Increase in Population on Earth - Literature review Example

Tragedy of the Commons Tragedies of commons are problems that arise as a result of an increase in man’s population. Hence, as the population increases these problems increases simultaneously. As such, they include; grazing patterns, national parks inhabitation, hunting and fishing areas or marine life depletion. Additionally, Wade (6) stated that the problems include the aspects of farming and irrigation, a problem that is unsolvable by a technical solution. A technical solution is solving a problem using a technical approach and has little or no consideration of the change in human values or ideas of their behaviors (Falk 24). According to Malthus, the more a population increase the individual share of the resources available in the world decreases. Consequently, as long as the population is not optimized there shall remain a disparity on sharing of resources. The biggest challenge is to increase the individual share of goods in the world. However, goods cannot be compared; they are said to be incommensurable (Wade 9). Further, the tragedy of commons can be caused by the freedom of Commons, whose freedom results in harming everybody in that population. Additionally, man is a rational being, but due to the irrational nature most of the decisions are made to his/her benefits. In a situation where herders have a freedom to grazing in a common, they will add the number of animals freely. Grazing freedom will be without considering the effects of overgrazing in the common. Hence, the results of the freedom of grazing are a ruin to the entire population. Similarly, human beings usually pursue their personal interests in the world where every person per-capital share is inadequate (Falk 23). What results is a ruin to the rest of the population. Additionally, the idea of the tragedy of the common has existed since time immemorial, but it has of late been greatly perpetuated to greater levels. For instance, overgrazing has lead to an increase in soil erosion where overgrazing is practiced. Similarly, freedom of the oceans has resulted in a decrease in the number of water species. Consequently, some of the species are almost becoming extinct (Wade 12). Further to that, the freedom of Commons in national parks is also leading to a dwindling number of animals. Increased destruction of national parks has pressurized the Governments to privatize the national parks. However, the impact of the tragedy of the common is still being felt no matter their efforts to avert the situation. The tragedy of commons is also evident when it comes to problems of pollution. Pollution is characterized by adding effluents into the common. Pollution includes water air and land pollution. Interestingly, the rational nature of human beings plays a role in pollution. In the calculation of utility, man finds that it is more economical to discharge the wastes into the common rather than recycling the wastes or making them risk free before releasing them (Thiele 22). Hence, tragedy of commons is perpetuated by the fact that there cannot be a boundary between the private property and the commons. Finally, tragedy of commons in the population is averted by the practices of mans breeding. It is impossible to control the breeding patterns of man; this is because in most instance breeding is controlled by conscience. Natural selection favors those who practice high level of breeding as compared to those who have controlled breeding practices. Consequently, breeding that is uncontrolled will have an effect to all. However, if responsible parenthood is practiced, it can be a good avenue to avoid hard decisions. Property rights in solving common problems According to the Garret paper, there are two main ways of solving the tragedy of commons. On one ahnd, people have to come together and produce those goods that they require together rather than doing it individually (Garret 4). It is imperative to formulate suitable laws in order to avert the tragedy. Cooperation must be there since such a practice will reduce the ruin caused by the increasing population with no increase of the space available. Common property with no restrictions, overexploitation will occur; to prevent this there must be regulations that govern their use (Thiele 21). Such properties can also be made private mostly the common pool properties. However, privatization and Legislation has proved to be ineffective (Garret 8). According to Wade, collective management of properties will likely prevent further degradation of forests, degrading of grazing commons, avoid the effects caused by pollution and avert the dwindling marine life. Similarly, common property makes individuals have equal rights of using them. The rights may be explicit to a certain group without any monitoring or regulate the extent to which each person can use the property (Falk 25). It is hard to use the public goods until they are fully exhausted. However, there are some of the common properties that if overused by one person they are depleted. However, they are always prone to being polluted, being finished or destroyed. For instance, there are common properties such as water, grazing fields, and trees. There must be rules that are put to prevent the overexploitation of these common resources. They are crucial for the continued existence of the human being (Garret 12). There must be an external force that mitigates their exploitation such as a Government agency or a taskforce developed by the community. In most cases, the authority is given the mandate of controlling the use of common property. Additionally, users of common pool resources can voluntarily refrain themselves from the use of a certain public goods. Conversely, this is due to observation of a specific set regulation by an external force. Regulation must be a collective action involving all the users to achieve the target goals that is a regulated and a healthy exploitation of a certain common pool property. He carried out his research in Indian villages. The villagers have come together to control how they use their common resources such as water, irrigation water, fisheries and how they prevent pollution (Garrett 14). The villagers have formed a task force that oversees the use of the common pool property. They put their efforts on collective gains but not individual gains. How the theoretical problems and solutions have played out in practice. According to Cinner, there exists a Customary Marine Tenure (CMT) found in the Pacific. Customary Marine Tenure is contrary to the western ways of controlling access to the oceans. In this case, access is controlled by social and political units. They include individuals, family, clans, relatives and villages. There are areas that only a specific group of people are allowed to access. Customary marine tenure has been incorporated into the laws governing the Pacific region ( Cinner 4). Additionally, efforts are being done to be included in social and economic developments in these regions. Efforts emanate due to the efficacy of the practice in the preservation of marine life. A research carried out where a comparison was done between regions that allowed non-owners to access the marine tenures with those that restricted non-owners from accessing the marine tenures (Cinner 8). The research showed that those communities who restricted non-owners recorded a better social-economic development. The paper found that those communities with a strict tenure control had a lower rate of migration and also had an increased dependence on marine life than others. Additionally, the effectiveness of CMT was determined by the population size. According to Joshua Cinner, the study shows that this method can only be applicable in the case of a moderate population, but not in a population that is characterized by extensive immigration patterns (Cinner 12). CMT applies population dynamics and approaches. It is apparent that the more a population increases, the more it becomes uncontrollable. However, the population itself can put measures to control its tenure (Thiele 34). Consequently, members of a population interaction with one another is improved, and their economic level boosted. Works Cited Cinner, Joshua. Social, economic factors influencing customary marine tenure in the Indo-Pacific. Chicago: 2005, Print. Falk, Thomas, Björn Vollan, and Michael Kirk. "Tragedy of the Commons." The Essential Guide to Global Environmental Governance (2014): 212. Hardin, Garrett. The Tragedy of the commons science. New York: 1968, Print. Thiele, Leslie Paul. "Tragedy of the Commons." The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (2015). Wade, Robert. The management of common property resources: Finding a cooperative solution. New York: 1987, Print. Read More