Introduction to the Theory of HES

Collective Action in Human-Environment Systems

Prof. Stefanie Engel

Chair of Environmental Policy and Economics

Universitätstr. 22, CHN K76.3

sengel@ethz.ch

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The Chair of Environmental Policy and Economics

Group of economists (environmental economics, new institutional economics, behavioural economics) and political scientists

Typical Questions:- What would be an ‘optimal‘ environmental outcome (i.e., desirable

from societal perspective)? (Valuing tradeoffs, impacts of policy process and information)

- Why (under what conditions) do individual decisions differ from societal ‘optimum‘? (Focus on economic incentives and social preferences)

- Which policies are suitable to move individual decisions closer to ‘optimum‘?

- How are policies formed? Which processes are suitable to define and implement ‚optimal‘ policies (Governance)?

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Focus in this class Social dilemmas (‚Tragedy of the commons‘)

Solution requires collective action

‚You would not be sitting here today if it was not for some of our

ancestors learning how to undertake collective action to solve social

dilemmas‘ (adapted from Ostrom 1998)

2 guiding examples in this class:

(i) Management of local commons (e.g., community forest

management, irrigation management, fisheries)

(ii) International cooperation on global commons (e.g., climate change)

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Beispiel: Entwaldung und Walddegradierung

Worldwide change in forest ecosystems 2000-2005 (FAO, 2006)

•Deforestation and degradation of > 20 Mio. Ha/yr

•Mostly in developing countries

•Important impacts for climate (20% of global emissions), biodiversity, local livelihoods etc.

•Variety of complex economic, political and social causes

Ex. 1: Community forest management

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Conventional Approach

‚Fences and Fines‘ Government control and regulation

Problems in developing countries with:

Monitoring & enforcement Social justice Corruption

‚Participation/Co-Management‘

(Partial) Transfer of rights & responsibilities to local

communities

Idea:

‚Sense of ownership‘ leading to incentives for self-regulation &

sustainable use

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Role of collective action (cont.)

Behavior of each resource user affects environmental outcome

(e.g., forest quality)

Environmental outcome affects all individuals‘ livelihoods

Everyone better off if collective resource use is reduced, but each

user considers only own costs and benefits, not impact on others

(‚Tragedy of the commons‘)

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Role of collective action (cont.)

Solution requires collective action- Everyone reducing extraction of fuelwood (‚Appropriation problem‘)

- Contributing to afforestation, monitoring activities (‚Provision problem‘)

Under what conditions can we expect communities to agree on

management rules and to abide by them?- Will depend, among other factors, on characteristics of users and

resource

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Ex. 2: International cooperation in climate change mitigation

Stabilisation levels, probability ranges for temperature increases, and associated impacts

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Impacts of Climate Change (Stern, 2006) Developing countries most vulnerable due to geographic

exposure, low incomes, and greater reliance on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture

„Climate change will have some positive effects for a few developed countries for moderate amounts of warming, but will become very damaging at the higher temperatures that threaten the world in the second half of this century“ Benefits at higher altitudes: higher agricultural yields, lower winter

mortality, lower heating requirements, potential boost to tourism

More vulnerability in lower latitudes: reduction in water availability and crop yields

At higher temperatures: extreme weather events, risk of large-scale shocks

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Major GHG emitters

Kyoto protocol as a highly imperfect attempt for collectively mitigating climate change

• No binding targets for major contributors like China, India, Indonesia

• Binding targets not ratified by US (ratification by Australia only Dec 2007)

• Targets not achieved by Canada etc.

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Exercise Topics for Module ‚Collective Action in HES‘

Task: Summarize and compare analyses empirically

assessing the success factors and hindering factors of

collective action for:

Group 1: Community forest management in India and Nepal

Group 2: International agreements on climate change and ozone

layer (Kyoto, Montreal)

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Ex: Change in cereal production in developed and developing countries with 3°C warming – simulation with three climate models (Parry et

al., 2005)

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Major GHG emitters