Introduction to Environmental
Studies
Session 4: Origin of Environmental Problems
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Some logistics first
• Whatsapp group
• Written CP on LMS
• Groups for project
• Lecture content vs. readings content
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Climate and Life
• What is Biogeography?
• It is the study of the 1
distribution of life-forms
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across space and through
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geological time4 1
• There are a greater 2
number of5 species near 3
equator, however,
6 there is 4
no scientific agreement on
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the reasoning
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• The same is true for trees
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But we do know…
• The planet is a collection of ecosystems of various
spatial dimensions
• It is shaped by climate and the distinctive ecological
communities in them.
• For example: Forests make up microhabitats
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Link between humans and the ecosystems
• environmental problems arise from the way that human behavior is organized and guided
• Humans depend on the • Two troublesome
resources we gain from our situations arise as
ecosystems humans access
• Environmental problems nature:
affect the quality and • 1. The commons
quantity of resources we
obtain from the ecosystems • 2. Inequality
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Parable of the
Commons
• In 1968 geneticist Garrett
Hardin published an article
called “The Tragedy of the
Commons”
• Simple but powerful model for
thinking about environmental
problems
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Parable of the Commons
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Parable of the Commons
Open Access: If no rules govern the use of the pasture
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But here’s the problem
• It is difficult for an individual to address this problem
alone
• If person A limits flock size but others don’t -> A will
be less well off than others and the land will continue
to suffer.
• So it is not feasible
• If A decides not to limit flock size while all other
herders do -> he/she will reap additional benefits—
and the condition of the land will improve thanks to
the efforts of others.
• But who would do this?
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The Tragedy
• In an open-access situation:
• No matter what the other herders do -
• Person A will always be better off by not limiting the
flock size.
Tragedy of the Commons
Common Good Individual Self-interest
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Similar
examples Bonus CP Activity
Think about a similar
example that creates the
tragedy of the commons
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Tragedy of the commons
Student Name Commons Human Action Tragedy
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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Enclosures
• Landlords enclose their area leaving
the landless without grazing grounds
How to avoid and economic means of sustaining
• Tragedy of dispossession
Tragedy of • Or really just rent-seeking
Commons - Can you think of an Environmental
Example of rent-seeking
possible • Owners of coal-fired power plants
when they make contributions to
solutions? politicians who vote against global
warming legislation
• Can you think of more examples?
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regulations we adopt to keep a common
resource of any sort from befalling the
fate of an open-access commons
Solution: • Unclear: how much restraint is necessary
mutual to keep commons healthy.
• Similar unclarity in Environmental Context
coercion,
mutually agreed • This calls for moving from hypothesis to a
well-established finding
upon? • But it’s not so easy without a policing body
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Institutional Solutions
• We know: Individuals cannot act alone
• Instead institutional solutions are needed. Why?
1. to alter rules that shape human behavior.
2. To Adopt rules limiting open access to stop
polluters from damaging the environment
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• Privatization is a form of enclosure
• Involves bringing economic incentive and
responsibility
Markets & • What are we saying here?
• What are we expecting?
Privatization 1. People will be forced to take responsibility
2. or may suffer with no help from the
community
• But what do we do about things we cant
privatize?
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Government regulation and Public
trust doctrine
• Indicates the government is
entrusted with the care but the
Regulation And public owns it
• Examples?
Public Trust Air pollution control laws
Cap and trade approach
• Example: quotas for polluting air
emissions. Critique?
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Community Governance
• Hardin didn’t take this into
account
• community-based community-governance principles
governance of commons
has been a dominant form
of natural resource
management throughout
human history
• Strongly linked to the idea
of social pressure
• Works more effectively in
smaller groups
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Community-governance Principles - Issues
Why may this be problematic?
• Local conditions might exclude women or members of an ethnic
minority,
• In such cases government might intervene to provide more equitable
access.
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Traditions & Policies
Why may this be problematic?
• Rules of community governance form over a long period of time
• And are linked to:
• Social pressures
• Traditions
• and strong community ties
• In contemporary times
• Social ties are weak
• Migration patterns hinder development of rules
Hence government is relied upon to address the commons problem
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• But government
support in case
of environmental
problems is not
always positive
• Examples from
Pakistan?
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Summarizing key ideas
• We learnt:
• Institutional arrangements and technology shape the access that
people have to ecosystems
• Access is unequal in all cases except for open access.
• Yet open access leads to the tragedy of the commons
• when human responsibility does not match natural system
boundaries environmental problems occur
• So there is this whole problem of mismatch
• For this purpose, there is a strong role of ethics & moral
deliberations
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