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PDF
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Type:
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Conference Paper |
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Author:
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Cárdenas, Juan-Camilo |
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Conference:
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Property Rights, Institutions, and Management of Environmental and Natural Resources, the Fourth Toulouse Conference on Environment and Resource Economics |
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Location:
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Toulouse, France |
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Conf. Date:
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May 3-4 |
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Date:
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2001 |
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URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/7978
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Sector:
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General & Multiple Resources |
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Region:
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South America |
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Subject(s):
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polycentricity
Workshop
biodiversity
social dilemmas
common pool resources
decentralization
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Abstract:
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"Protecting biodiversity involves two social dilemmas that are closely linked. A local dilemma where the local users of forests face where individual extraction of a resource might not produce an outcome for the group that is socially desirable because of the risks involved in CPR dilemmas. Self-governance and externally imposed institutions can be implemented to overcome this first dilemma. A second dilemma exists when the group extraction of resources from the forest affect the well-being of outsiders, namely, the stock and variety of biodiversity in the forest for which there is a demand in terms of existence and option values. State and non-state actors have emerged from international to local levels to reduce these impacts by implementing programs and introducing economic incentives to induce in the local users a change in their rate of extraction so that spillovers to outsiders are reduced. However these actors face a typical Principal-Agent problem when implementing their programs. The result is a complex system of actors and a set of vertical, horizontal and diagonal relations that create a polycentric system. This paper uses a simple economic model to describe and combine the two dilemmas, and studies the problem within the context of Colombia where there is a convergence of high biodiversity and high dependence by rural groups on resources, difficult state governance, and a shift towards decentralized systems of environmental policy. The paper may contribute to expanding the implications and potentials of thinking of polycentric systems when studying these types of more complex problems."
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