GEOL 3600 Earth Mineral Resources Critical Issues Common

GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Critical Issues Common Pool Resources

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Characteristics • characteristics of a common pool resource include (Ostrom et al. 1999) – both natural and human-made resources – use of physical and/or institutional means to limit use is costly (nonexclusive) – exploitation by one user reduces resource available to other users (rivalry) – subject to free rider behavior without rules limiting access and defining rights • free rider: – overuse without concern for negative effect on others and commons – absence of contributed resources for maintaining and improving commons • solution: – limit access – create incentives encouraging good behavior 12 -Mar-21 2

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Resource Types 12 -Mar-21 3

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Tragedy of the Commons • Hardin had pessimistic view of managing commons • binary solution: – free market capitalism with someone owning commons – socialism • viewed users as: – selfish – norm-free – interested only in short-term returns • with this assumption there is only one outcome 12 -Mar-21 4

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Drama of the Commons • Ostrom et al. (1999) based on studying many CPR cases globally suggested actors were more diverse than Hardin’s view • possible actors: – self-centered: never co-operate (free-loaders) [Hardin] – cautious: only cooperate if assured won’t be exploited by free-loaders – good guys: co-operate as means of building trust with assumption others will return the trust – altruists: co-operate to ensure higher returns for entire group • if this true, binary outcome is not only possibility • for small-scale, locally governed commons both success and failure stories 12 -Mar-21 5

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Commons Scales • Araral (2014) suggested discussions of commons must necessarily consider scale – local: small spatial footprint intersect limited number political and social units, e. g. small watershed – large-scale: spans several intranational units, i. e. states, provinces, e. g. Chesapeake Bay – national: within a single country, e. g. Yellow River in China, Congo River in DRC – regional: spans several countries, e. g. Colorado, Mekong, Nile, and Ganges Rivers – global: outside jurisdiction of any one or group of countries • governance mechanisms: – compacts – treaties 12 -Mar-21 6

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Global Commons: Characteristics • characteristics (Ostrom et al. , 1999) – resource difficult to quantify, i. e. measure, accurately – quantification requires advanced technologies – marked by extreme size – large degree of uncertainty • bigger than village, large watershed, or single nation where there are examples of successful CPR management 12 -Mar-21 7

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Global Commons: Governance Difficulties • problems of using local CPR governance mechanisms (Ostrom et al. , 1999) – scale-up: larger number of stakeholders, makes rule defining and enforcing difficult – cultural diversity: decreases likelihood of shared interests and understandings – interconnections: global CPRs are linked, e. g. atmosphere and oceans, climate change and biodiversity – accelerating rate of change: means learning by doing isn’t too effective, things change so fast have a new system state that is not appropriate for what was learned – unanimous agreement: governance is international treaty, all must agree – no room for error: in past when commons was destroyed, moved to another area, option not available 12 -Mar-21 8

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources factors • commons: – level of excludability & rivalry, renewability, mobility, stationarity, boundary definition • users: – group size, cultural homogeneity, social capital or density of social networks, level of reciprocity, alternative resources available 12 -Mar-21 9

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources How does CPR concept tie into resource use? • What is the connection between CPRs and Earth and mineral resource exploitation? – impacts CPRs • At what scales? – all • What does this mean? – to win social approval, producers must deal with a wide range of stakeholders with potentially very different views 12 -Mar-21 10

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Small scale: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska • copper-gold-molybdenum deposit – discovered in 1988 but of low grade – Pebble West (Kean, 2010) – 2005, drilling revealed richer Pebble East • 3 km x 4 km • estimated 10. 78 billion tons of ore – 8 th largest copper deposit • metals – 80 billion pounds copper – 107 million ounces gold – 5 billion pounds molybdenum • metal/ore: 10. 6 lbs/ton EPA (2015) 12 -Mar-21 11

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Small scale: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska EPA (2015) 12 -Mar-21 12

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Small scale: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska • operations from preliminary documents, not finalized • open-pit (Snyder, 2014): – 0. 5 mi deep, 6 mi 2 – tailings ponds (3): 18 mi 2 – dam: 3 mi x 740 ft high • massive water requirement – initial permits for 76 x 106 l/d – concerns about returned water temperature, salinity, turbidity (Kean, 2010) • support: – 160 km service road to Pacific Port – own power supply – accommodations for ~1, 000 workers for 80 years EPA (2015) 12 -Mar-21 13

Common Pool Resources Small scale: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Morenci Mine, AZ 12 -Mar-21 14

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Small scale: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska • Bristol Bay watershed: 40, 000 mi 2 • world’s largest sockeye salmon run – average 37. 5/yr, max of 60 million – 46% world’s sockeye abundance – 50% global commercial sockeye catch – 40% Alaska’s commercial sockeye catch • supports 14, 000 direct jobs and $1. 5 billion industry 12 -Mar-21 15

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Small scale: Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay, Alaska 12 -Mar-21 16

Common Pool Resources GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Regional scale: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam 12 -Mar-21 17

GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Common Pool Resources • Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243 -1248 • Ostrom, E. , Burger, J. , Field, C. B. , Norgaard, R. B. , & Policansky, D. (1999). Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges. Science, 284(5412), 278 -282. • Mansbridge, J. (2014). The role of the state in governing the commons. Environmental Science & Policy, 36(0), 8 -10. doi: http: //dx. doi. org/10. 1016/j. envsci. 2013. 07. 006 • Araral, E. (2014). Ostrom, Hardin and the commons: A critical appreciation and a revisionist view. Environmental Science & Policy, 36(0), 11 -23. doi: DOI 10. 1016/j. envsci. 2013. 07. 011 • Ostrom, E. (2008). The Challenge of Common-Pool Resources. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 50(4), 8 -21. doi: 10. 3200/ENVT. 50. 4. 8 -21 • Stern, P. C. (2011). Design principles for global commons: Natural resources and emerging technologies. International Journal of the Commons, 5(2), 213– 232 • Dietz, T. , Ostrom, E. , & Stern, P. C. (2003). The Struggle to Govern the Commons. Science, 302(5652), 19071912. doi: 10. 1126/science. 1091015 12 -Mar-21 18

GEOL 3600: Earth & Mineral Resources Summary 12 -Mar-21 19