property in the
context of global environmental management