HL.b.6—Tragedy of the commons

The tragedy of the commons occurs when users gain privately from a shared resource while depletion costs are distributed, especially when access and responsibilities are unclear.

Several herders may each add livestock to shared pasture because each receives the extra benefit while all users share grass loss; individually rational actions can therefore produce collective overuse.

Elinor Ostrom's work on shared pastures shows that tragedy is not inevitable: users can create legitimate boundaries, locally fitted rules, monitoring, graduated sanctions and conflict-resolution processes.

Choose governance that defines users, limits, monitoring, enforcement and participation rather than assuming privatization or central control is the only answer.

Common property is not the same as open access; effective community institutions can prevent overexploitation.