Digital Library of the Commons

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 29

Beyond the Tragedy of the Commons
(2008) Basurto, Xavier; Ostrom, Elinor
"To move beyond Hardins tragedy of the commons, it is fundamental to avoid falling into either of two analytical and policy traps: (1) deriving and recommending 'panaceas' or (2) asserting 'my case is unique.' We can move beyond both traps by self-consciously building diagnostic theory to help unpack and understand the complex interrelationship between social and biophysical factors at different levels of analysis. We need to look for commonalities and differences across studies. This understanding will be augmented if the rich detail produced from case studies is used together with theory to find patterned structures among cases. In this paper, we briefly illustrate important steps of how we can go about diagnosing the emergence and sustainability of self-organization in the fishing context of the Gulf of California, Mexico. By doing so, we are able to move away from the universality proposed by Hardin and understand how two out of three fisheries were able to successfully self-organize, and why one of them continues to be robust over time."
The Market for Voluntary Carbon Offsets: A New Tool for Sustainable Development
(2005) Taiyab, Nadaa
"Can carbon markets provide a new source of funding for sustainable development activities in the South? The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was originally seen as the mechanism that would link carbon markets and sustainable development objectives in developing countries. Through the CDM, countries with greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets under Kyoto can buy emissions credits from carbon offset projects in developing countries, provided that those projects also contribute to the sustainable development priorities of their host countries. Unfortunately, the CDM has come under great criticism for not adequately delivering on these sustainable development benefits. The CDM tends to lead to low-cost, high-volume projects, such as HFC (hydro fluorocarbon) destruction or landfill-to-energy projects, which have few benefits for local livelihoods. Many small community-based projects are often not economically viable under the CDM because of high transaction costs and lengthy bureaucratic procedures. Furthermore, most projects are concentrated in larger economies, such as India and Brazil, and have virtually bypassed the least developed countries. However, parallel to the CDM market, a voluntary market for carbon offsets has emerged. The voluntary market consists of companies, governments, organisations, organisers of international events, and individuals, buying or selling carbon credits for reasons other than regulatory compliance."
A New Era in Sustainable Development
(2007) Bass, Steve
"It is 20 years since the World Commission on Environment and Development — the Brundtland Commission— released its influential report on sustainable development. This is now the declared intention of most governments, many international organisations, and an increasing number of businesses and civil society groups. High profile ‘intentions’ have given rise to a bewildering array of sustainable development plans, tools and business models. But these have not yet triggered the pace, scale, scope and depth of change that is needed to make development sustainable. They leave the underlying causes of unsustainable development largely undisturbed. They include few means for anticipating non-linear changes – from climate change to economic cycles – and for building resilience to them. Consequently, most environmental and welfare measures continue to decline in almost all countries. Much energy has been spent crafting the sustainable development ‘toolkit’. But that energy has been channelled largely through a narrow set of international processes and ‘elite’ national actors. The results are not yet integral to the machinery of government or business, or people’s daily lives. This paper calls for energies to be directed in new ways, constructing a truly global endeavour informed by diverse local actors’ evidence of ‘what works’, and focusing more keenly on long-term futures. The key drivers and challenges of a ‘new era in sustainable development’ are suggested, to elicit ideas and leadership from a richer vein of experience than has been embraced by the formal international endeavours to date. This paper is the first in a series on the sustainable development futures that face key sectors and stakeholder groups."
Who's Managing the Commons? Inclusive Management for a Sustainable Future
(2000) Hesse, Ced; Trench, Pippa
"This article discusses what is the best means of managing the commons. The article stresses that these are critical questions in the current wave of decentralisation and tenure reform taking place in many Sahelian states. Although governments are passing new legislation to devolve the responsibility for managing natural resources to local communities, and despite growing awareness of the vital role of the commons in local livelihood systems, there is still some resistance to transferring power to local communities."
Scale, Equity and Efficiency: A Stone May Kill More Than One Bird
(1993) Prakash, Aseem; Gupta, Anil K.
"Policy goals of efficiency, equity, and sustainability may not be independent. Also the policy instruments, i.e. price mechanism, fiscal policy, and scale may be related. We need to find answers about who shall decide the scale at the national and international level? If equity and scale are related, the interests of the countries in the resource-intensive growth phase and of the post-industrial societies, may clash."
Protection of Environment and Biodiversity for Sustainable Future of Rural Areas: The Case of Planned Regional Park of Trnovski Gozd, Slovenia
(2003) Udovč, Andrej; Barbic, Ana
"The first part of the paper examines Slovenian agricultural and environmental policy related to nature protection and sustainable rural development in the period of the country's transition. This period has been characterised by creation a new independent state,introduction of a multi-party democratic political system, transformation of planned-market economy to market economy as well as by the coming accession to the EU. The analysis of relevant laws reveals that environment and nature protection legislation is more advanced and more effective in practice than agricultural and forestry legislation, both, however, displaying a top-down approach. In the second part of the paper, empirical studies are made into the impact of the different laws on agriculture, forestry and environment protection practices as well as into the proposed foundation of Trnovski Gozd Regional Park as a protected area. The empirical studies were based on interviews made with 20 members of local and 7 members of state elite. Local and state elite respondents believe that, despite some limitations, the park will offer good opportunities for local development (promotion of the area, new jobs, eco-tourism), and by the same token guarantee protection of nature/biodiversity and the environment. The local elite respondents, furthermore, agree that local authorities and local residents (NGOs) should participate at all stages of the foundation of the regional park."
Choosing the Right Mix: Market, State, and Institutions for Environmentally Sustainable Industrial Growth
(1992) Gupta, Anil K.
"Efficiency, Growth, and Exports are the main items on nation's economic agenda. There is some concern (perhaps not adequate) for developing Safety Nets for people hurt/ left out by growth. Unfortunately environmental implications of industrial restructuring have not been given adequate attention. We present a framework to identify the appropriate policy response to make growth environmentally sustainable. "We see no contradiction between growth and environment sustainability. There is a broad degree of consensus that the size of the cake needs to be expanded. The issue therefore is not to have growth or not. The issue is what kind of growth and what pace of growth. Environmental implications are contingent on the pace and kind of growth. Since environment sustainability and economic growth reinforce each other, we need to make environment as an explicit decision variable in the macro economic policy. "Three policy measures i.e. market mechanism, state intervention, and institutional innovations can be used to enable firms to internalize externalities. We need to identify various mix of three options to deal with various kinds of externalities. "The best policy response is one that internalizes externalities at lowest transaction cost. In Section one we present a typology of externalities. In Section two we relate the type of externality with the stage and causes of industrial growth. Externalities can arise not only at the firm stage (input and transformation) but also at the consumer stage (consumption and disposal). Growth at production can be due to increase in scale of operation, new technology , and increase in number of firms. Growth in consumption can be due to increase in per capita consumption, introduction of new products and new consumers entering the market. ln Section Three we speculate upon the feasible policy choice given a mix of externalities, associated uncertainties and the measurability of the impact of the uncertainties."
Property Rights, Collective Action, and Technologies for Natural Resource Management
(1999) Knox, Anna; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth
From page 1: "Degradation of natural resources has become a global problem that threat ens the livelihood of millions of poor people. Many promising technologies for natural resource management are available to address these problems, but farmers and others often fail to adopt them. Why is this? Although many factors can be identified, lack of secure property rights and collective action deserve greater attention from policy makers and technology developers."
Institutional Support for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Southern Africa: Framework and Methodology
(2000) Goldman, Ian; Carnegie, James; Marumo, Moscow; Marumo, David; Kela, Elaine; Ntonga, Somi; Mwale, Ed
"This paper reports on work carried out in Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa, which used a Sustainable Livelihoods approach to assess the impact of policy and services on poverty. It used the approach in following through a 'vertical transect' of the public administration from village to central ministries. As a result the sustainable livelihoods framework has been adapted into one for examining institutional issues. This first paper addresses the conceptual issues and methodological learnings of undertaking this type of audit. Paper 50 in this series summarises the key findings from the four case study countries/provinces."
Collective Action and Property Rights for Sustainable Development
(2004) Meinzen-Dick, Ruth; Di Gregorio, Monica
"Millions of rural poor people in developing countries depend on natural resources--farmland and rangeland, fishing waters, forests--for their livelihoods. But whether they can use these resources sustainably to climb out of poverty often depends on the institutions that govern resource use--property rights and collective action. A multiplicity of property rights and collective action arrangements exist around the globe, and researchers have learned numerous lessons about what kinds of arrangements work best under what conditions. Making property rights and collective action work for the poor is not as simple as issuing new land titles or mindlessly applying standards that have worked elsewhere. Instead, it requires a detailed understanding of local resource conditions and social relationships, among other factors. "This collection of briefs draws on a wide body of research conducted through the Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). It describes the complex issues surrounding property rights and collective action that policymakers and development professionals must understand and address if they are to successfully promote sustainable and pro-poor management of natural resources."

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