Sea Turtles as Common Property Resources: International, National, and Local Management for Sustainable Development

Abstract

"Two contrasting trends have recently become apparent in the management of common resources. While the international community attempts to create common property regimes for resources long characterized by open access, sustainable local-level regimes are being destroyed by economic development. A case study of the harvest, use, and commercialization of sea turtles, which are both local and global collective resources, demonstrates that sustainability on either scale of the commons is unlikely to be achieved unless greater effort is made to integrate resource management in both these jurisdictions. Similarly, greater attention must be paid to the role of the state in mediating between the global and local contexts of resource use."