The Concept of Tragedy of the Common - Essay Example

? Tragedy of the Commons Tragedy of the Commons Tragedy of the common refers to the shared environmental resources and how theyare overused by humans and destroyed (Gash 2006). One of the commonly shared resources includes common grazing areas, where people graze many animals in their own self interest leading to the depletion of the grass in the grazing areas. There are several examples of tragedy of common. The first one is Blue-fin Tuna. This fish faces extinction like the Grand Banks cod. It has been fished to reduction in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It has already been fished to extinction in the Caspian Sea, Black Sea and Atlantic blue-fin tuna may also follow. In 1960S, International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna was formed to control and manage fish harvesting in a more sustainable manner. Unfortunately, many nations are not it member and continue to fish it without regard for conservation to make huge profit. The Grand Banks fishing ground along the coast of Newfoundland was regarded as home of cod. In the 1970s, with advancement of new fishing technology, it was fished to reduction. By 1960s, it had drastically dropped to very low quantities leading to the closure of the Grand Banks fishing industry. Passenger pigeons birds became extinct in 1914 (Bedoya 2011). When the Europeans settled in North America this birds used to migrate in large numbers across the sky. The Europeans destroyed their habitant in the forest and hunted them down for food and sold them in the market. They greatly reduced in number by the time hunting limits were enacted. It was too late to save them and soon they became extinct. The Earth’s atmosphere is a common resource shared and polluted by everyone on the planet. The green house gases from industries, transportation and air pollution damages the atmosphere. International agreement like Kyoto Protocol has been formed in attempt to slow global climate warming and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (Hardin 2011). Multiple nations recognized the importance of taking care of it and agreed to look at the long term benefit at the expense of the short-term gain. Population growth is another tragedy of the common. As the population increases the natural resources are depleted. Every person uses air, land, water, and food resources and dividing those resources to around 7 billion people tends to stretch them thinly. Unregulated logging leads to the depletion of tropical rainforests which benefits everyone in the world. Timber producers remove a lot of it and cheaply damaging acres of land. Some part are protected and governed in a proper way for extraction but still illegal logging takes place especially boundaries of different countries where their law is different on their border. Groundwater in Los Angeles was drawn by the increased population in Los Angeles to an extent of intrusion of saltwater from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Faced by potential of water shortages and depletion of water resources they depended on, a voluntary organization was formed to conserve and manage the groundwater for future use. The ocean is a commonly shared resource throughout the world. No single nation has the power to pass laws that govern and protect the entire nation. Every nation protects the ocean resources along its coastline. The shared space is left to destruction and pollution. Ocean garbage accumulates of circular current or gyres. Many nations let solid waste from lands and ships flow into the ocean (Margulis 2012). The garbage, especially the plastic pollutant, is harmful to every individual because they form a cycle through the food chain. Traffic congestion is a major problem on the roads. Individuals use the road for their own self interest, some to get to their places of work as fast as possible. Problem occurs when everyone decides to use the road to meet travelling needs. Jam occurs and there is slow movement of vehicles leading to air pollution from idling cars. When there are many vehicles on the public road, drivers can opt for a different route or drive in different time to the place of work. Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest has been caused by development of the land and human settlement. From 1991 to 2000, Amazon Rainforest was cleared from an area of 415,000 to 587,000km2 in comparison to Madagascar, Spain or Manitoba. Most of the land was used for cattle pasture. In 2008, the government of Brazil noted that the tropical rainforest had been destroyed an area of 3,200sq.kilometres (Machan 2011). This is equivalent to Rhode Island. The tropical rainforest has been shrinking but of recent it has slowed down with 2011 recording the slowest rate of deforestation. In the pre Columbian era, most of Amazonas area was an open agricultural land highly populated. In the 16th century after the Europeans invasion, with slavery, hunt for gold, western diseases and later the boom of the rubber led to depopulation and increase of Amazonas forest. Before 1970, access to the interior of the forest was highly restricted. The forest remained intact apart from partial clearance along rivers (Machan 2011). The opening of the Trans-Amazonian highway deep into the forest accelerated deforestation. The Amazonas soil was poor for agriculture. In 1960s, the colonialist invaded the forest areas for agriculture using slash and burn method which rendered the soil infertile. They failed to manage their farms properly due to weed invasion and soil infertility. The Amazonian colonist highly kept cattle’s because ranching was cheap, required low labour, generated high profit and elevated social status of an individual. Farming led to extensive deforestation and damage of the environment. The Amazon Rainforest is facing deforestation for various reasons. Farming area for soybeans, cattle pasture, medicine, and road works like smaller roads and highways, housing space, and the valuable hardwood are the main reasons. From 1990 to 2003, deforestation of the Amazon increased at a high rate due to local, national and international factors. Brazil is the second largest producer of soybeans in the world mostly for biodiesel production and export. With increase in prices of soybeans, farmers pushed more into forested area of Amazon. The Amazon Rain Forest was estimated to reduce by 40% in two decades using the 2007 rain forest deforestation rates (Machan 2011). The rate of deforestation has slowed and in 2011 the slowest figures on deforestation were recorded although the forest is still shrinking. In September 16, 2008, Jens Stoltenberg the Norwegian prime minister announced that the Norwegian government would donate funds to form projects that would slow down the rate of deforestation. They were funds of US dollar 1 billion (Machan 2011). New findings also show that the Amazon forest has been cleared down due to human activities. Careless exploitation of the forest will ruin all the archaeological remnants of this period. References Gash, J. H. C. (2006). Amazonian deforestation and climate. Chichester [u.a.: Wiley. Bedoya, G. E. (2011). The social and economic causes of deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon Basin: Natives and colonists. Binghamton, N.Y: Institute for Development Anthropology. Margulis, S. (2012). Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. Washington, D.C: World Bank. Hardin, G. J. (2011). The Immigration dilemma: Avoiding the tragedy of the commons. Washington, DC: Federation for American Immigration Reform. Machan, T. R. (2011). The commons: It's tragedies and other follies. Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford Univ. Read More