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... Pigouvian taxation has been applied to dynamic games of extraction of common fisheries, where mainly linear taxes or tax-subsidy systems were considered (e.g., Singh & Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel, 2018;Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel, 2005. This approach is related to the way of solving the tragedy of the commons in a way in line with Hardin (1968), and it requires either that problems concern firms in a country who has a right to impose such enforcements or a "mutual coercion mutually agreed upon" proposed by Hardin (1968) in the case of countries when such an organization does not a priori exist. In this paper, we analyze the problem of enforcement by a tax-subsidy system at the maximal level of generality, and we also propose a general algorithm that works not only in the standard problem, but also in the presence of additional regulations. ...
... Pigouvian taxation has been applied to dynamic games of extraction of common fisheries, where mainly linear taxes or tax-subsidy systems were considered (e.g., Singh & Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel, 2018;Wiszniewska-Matyszkiel, 2005. This approach is related to the way of solving the tragedy of the commons in a way in line with Hardin (1968), and it requires either that problems concern firms in a country who has a right to impose such enforcements or a "mutual coercion mutually agreed upon" proposed by Hardin (1968) in the case of countries when such an organization does not a priori exist. In this paper, we analyze the problem of enforcement by a tax-subsidy system at the maximal level of generality, and we also propose a general algorithm that works not only in the standard problem, but also in the presence of additional regulations. ...
... Although Hardin in his seminal paper (Hardin, 1968) claimed that the only way to counteract "the tragedy of the commons" is "mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon," softer tools like financial incentives can also do it. Moreover, they are better than strict administrative rules indicating what every entity should do. ...
Our research question is whether it is possible and how to counteract “the tragedy of the commons” if facing various limitations of real‐world economies. To answer it, we derive regulatory tax–subsidy systems and self‐enforcing environmental agreements in a problem of extraction of common renewable resources. The first considered limitation is that the feasible class of tax–subsidy systems may have a compl icated form, for example, there are transition periods for smooth reduction of fishing. The alternative limitation is that there is no institution that can impose taxes or subsidize, so sustainability can be achieved only by self‐enforcing international agreements. The next limitation is in those agreements: we assume that it takes time to detect a defection. We study these enforcement tools in a continuous‐time version of a Fish War type game with countries, with fish indispensable for their economies. We calculate the social optimum, a Nash equilibrium, and partial cooperation equilibria. The Nash equilibrium leads to the depletion of fish, while the social optimum typically results in sustainability. For partial cooperation, only two‐country coalitions are stable. We calculate tax–subsidy systems that enforce maximization of joint payoff, also if there are additional constraints, and we propose an algorithm that looks for such a system in an arbitrary class of regulatory tax–subsidy systems. For the international agreement with imperfect monitoring, we are interested in the maximal detection delay for which the agreement remains self‐enforcing. Counterintuitively, the more the players, the more stable the agreement.
... Classical examples are beehives and ant or termite colonies (see Bourke 2011;Boomsma and Boomsma 2022). Tragedy of the commons: A situation that occurs in some cases of free riding, where a public good is overexploited, which consequently leads to the demise of the system underwriting the public good (Hardin 1968). In the context of the evolution of multicellularity, a structure such as an extracellular matrix can be regarded as a public good that requires some investment from cells that benefit from this mode of reproduction. ...
... Historically, a major challenge to the evolution of higher-level individuality is the so-called "free-rider" problem, which leads to the tragedy of the commons (Hardin 1968): how can a higher-level individual evolve if cooperation between the lower-level individuals composing it is susceptible to invasion by free riders who reap short-term benefits and thus undermine the formation of any higher-level entity? The internalist answer to this tragedy lies in the evolution of mechanisms internal to the higher-level individual (conflict mediators) that prevent such an event (Michod, Nedelcu, and Roze 2003). ...
The evolution of complex life forms, exemplified by multicellular organisms, can be traced through a series of evolutionary transitions in individuality, beginning with the origin of life, followed by the emergence of the eukaryotic cell, and, among other transitions, culminating in the shift from unicellularity to multicellularity. Several attempts have been made to explain the origins of such transitions, many of which have been internalist (i.e., based largely on internal properties of ancestral entities). Here, we show how externalist perspectives can shed new light on questions pertaining to evolutionary transitions in individuality. We do this by presenting the ecological scaffolding framework in which properties of complex life forms arise from an external scaffold. Ultimately, we anticipate that progress will come from recognition of the importance of both the internalist and externalist modes of explanation. We illustrate this by considering an extension of the ecological scaffolding model in which cells modify the environment that later becomes the scaffold giving rise to multicellular individuality.
... Let v(G) be the marginal (unitary) profit as a function of the total uptake G = g 1 + g 2 and c ≥ 0 represent the cost per unit of uptake (or marginal cost). According to this, the payoff functions of the two players are given in Eq. (1). Note that the structure of the payoff functions in Eq. (1) reminds that of the Cournot duopoly game, i.e., ui = q i (p(Q) − c), ...
... C. Variable k In the highly entangled scenario of Fig. 5(c), the average entangled uptakes and payoffs fit those given in Eq. (7) up to k = k 2 = 2.0 and those given in Eq. (8) from k = 2.0. Thus, u 1 (k = 3) = 6 ⋅ 5 2 3 = 20, a high PO payoff value not far from the maximum PO payoff u 1 (k → ∞) = v 0 1 2 Gmax = 5 1 2 12 = 30. The results in the low entangled scenario of Fig. 5(b) notably differ from those in the classic scenario of Fig. 5(a) and very much anticipate those found with high entanglement in Fig. 5(c). ...
A sequential common-pool resource game with variable elastic marginal profit is studied in this work both analytically and through numerical simulation. The game is studied in both classic and quantum approaches considering symmetric and asymmetric costs. In the classic approach, it is shown how the increase in the level of inelasticity in the model boosts the leader advantage in the perfect equilibrium solution as well as contributes to the depletion of the resource. The quantum approach enables the emergence of the symmetric Pareto optimal solution when the entanglement increases. Furthermore, for high values of the factor of entanglement, the Pareto solution is reached regardless of the level of elasticity of the game. These results are applicable to the model with symmetric and asymmetric costs.
... The commons are frequently presented as a 'third way' beyond market-and state-led governance, situated within the broader discourse on natural resource governance [27][28][29]. Commons are traditionally characterized as rival (one person's use reduces availability for others) and non-excludable (difficult to exclude others from using), leading to perceived collective action problems, such as Garrett Hardin's notion of the 'tragedy of the commons': rational, self-interested individuals freeride rather than contribute to collective efforts [30]. Historically, this has led to debates favoring state or market control as solutions. ...
The growing literature on energy commons suggests that reimagining energy as a common resource is critical for transitioning away from fossil fuel-based systems. However, conceptual and empirical fragmentation in this literature limits our understanding of energy commoning practices. Through a systematic review of 85 articles, we aim to unify the field by analyzing it across three dimensions: material, institutional, and cultural. Materially, we find a focus on energy production, distribution, and use, with less attention to renewable resource harvesting, upstream (e.g., mining), and downstream (e.g., waste management) operations. Institutionally, the emphasis is on local, community-driven initiatives and participatory governance, with limited exploration of multi-scale approaches and other institutional logics. Culturally, the research is centered on Western contexts, highlighting a need for broader geographic and theoretical perspectives. From our analysis, we identify five paradoxes in the literature: 1) inclusivity and exclusivity, 2) a Western focus and the pluriverse, 3) decentralization alongside the need for coordinated governance, 4) a focus on generation and distribution as well as a whole value chain approach, and 5) viewing commons as an alternative to capitalism while acknowledging their co-optation by capitalist systems. We propose pathways to navigate these paradoxes, suggesting integrated approaches to advance research and practice toward just and sustainable energy transitions. Future research should focus on how energy commons can be scaled, challenge prevailing structures, and be managed across the full value chain to ensure equitable and sustainable futures.
... In addition, many migratory populations are also exploited by humans through commercial or recreational harvest. This exposes them to potential overexploitation through a phenomenon known as the "tragedy of the commons", which predicts that any public resource shared by many is under a threat of overexploitation (Hardin 1968). ...
Migratory waterfowl are a harvested resource shared among multiple European countries, exposing them to potential overexploitation. Management of take is challenging since the life cycle of migratory waterfowl consists of several stages distributed among several locations, with possible spatio-temporal overlap among populations with differing population trends. Successful harvest management in such situations requires knowledge about the connections between breeding and non-breeding locations, and where birds are harvested. Breeding populations of Eurasian wigeon (Mareca penelope) are declining in Finland, underlining the need for more effective harvest management. Relative proportions and temporal distribution of local breeding birds and migrants from a larger Russian breeding population within the Finnish hunting bag has been unknown to date. We studied spatio-temporal origins of Finnish harvested wigeon by measuring stable-hydrogen (δ²H) isotope values from legally harvested birds. We modelled the changes in δ²H values of the feather samples within the hunting season using Gaussian processes and found that the origin of harvested wigeon in Finland changed during the hunting season and differed by age and sex. In juveniles and adult females but not in adult males, origin of harvested birds shifted from local and possibly western Russian birds to more long-distance migratory birds during the harvest season. These patterns likely reflected sex- and age-specific differences in migratory behaviour of Eurasian wigeon in the East Atlantic flyway, which can be used to guide future management and conservation of this species through the implementation of spatio-temporal harvest regulation.
... Climate change is a problem that is inherently too big to solve by one individual (Böhm & Pfister, 2008). Whereas health behaviours are characterised by the possibility to counter the threat individually, climate change consequences originate from aggregate behaviours and require collective action to counter the threat, exemplifying a social dilemma (Hardin, 1968). Again, coping appraisal might therefore be judged by different indicators. ...
In the context of climate change communication through mass media, doom framings emphasising negative consequences have become prevalent. While these framings hold the potential to influence both adaptive (such as sustainable intentions) and maladaptive responses (such as resistance), their specific effects in the context of climate change remain unclear. In two experimental studies (N = 154; N = 368), we examined the impact of high-threat communication compared to low-threat communication on a wide range of responses aimed at addressing climate change. No differences were found between high-threat and low-threat communication on adaptive responses (i.e., intentions, acceptance of policies, and motivation) or maladaptive responses (i.e., climate change scepticism, reactance, avoidance, rationalisation, or denial of guilt). The prolonged exposure to and frequency of climate change (doom) messages might be an explanation for why threat did not influence responses.
... Societal collapse via environmental degradation often involved unsustainable agriculture, exacerbated by natural climate change, leading to de-population as well as institutional breakdown via loss of economic stability and socio-political dysfunction due to magnified inequality. This mode aligns with early "Malthusian catastrophe", 48 "tragedy of the commons", 49 and "overshoot-andcollapse" 50 theories. ...
This anthology brings together a diversity of key texts in the emerging field of Existential Risk Studies. It serves to complement the previous volume The Era of Global Risk: An Introduction to Existential Risk Studies by providing open access to original research and insights in this rapidly evolving field. At its heart, this book highlights the ongoing development of new academic paradigms and theories of change that have emerged from a community of researchers in and around the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. The chapters in this book challenge received notions of human extinction and civilization collapse and seek to chart new paths towards existential security and hope.
The volume curates a series of research articles, including previously published and unpublished work, exploring the nature and ethics of catastrophic global risk, the tools and methodologies being developed to study it, the diverse drivers that are currently pushing it to unprecedented levels of danger, and the pathways and opportunities for reducing this. In each case, they go beyond simplistic and reductionist accounts of risk to understand how a diverse range of factors interact to shape both catastrophic threats and our vulnerability and exposure to them and reflect on different stakeholder communities, policy mechanisms, and theories of change that can help to mitigate and manage this risk. Bringing together experts from across diverse disciplines, the anthology provides an accessible survey of the current state of the art in this emerging field.
The interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary nature of the cutting-edge research presented here makes this volume a key resource for researchers and academics. However, the editors have also prepared introductions and research highlights that will make it accessible to an interested general audience as well. Whatever their level of experience, the volume aims to challenge readers to take on board the extent of the multiple dangers currently faced by humanity, and to think critically and proactively about reducing global risk.
... Cooperation can be difficult to achieve as there exists a conflict between individual and collective interests (i.e., social dilemmas; Dawes, 1980). Social scientists have long claimed that people will fail to cooperate when it is not in their selfinterest to do so (Hardin, 1968;Olson, 1965). The temptation to maximize self-interest in social dilemmas can lead people to defect and thereby result in detrimental collective outcomes. ...
Cooperation underlies the ability of groups to realize collective benefits (e.g., creation of public goods). Yet, cooperation can be difficult to achieve when people face situations with conflicting interests between what is best for individuals versus the collective (i.e., social dilemmas). To address this challenge, groups can implement rules about structural changes in a situation. But what institutional rules can best facilitate cooperation? Theoretically, rules can be made to affect structural features of a social dilemma, such as the possible actions, outcomes, and people involved. We derived 13 pre-registered hypotheses from existing work and collected six decades of empirical research to test how nine structural features influence cooperation within prisoner’s dilemmas and public goods dilemmas. We do this by meta-analyzing mean levels of cooperation across studies (Study 1, k = 2,340, N = 229,528), and also examining how manipulations of these structural features in social dilemmas affect cooperation within studies (Study 2, k = 909). Results indicated that lower conflict of interests was associated with higher cooperation, and that (1) the implementation of sanctions (i.e., reward and punishment of behaviors) and (2) allowing for communication most strongly enhanced cooperation. However, we found inconsistent support for the hypotheses that group size and matching design affect cooperation. Other structural features (e.g., symmetry of dilemmas, sequential decision making, payment) were not associated with cooperation. Overall, these findings inform institutions that can (or not) facilitate cooperation.
... This now seems like such an obvious state of affairs to avoid and yet prior to the introduction of formal harvest strategies such collapses were disappointingly common. Given the assumption that fishers are very good at what they do, and that, given technological advances, they get better at what they do as soon as they can, it should not be surprising that without strong, interventionist management, catastrophic collapses will occur (Hardin, 1968). The disparity of outcomes in those fisheries with management versus those without effective management, with more positive outcomes in the former, continues to make this clear. ...
... The commercial use of the ocean in general, and especially of the high seas, can be seen as a classic tragedy of the commons (Hardin, 1968). As human demand for ocean resources has increased and technology has developed, human activities have reached the most distant areas of the ocean (Swartz et al., 2010;Watson and Tidd, 2018) and deeper into its depths (Morato et al., 2006;Watson and Morato, 2013), as have their negative impacts (Ramirez-Llodra et al., 2011). ...
This article examines the future governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) in the wake of the new 2023 United Nations Agreement using the work on the Sargasso Sea as a prototype. After discussing the legal framework and current challenges facing the ABNJ regime, some details are provided on open ocean data collection technologies, including big data and artificial intelligence (AI), used in support of ocean governance. Based on a technology-enabled ocean governance cycle, the role that data, information technology and data-science can play in incorporating empirical scientific knowledge into policy and decision-making is examined with a focus on the open ocean. The article concludes with a vision of future high seas governance based on the 2023 Agreement and how big data and AI can play a crucial role in meeting the exciting challenges that the new agreement poses.
... La base teórica del cuidado de los bienes comunes sostiene que el beneficio colectivo debe primar sobre el interés individual, para evitar el escenario descrito por Hardin (1968): ...
Desde 1998, la Reserva de la Biosfera Tehuacán-Cuicatlán fue considerada un espacio de conservación natural, resultado de fusionar dos Áreas Naturales Protegidas (ANP) estatales para dar lugar a un ANP Federal, siendo la más grande del centro sur del país con interés a nivel nacional e internacional, debido a que en esta área convergen riqueza biológica, geológica, cultural e histórica. El gobierno ha puesto énfasis en su cuidado mediante un instrumento de gestión nombrado Programa de Manejo. Este artículo busca comprender la perspectiva de la población inmersa en el polígono ante los efectos del funcionamiento institucional, cuyas acciones implican un compromiso con el desarrollo sustentable para la protección de este bien común. Se realizó un análisis cuantitativo en ocho de los municipios inmersos en el polígono mediante un análisis factorial. Los resultados indican una falta de atención en las problemáticas económico-sociales que tiene relación con los de órganos de gobierno, situación que ha generado malestar en una parte de la comunidad, lo que ha derivado en un desinterés por la conservación del ecosistema, fomentando acciones de uso basadas en intereses individuales más que colectivos. Palabras clave: manejo institucional, desarrollo sustentable, perspectiva comunitaria, bienes comunes y reservas de la biosfera. Correspondencia:
... Our findings offer support for the idea that the study area is a self-organising system, where diverse individuals and groups have open access to space and resources. Subsequent research, however, could go further by examining where tragedy strikes (Hardin, 1968) in shared indoor environments (e.g., how power dynamics shape disparate access or perceived access to space according to gender, race, ethnicity or disability statuses) or how informal and formal rules can emerge over time. ...
Indoor spaces are essential to most humans' lives. Furthermore, in many cases,
buildings are shared indoor environments that contain diverse people and resources.
Spatial patterns of use are important but under-examined aspects of human-building
interactions. This study leverages perspectives from human-environment geography and mechanical engineering to examine spatial patterns of use within a network of shared indoor spaces in an academic building at a research university in the United States. Here we ask: (1) What spaces and resources do building users value? and (2) How are values associated with observed measures of use? We hypothesise that spatial patterns of use follow an ideal free distribution (IFD), a common ecological model of resource use. To test this, we define measures of value and use derived from mixed qualitative (n = 50) and survey-based social data (n = 196) and data from a building-based system of accelerometers. Our analyses provide some support for the IFD hypothesis. We discuss the implications of this finding and potential new avenues for geographic research in shared indoor environments.
... Space debris is a modern tragedy of the commons, a phrase originally associated with over-grazing of common land and the planet's population explosion (Hardin, 1968). A resource that everyone could benefit from is spoiled because no party has a strong incentive for conservation or protection. ...
... Institutionally, the architecture of the participatory approach fits into a political perspective aimed at decentralization and the practical, active participation of local populations in the management of their forests [13]. In environmental terms, it appears to be an effective solution to the tragedy of commons [9], since it reduces the effects of misuse or abuse of forests on the one hand, and free-rider behaviour (individuals who do not respect collectively established rules) on the other, thanks to the existence of possible sanctions [22]. In economic terms, not only is management organization based on the equitable distribution of resources, but also part of the economic benefits is generally devoted to compensating for the social costs generated by resource exploitation. ...
In recent decades, the participation of local populations has become an imperative and a solution in forest management. Mystified and idealized, the participatory approach is seen as the key to sustainable management of this resource. This approach was adopted in Burkina Faso in the mid-1980s, leading to the establishment of the Forest Management Sites (FMS or CAF in french), administrative and technical structures for sustainable forest management involving local populations. However, the area of managed forests has continued to decline at an alarming rate. In such a context, we are tempted to ask whether there really is participation in systems described as participatory forest management, and if the populations have appropriated the approach. This study, carried out among the local populations of Cassou forest management site, attempts to answer these questions. Its aim was to gather local people's perceptions on their involvement in the forest management. To achieve the study's objective, eight (8) focus groups with men and women were organized during July and August 2022 in the villages of Cassou, Vrassan, Kou and Dao. The study analyzed local people's perceptions of the following scales of participation: “ consultation, involvement, information sharing, collaboration, decision-making and sharing of economic benefits ”. The data analysis using Nvivo 21 software showed that local people felt 100% involved only in sharing economic benefits, while the level of participation on the other scales was barely 20%. These results show the low level of participation of local people in the forests management. The decision-makers therefore need to work towards genuine involvement of local populations in the management of these areas, so that they see them as part of the community heritage to be defended. The socio-political situation in Burkina Faso today proves that this is all the more important given that, in addition to the environmental stakes, forests represent a national security issue.
... 110 Hardin believed that it was therefore necessary to "explicitly exorcize the spirit of Adam Smith in the field of practical demography." 111 Hardin offers a thought experiment: when a herdsman is deciding whether to add more cattle to their pasture, benefitting from increased production and with the negative impact of overgrazing shared by all other herdsmen, one rationally decides to breed more animals. What did that thought experiment imply for the transformation of a state-socialist economy? ...
This chapter analyses the discourses of moral and ecological crisis in the first years of Czech postsocialist transformation and their relation to the late socialist period. The chapter investigates how liberal ecologists came to understand what they diagnosed as ecological crisis as a moral crisis and a failure of state socialism. It explores how Josef Vavroušek and Bedřich Moldan, former state-socialist experts who became environment ministers after 1989, came to see state socialism as anti-ecological, aligned themselves to varying degrees with market liberalism and put their hopes into legal mechanisms and environmental ethics that would regulate the markets. It also suggests that the two ministers’ discourse of ecological-cum-moral crisis as at once a specific historical experience and a part of global crisis was another way to signal a ‘return’ to Europe and participate in global politics. The first part of the chapter discusses how Vavroušek used the language of cybernetics to describe ecological crisis as a failure of state socialism and propose a new global environmental programme, while emphasising the values of humanism and sustainability as a corrective to the market economy. The second part examines the way Moldan used the figure of the tragedy of commons, presenting ecological crisis as a case against state socialism and for the market, and his belief in Christian values as neoliberalism’s moral compass.
... According to him "The commons" includes natural resources that do not fall under sovereign jurisdiction. It may include public pasture land, lumber, oil, the atmosphere, high seas, deep ocean floor, the global atmosphere, and many other common resources (Hardin, 1968). The focus of realism has always remained on relative gains. ...
The issue of environmental security has become a threat and gained momentum since the end of the cold war. Climate change leads to environmental crises such as water scarcity, droughts, food shortages, and economic loss. This paper seeks to evaluate the environmental crisis of Pakistan as well as provide insights for overcoming this issue. This paper is a theoretical study that uses the methodology of discourse analysis and implements the framework of RSCT in redefining security. Therefore, this research is an attempt to answer what are the challenges to the environmental security of Pakistan, how climate change is affecting the different sectors in Pakistan as well as highlights the measures to tackle Pakistan's environmental security challenges. This paper broadens the definition of security from military aspects to humanitarian aspects. The security of the environment is essential for states because it can give rise to other issues such as economic loss for states and other violent conflicts. Environmental insecurity can badly influence the socioeconomic conditions of Pakistan. The economy has also declined due to water scarcity agriculture sector is affected. Therefore, environmental insecurity poses a direct threat to Pakistan's national security.
... She suggested, in other words, a collective action model in which "a group of principals can organize themselves voluntarily to retain the residual of their own efforts" [6] (p. 25). Her idea was indeed to analyze the organizational and institutional arrangements and thus to define the rules to avoid Hardin's inner concern summarized within the iconic title of "The tragedy of the commons" [7]. ...
What if Neo-Institutionalist analysis on the Commons met New Materialist ontologies? This is the question from which this paper moves. Mostly theorized in quantum physics and philosophy, it is along the way of New Materialism that an original tool-kit could be extended to economic discourse on commons. What motivates us is an ecological deal in commons theory, whereas governance is no more grounded on binary human subject/nonhuman object relationships. Rather, this can be imagined as an agential entanglement within which humans and nonhumans intra-act.
The importance of metropolitan governance and stakeholder collaboration in sustainable urban development (SUD) is well recognized. However, collaboration among stakeholders is dynamic, and the relationship between metropolitan governance and stakeholder dynamics, including value co-creation and conflict, remains underexplored. This study aims to address this gap by examining the causal relationships among metropolitan governance, stakeholder value co-creation and conflict through the lens of the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability. Using a questionnaire survey, this study collected 467 valid responses through a combination of probability and quota sampling and analyzed the data using Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicated that stakeholder value co-creation is positively influenced by TBL dimensions and metropolitan governance, thereby simultaneously promoting SUD and generating potential conflicts that constrain SUD. The study further evaluated the effectiveness of stakeholder value co-creation as a mediating variable and found that it has a unique suppressing effect on the relationship between environmental sustainability and conflict. The findings suggested that environmental sustainability-driven governance initiatives are crucial to containing conflict and fostering value co-creation among stakeholders. Theoretically, this study enriches the discourse on SUD literature by quantifying the interactions between TBL, metropolitan governance and stakeholder dynamics. Practically, it provides certain implications for relevant practitioners by proposing an argument that governance initiatives can be aligned with the shifting priorities toward environmental sustainability.
Demand-side mitigation relies on individuals’ and households’ willingness to alter their consumption habits and daily routines to reduce their carbon footprint. Despite optimistic forecasts for well-being improvements, broad adoption of these behavioural changes remains elusive. Our study analyses 12 behaviours in Beijing, China, using a cost–benefit approach that includes both tangible (pecuniary) and intangible (non-pecuniary) benefits. Our findings indicate that eight behaviours result in individual-level welfare loss. Even after accounting for mitigation benefits, seven behaviours still incur social-welfare loss. Monte Carlo simulations unveil substantial variability in welfare impacts, highlighting opportunities for targeted policy interventions. Depending on the perspective (individual versus societal) and the goal (welfare versus mitigation), we recommend four demand-side practices for Beijing policymakers. In addition, we propose actionable steps on the basis of sensitivity analyses. This study underscores the need for an objective and universally applicable framework to evaluate demand-side behaviours and optimize emissions reduction potential.
This study is based on three months of fieldwork among the Debne and Weima Afar clans in Amibara woreda (district), Afar National Regional State (ANRS), Ethiopia, which was conducted in three rounds in 2016, 2018 and 2022. The purpose of the study is to explore the customary organisational structure and the rules and regulations employed by the local communities in managing natural resources on their rangelands as well as in resolving conflicts. While the clan system provides the basis for the Afar social and political organisation, claims to land are made at subclan and lineage levels. The formal administration largely functions using the clan structure, as it has more legitimacy than the state itself. Given the infrastructural limitations and legitimacy deficits of the government in the region, this paper argues that the clan system continues to play a dominating role when it comes to social organisation, resource management and conflict resolution.
This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .
The public goods game describes a social dilemma in which a large proportion of agents act as conditional cooperators (CC): they only act cooperatively if they see others acting cooperatively because they satisfice with the social norm to be in line with what others are doing instead of optimizing cooperation. CCs are guided by aspiration-based reinforcement learning guided by past experiences of interactions with others and satisficing aspirations. In many real-world settings, reinforcing social norms do not emerge. In this paper, we propose that an optimizing reinforcement agent can facilitate cooperation through nudges, i.e. indirect mechanisms for cooperation to happen. The agent's goal is to motivate CCs into cooperation through its own actions to create social norms that signal that others are cooperating. We introduce a multi-agent reinforcement learning model for public goods games, with 3 CC learning agents using aspirational reinforcement learning and 1 nudging agent using deep reinforcement learning to learn nudges that optimize cooperation. For our nudging agent, we model two distinct reward functions, one maximizing the total game return (sum DRL) and one maximizing the number of cooperative contributions contributions higher than a proportional threshold (prop DRL). Our results show that our aspiration-based RL model for CC agents is consistent with empirically observed CC behavior. Games combining 3 CC RL agents and one nudging RL agent outperform the baseline consisting of 4 CC RL agents only. The sum DRL nudging agent increases the total sum of contributions by 8.22% and the total proportion of cooperative contributions by 12.42%, while the prop nudging DRL increases the total sum of contributions by 8.85% and the total proportion of cooperative contributions by 14.87%. Our findings advance the literature on public goods games and reinforcement learning.
Hospitals represent complex adaptive systems where interactions and relationships of different components both affect and shape the way they work simultaneously. Pressures on hospitals determine how they behave and many of the problems seen in the NHS and indeed other health services can be viewed through the lens of complexity science and systems thinking. ‘Flow’ of patients through the hospital can be seen as an indicator of how well the hospital ‘system’ is working. The better flow is, the more patients can be treated and the less time is spent waiting in the various queues that accrue around the hospital,
In this article, we explore the impact of these disciplines on patient flow and examine how short-term and overly simple solutions can exacerbate problems in the health service, despite the best intentions of those working in it. Many of today’s problems can be described in terms of ‘system archetypes’ and ‘game theory’. Understanding this may lead to improvement in how services are redesigned to solve these problems.
Humanity faces numerous deeply interconnected systemic risks to sustainability—a global polycrisis. We need economic institutions that produce the knowledge required to address this polycrisis at the lowest cost, maximize the benefits that knowledge generates, and distribute those benefits fairly. Knowledge improves through use; its value is maximized when it is freely available. Intellectual property rights (IPRs), a form of monopoly, direct knowledge production towards market goods, raise the cost of doing research, and reduce the benefits by price-rationing access. Building on theories of the commons, the anticommons, and market failures, we propose the creation of a transnational green knowledge commons (TGKC) in which all knowledge that contributes to solving the polycrisis be made open access on the condition that any subsequent improvements also be open access. We argue that a TGKC is more sustainable, just, and efficient than restrictive IPRs and well suited to the motivations and governance institutions of public universities. We show how a single university could initiate the process and estimate that the cost would be more than offset by reduced IPR expenses. A TGKC would reduce the costs of generating and disseminating knowledge directed towards a sustainable future and help stimulate the transnational cooperation, reciprocity, and trust required for sustainable management of the global biophysical commons.
Rule enforcement is critical in democratic, self-governing societies. Many political disputes occur when citizens do not understand the fundamental rationales for enforcement (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic). We examined how naïve groups learn and develop wise enforcement systems. Based on theories from behavioral economics, political science, psychology, and education, we predicted that groups need to experience failure of an enforcement system, but be guided on restorative justice principles to collectively learn from this failure. Undergraduate students (N = 288) from a Midwestern U.S. metropolitan university self-governed a simulated common-pool resource with real financial payoffs. Groups began with one of three conditions designed to create different experiences with enforcement and regulatory failure: (a) no enforcement (no communication or peer sanctioning), (b) lax enforcement (communication with peer-sanctioning), or (c) regulatory abuse (peer sanctioning without communication). Half then received facilitated guidance on restorative justice principles (e.g., discuss whether/why to use sanctions). To examine cooperation, we measured how well participants maintained the resource. To examine group learning, we created a novel coding system, which tracked groups’ constitutional decisions about conservation agreements and enforcement, conceptual understanding, and the enforcement systems they created. The no-enforcement and lax-enforcement conditions quickly yielded moderate cooperation via voluntary agreements. However, such agreements prevented groups from discovering how and why to use enforcement (peer sanctioning) to improve performance. Initial exposure to regulatory failure had different effects depending on facilitation. Unfacilitated groups fixated on initial misconceptions, causing them to abandon or create less sophisticated enforcement systems, hindering cooperation. Facilitated groups learned from prior failure—discovering principles of wise enforcement (e.g., collective efficiency, self-restraint)—and created more sophisticated enforcement systems (e.g., coordinated sanctions) that improved cooperation. Guidance on restorative justice principles and experience with regulatory abuse may be necessary preconditions for naïve individuals to understand and develop wiser collective enforcement systems.
Australia’s unique history of national environmental youth workfare programs over three decades offers insight into youth work responses to climate change. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s use of ‘hysteresis’ and the ‘Don Quixote Effect’, this paper presents three key findings from research conducted in the wake of the most recent incarnation of these programs, the Australian Government’s Green Army. As the final Green Army projects were being delivered, interviews and focus groups were independently conducted with former team members and supervisors who had exited the program and its predecessors. The Green Army was presented for political purposes as action against climate change despite no specific climate mitigation outcomes being identified. Supervisors, predominantly trained in the environmental sciences, given charge of teams of young workers, reported the double binds from the competing fields of ecological work and social work. Team members, faced with resistance to their efforts, reconciled their situation with a ‘double language of disinterest’. The analysis of their accounts illuminates potential challenges facing the future for young people and for youth work.
As a civilized society, we need to become operationally aware that Homo sapiens is part of nature and that Humanity depends on the integrity and the proper functioning of our planet's natural bio-physico-chemical processes. The first module (chapters) of the three composing the book provides a basic introduction into the matter and a synthesis of what needs to be known about sustainable development, cities and eco-cities—before delving into the core method.
Purpose of Review
This perspective article is based on a non-exhaustive literature review of the fundamentals of economic appropriation institutions, as well as their associated governance typologies and ethical-normative guidelines. We also address potential convergences, complementarities and exchanges among Landscape Ecology, Ecological Economics and Political Ecology fields on their normative approaches regarding environmental resilience and social fairness in landscape appropriation processes.
Recent Findings
Landscape Ecology (LE) contributes, primarily, to the understanding of the relationship between spatial structure of habitat in the landscapes and their ecological processes. Indeed, LE presents a growing concern on the social and economic drivers of landscape changes, and assumes a key role for societal changes, by delivering landscape resilience parameters (as the minimum percentage of native vegetation) and also through active participation of scientists and practitioners in public and private decision-making arenas.
Summary
The effectiveness of the contributions of Landscape Ecology (LE) to public policies and to private strategies demands a clear understanding of the fundamentals of the multiple institutions and governance typologies for appropriation of goods and services. Institutions, in the sense of formal and informal rules and norms, are outcomes from decision-making arenas which constrain, among many other social relations, the land and ecosystem services appropriation in landscapes. The closer interaction with decision-making and institutional change processes, where the outcomes are laden by ethical-normative pre-analytical choices, demands from LE a careful reexamination on its ontological and epistemological assumptions. Departing from fundamental controversies regarding economic appropriation processes, this paper frames the main relations between basic institutions and the governance typologies for landscape appropriation, as well as their ethical-normative guidelines regarding environmental resilience and social fairness.
This study analyzes the performance of new creative products by firms that engage in inbound open innovation (IOI). Creative industries have been under-examined in the context of open innovation, which is counterintuitive given emerging practices of borrowing, remix and sharing introduced by digital technologies. A unique aspect of creative production is the importance of copyright as a form of Intellectual Property (IP) used by outward-and inward-licensing firms. Evidence on the role of IOI in product performance for creative industries is so far scarce and ambiguous, with experimental results suggesting that over-estimation of value by licensors may distort the price of licenses and inhibit innovation. This may be due to lack of information about the value of a copyright to both the holder and prospective licensee. We contribute to understanding of creative industries by investigating whether the decision to inwardly license copyright affects new product development. We investigate this empirically using a unique dataset of 2,040 creative products (in the creative sectors of publishing, comics, video games, and theatre) launched on a rewards-based crowdfunding platform where product performance was measured using campaign success and total funding raised. We compare the product development costs and performance for four types of producers: those that inwardly license copyright IP, those that make unauthorized use of copyright IP, those that use freely-available inputs from the public domain and those that do not use external inputs. We find that all forms of IOI improve product performance, but that formal copyright license agreements function as a signal that additionally improves performance for authorized producers. The findings yield practical implications for producer firms in terms of crowdfunding and licensing strategy. The findings are relevant for policy making with respect to the scope of IP protection, the role of licensing and the contribution of IOI to creative sectors.
Fish stocks are declining in marine capture coastal fisheries in West Africa. Many observers have blamed climate change and the system of open access for the decline. Open-access fishing encourages too many people to take up fishing, and the result is overfishing of the stocks. According to such critics, this is a classic example of Hardin’s tragedy of the commons, whereby a continuous increase in the number of users of a natural resource eventually leads to the collapse of the resource. The present study, which analysed stakeholders’ perceptions about their open-access fishing in Siera Leone’s marine fisheries, conducted 32 key informant interviews. Our research found that while they perceived that open-access fishing impacted fish stocks, most Sierra Leone’s marine capture fishers did not see open access as a cause of fish decline; instead, they blamed the lack of enforced regulations on the methods and extent of fishing. Accordingly, these fishers favoured the continuation of open access—not least because it helps to alleviate hunger and is a readily available source of protein in Sierra Leone’s coastal communities—but accompanied by strict regulations on both the type of fishing gear used and the quantity, size, and species of fish caught. In other words, they preferred regulated open access to unregulated open access. The central government’s resolve to regulate its fishery will determine whether it will transition from unregulated open access to regulated open access or other forms of OA. This study recommends detailed research into how to influence political will to enforce regulations.
Biodiversity is one of the greatest wealth to human life. Environment science and awareness play important role in biodiversity and environmental conservation. This book Environment Conservation, Challenges Threats In Conservation of Biodiversity: has approached different streams such as the Impact of pollution health, aquatic pollution and bioremediation, Renewable & Eco-Friendly Energy Resources, Biodiversity and tourism,Importance of ecological resource, hotspot in India, impact of industry on pollution, Natural Resource Management, biodiversity as wealth, climate change on crop improvement,aquatic diversity, legal issue related biodiversity and climate changes with diseases. This book covers subjects like Ecology, biodiversity, demography, laws, Environment,Phycology, microbiology, agriculture, horticulture, physiology, etc. In this book, subjects are relevant to all those who are interested in biodiversity conservation. Challenges in conservation, threats in biodiversity, and strategies in biodiversity. This book with valuable book chapters from eminent scientists, academicians, and researchers will surely be a part of the utmost information for the coming new research taken by the researchers in the field of Environment and biodiversity sciences and other disciplines in the future.
Across the globe, national parks are frequently described in terms of their diverse wildlife, spectacular scenery, and cultural heritage. These extraordinary land (and sea) scapes are known to be important for the health and mental wellbeing of the people who visit them, but for many, they are also the place where they live and work. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 witnessed the importance of being in nature and exercising in green spaces, and part of the COVID-19 inheritance has been the rise of the so-called “staycation”, which has seen people becoming less inclined to travel overseas and more inclined to the explore nature and landscapes closer to home. While this has undoubtedly meant economic benefits to National Parks, it has also brought challenges that are yet to be fully realised and dealt with. This paper considers the laws and regulations in place to protect these special places in two jurisdictions, France and the United Kingdom, through the lens of two of those countries’ National Parks—the New Forest and the Calanques.
Voluntary participation is a central yet understudied aspect of collaboration. Here, we model collaboration as people’s voluntary choices between joining an uncertain public goods provisioning in groups and pursuing a less profitable but certain individual option. First, we find that voluntariness in collaboration increases the likelihood of group success via two pathways, both contributing to form more optimistic groups: pessimistic defectors are filtered out from groups, and some individuals update their beliefs to become cooperative. Second, we reconcile these findings with existing literature that highlights the detrimental effects of an individual option. We argue that the impact of an outside individual option on collaboration depends on the “externality” of loners — the influence that those leaving the group still exert on group endeavors. Theoretically and experimentally, we show that if collaboration allows for flexible group formation, the negative externality of loners remains limited, and the presence of an individual option robustly aids collaborative success.
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