THE DIFFICULTIES IN MANAGING

NATURAL RESOURCES
WHY IS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW SO DIFFICULT?
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
Scarcity

Because there resources are not

enough for everyone to use, there will
always be a conflict in its use

Nature of scarcity depends on the type

of resources
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
Type of Resource
Non Renewable
Extractive
Renewable
Ecosystem Services
Aesthetic/Spiritual
Examples Nature of
Coal, oil, copper Limited availability
Rate of extraction
Fish, timber, soil,
must not threaten
groundwater
renewability
Not extracted or
Pollination, water harvested but no
purification, flood control, value in the
climate stability commercial market
and hence, ignored
Scenic vistas, Mt. Mayon Congestion
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
Resources Challenges
Extractive, non renewable How to allocate
How to limit extraction,
Extractive, renewable
ensure sustainability

Ecosystem services How to value

How to regulate access

Aestethetic/spiritual
equitably
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
Clash of Values among
competing interests

Biocentrism

Anthropocentrism

Intergenerational equity
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
Problem of the Commons

In 1968, Garrett Hardin pointed out one specific

challenge in dealing with common resources – a
problem he called “The Tragedy of the Commons”

To explain this tragedy, he used grazing in public

land as an example
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources

Imagine a public or common land where anyone

can bring his animal to feed on the grass
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
If there were only two people involved,
each one bringing his animal to the
common everyday, there would be no
problem

The domesticated animals will be fed

The grass can replenish itself

The owners of the domesticated animals

would be able to sustain their livelihood
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
But precisely because everything is okay

It would be logical for the owners of the

animals to increase the animals they
bring to the commons

It would likewise be logical for others in

the community to raise their own
animals and let them feed on the
commons as well
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
As more and more animals feed on the
grass, the field exceeds its carrying
capacity and the grass becomes unable
to sustain itself

This of course, would trigger

environmental consequences that would
be to the detriment of the entire
community and its environment
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
When the problem becomes obvious, how would the actors
react?

Hardin observes that to the normal individual, it would be

logical to increase his use of the commons

If he decreases his use of the commons, he has no

assurance that his neighbors would do the same.
Consequently, his sacrifice would amount to nothing
and he will end up losing more

And even if all the owners of the animals agree to

reduce the use of their commons, what is their
assurance that people from other communities will not,
in their absence, continue its use?
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources

Thus, Hardin concludes that in this

situation, what would appear to be the
logical thing to do for the individual
would be illogical from the collective’s
point of view. Yet this would be the
normal course of each individual
Difficulties in Managing
Natural Resources
THE DIFFICULTY OF COLLECTIVE
ACTION AND FREE RIDERS

Collective

Who? How?

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