Tragedy Of The Commons Case Study

1. Go to the textbook and read the section about the Tragedy of the Commons. Summarize, in YOUR own words (do NOT copy-n-paste from the book or article) what the “Tragedy of the Commons” means.

This “Tragedy of the Commons” is a concept first put forward by William Forster Loyd but more often is attributed to the ecologist Garett Hardin ("Tragedy of the commons", 2016). The concept can be explained as a situation in which a common resource is shared by many. Each individual attempts to maximise their share of the resource with little regard to others and therefore the resource begins to be over exploited. Furthermore, the individuals involved each feels as though their actions do not contribute to the inevitable decline of the shared resource

Offer one solution to that problem. Should there be new laws, policies or resource management plans to help reduce the problem?

Australian states and territories have the responsibility of managing their own water resources but, as discussed above the lack of communication between these stakeholders has lead to the significant decline of the MDB. Therefore, in 2007 the Australian federal government stepped in and created the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to oversee and manage this highly controversial and important region ("About us | Murray-Darling Basin Authority", 2016). Since then the authority has governed all aspects of the MDB including the amount of water able to be drawn from the river for purposes such as agricultural irrigation.

4. Choose one the Review Questions from this week’s readings and answer it in

This is a minuscule amount in comparison to the massive amounts of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere from industrial processes such as coal burning power generation. However, my emissions still add to the world 's total and therefore are still adding to problem of climate change. Therefore to minimise the harm I am contributing to I can change the amount of time I spend driving. I am lucky enough to live very close to where I work and so I can use more sustainable methods of transport to get to and from there such as walking or cycling. By doing this I calculate I can reduce my car 's carbon emissions to at least 3.2 tonnes a