Tragedy of the Commons

Let's understand the concept of Tragedy of Commons through an example: -

Imagine a community of farmers who share a piece of land, known as the "commons," where their animals can graze. Each farmer wants to maximize the number of animals they have to sell, so they keep adding more animals to the commons.

Here's the problem: the commons has limited grass for grazing. As each farmer adds more animals, the total number of animals on the commons increases. Eventually, there are too many animals for the amount of grass available.

As a result, the grass gets overgrazed, and the land becomes barren. This hurts everyone because there's not enough grass to feed the animals.

So, Tragedy of Commons in a nutshell: -

The Tragedy of the Commons is the idea that, when resources are shared, individuals might act in their own self-interest by adding more animals (or exploiting the resource), but this can lead to the downfall of the shared resource for everyone.

In a nutshell, the Tragedy of the Commons is a warning about the potential problems that can arise when people use shared resources without considering the long-term effects, leading to depletion or degradation of those resources.

Some Prime Impacts of it: -

1. Deforestation

2. Air Pollution

3. Overfishing