The tragedy of the commons refers to the overexploitation of common resources that provide short-term benefits but affects the whole community in the long-term.
What is the tragedy of the commons?
The tragedy of the commons refers to how some people, acting on their own needs or interests, may exceed the use of natural resources, affecting their population and, therefore, other users. These individuals over-explode resources thinking only in the present, but not in the future.
The tragedy of the commons occurs when natural resources of collective use inevitably derive from overexploitation which finally leads to its destruction or depletion.
It reflects a social context over common resources -such as seas, forests, rainforests, grasses, and freshwater, among others- where personal interests get in conflict with common interests.
Overexploitation of a common resource by a single individual on many occasions ends up reducing the social well-being and even damaging the individual that is producing the damage.
Example,
Fishing example. Usually, some policies control fishery to respect the species' life cycle and not affect its population growth.
Fisherman who does not respect fishing policies and seasons to develop the activity end up overexploiting the common resource and fishing pregnant females or young individuals.
This fisherman will be beneficiated in the short term because he will get economical and alimentary gains.
However, catching these types of prey (females and young individuals) affects population growth and development. So, in the long term, overexploiting fish resources during the wrong season turns out to be harmful to the individual and to the rest of the population that also depends on the fishery.
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