09诺奖埃莉诺奥斯特罗姆经典论文.docVIP

Governing the commons in the new millennium Introduction The impact of humans on global environmental change is becoming increasingly apparent, with consequences ranging from impacts on climate change to declines in biodiversity, soil degradation and forest degradation. Governing natural resources sustainably thus represents a major challenge for the future. Given increases in population and in levels of human consumption, how do we develop a diverse and robust set of institutions for the sustainable use of natural resources? The Debate Initiated by Garrett Hardin In his influential article in Science on “The Tragedy of the Commons,” Garrett Hardin presented a logic that he presumed was general and referred to all common-pool natural resources that were not either government owned or privately owned. He envisioned a pasture open to all, in which each herder received an immediate individual benefit from adding animals to graze on the pasture and suffered only delayed costs (with his fellow herders) from overgrazing. Hardin concluded: “Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit—in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons” (Hardin, 1968: 1244). Hardin’s conclusion was immediately accepted by many scholars. His article is still required reading in most environmental science programs and frequently assigned multiple times during an undergraduate program. In the early days of the scholarly discussion, scholars tended to develop theoretical papers that posited narrowly rational resource users that did not take a long-term view of the problems they faced. Somehow, government officials, on the other hand, were posited as being able to take the public interest into account and develop policies that would avert the tragedy of the commons. Policymakers tended to accept Hardin’s results