The Issue of Environmental Resources Management in the Light of the Model of Tragedy of the Commons – Systemic Approach

Mariusz Dacko

Abstract

In 1968, a paper appeared in the Science journal outlining a macroeconomic concept referring to the problem of common use of environmental resources. Its author, Garret Hardin, stated that the natural human desire to maximise individual economic benefits led to overexploitation of environmental resources to the detriment of the whole society. The problem brought up by Hardin is very important from the perspective of the idea of sustainable development. After all, the relationships in which the pillars, or subsystems (ecological, social and economic ones), of sustainable development remain should be harmonious enough to enable simultaneous maximisation of their objectives. In particular, the social, economic and ecological subsystems should not exclude one another. However, the tragedy of the commons is a classic example of a situation where the economic subsystem is in conflict with the ecological and social subsystems. As Hardin pointed out, this phenomenon occurs in various spheres of human activity and cannot be overcome by only technical means. Observing the grazing of cattle on a commons, Hardin noticed that the commons became completely depleted, although this was not in the interest of the local community. It is not only in farming that ecological and social problems appeared as consequences of an individually rational economic activity. Hardin’ s concept found confirmation in overexploited water supplies, depleted fisheries, cleared forests, illegal rubbish dumps, and rivers degraded by sewage. It is in the vital interest of the society to better get to know and bring under control the mechanism that leads to exceeding of the environment regeneration capacities and results in its users starting to incur losses instead of benefiting from it. This issue is examined by a systemic approach to management which identifies the universal pattern of system behaviour referred to as the archetype of the tragedy of the commons. Thus, the phenomenon is systemic in origin, and we can learn more about its development in time (or even neutralise it) by means of the method of system dynamics. A system affected by the tragedy of the commons functions in a way that diverges from the idea of sustainable development. It contradicts not only the postulate of intergenerational justice (there is overexploitation of environmental resources which can even lead to their irretrievable loss), but also intragenerational one (actions of some users of the environment cause inconveniences that will afflict the whole society). Therefore, we cannot ignore the symptoms of the tragedy of the commons while trying to implement local ideas of sustainable development.

The article explains the mechanism of the tragedy of the commons based on the system theory using the model of system dynamics. A systemic archetype has been discussed on the basis of which a dynamic model has been developed, and a simulation of the common resource exploitation has been carried out. Further on, possibilities of preventing the scenario of resource depletion have been discussed.