Types of Social Dilemmas and Tragedy of Commons Dilemma - Essay Example

There are different types of social dilemmas; the tragedy of commons dilemma, resource dilemma, and prisoners dilemma.The tragedy of the commons dilemma is a situation where individuals with their own self-interest deplete the available scarce resources. Common dilemmas such as overpopulation and pollution lead to social problems. Individual interests are short term and selfish. For example, in the modern-day, rivers have been polluted leading to a water crisis. Increased human population growth has led to overpopulation leading to strained use of scarce resources.

Illegal logging of forests has greatly affected the ecosystem leading to climate change (Feenstra, 2011).The tragedy of commons can be eliminated by the relevant authorities who can impose taxes on persons who emit harmful substances to the environment mostly air and rivers. Also, restrictions should be made to a person’s access to available resources to prevent depletion. This situation will only enable limited groups of people to access them. This method has been proven to be effective especially in the fishing industry where only certain types of fish should be caught.

I would recommend the relevant authorities to take strict measures against those individuals who destroy the environment by setting out punitive laws. Resource dilemmaA resource dilemma is a situation where an individual wants to gain more of the resources that are collectively owned by society. In this situation, it is the individuals who contribute for all to benefit. In this kind of dilemma, there is a conflict between individual interests and collective interests. For example, people feel that although the provision of public goods and services is a collective responsibility, it’s better if they make no contribution.

To maintain resources that are scarce, every individual must collectively be involved for example in restricting energy consumption, but they may want to use more energy (Feenstra, 2011).Everyone has a share in the resource dilemma, but it’s the individual who actually contributes. Issues of fairness are seen in terms of equity; those who benefit more should make more contribution while the least should contribute less to get fairness.To tackle these problems, individuals must be taught on how to use the resources in a responsible manner so that it continues to serve them for a longer time.

Resources should be fairly distributed between members of society. In the case of natural resources like water, charges should be based on the number of units consumed as this would bring fairness.In conclusion, I would recommend that in the case of natural resources like water and energy, metering systems should be adopted in areas where they don’t exist. This will ensure that individuals pay for what they have consumed.