Sustainable Economic Development

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The Victorian economist, William Forster Lloyd in a pamphlet written in 1833, was the first to coin the expression: “the tragedy of the commons” when he wrote about the effects of overexploitation, or overharvesting, on common land (Tragedy of the commons, n.d). His work was cited in an article by Garret Hardin in 1968, and the concept since then became widely known (Tragedy of the commons, n.d). What is the tragedy of the commons? To be able to grasp and understand the tragedy of the commons, we need to imagine a piece of land owned by the government and used by many herders for their cows. If each herder uses the land to his own advantage, rationally and by thinking about maximizing his own profits, he will let his herd eat the grass available …show more content…

I firmly believe that sustainable economic development is possible while protecting the environment. It is worth noting that 25% of the population is consuming 75% of the world natural resources annually. Sustainable economic development is defined as meeting “the basic needs of people today without ruining the chances of future generations to do the same.” (Sustainable development, n.d). It also means: “incorporating the environment into the economic system […] and recognizing that resources and environments serve economic functions and have positive economic value.”(Beder, 1994). There must be ways to find a balance between economic development and protecting the environment. By resorting to several methods cited in the previous section, I believe the world can prosper by taking care of the environment and by finding ways to sustain itself. In fact, a large number of countries has started to take sustainable development seriously and began integrating its principles into their programs (Sustainable development, n.d). The United Nations is also playing an important role in this matter by establishing specialized units to deal with sustainable development. Sustainable development goes hand in hand with political change (Sustainable development, …show more content…

(2003-2015). Tragedy of the Commons Theory: Definition & Examples. Study.com. Retrieved from: http://study.com/academy/lesson/tragedy-of-the-commons-theory-definition-examples.html Hardin, G. “The tragedy of the commons.” Science, New Series, vol. 162, no. 3859, pp. 1243-1248, retrieved from: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~asmayer/rural_sustain/governance/Hardin%201968.pdf Howarth, R. (2012, September) Sustainability, well-being and economic growth. Minding Nature, Volume 5, Number 2. Retrieved from: http://www.humansandnature.org/sustainability-well-being-and-economic-growth Marten, G. (2001). Chapter 10 - Unsustainable Human - Ecosystem Interaction, chapter in the book: Human Ecology, Basic Concepts for Sustainable Development. Earthscan Publications. Retrieved from: http://gerrymarten.com/human-ecology/chapter10.html Overexploitation (n.d). Wikipedia. Retrieved on Thursday October 22, 2015 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overexploitation Stewart, R. (2005). Tragedy of the commons. Ocean World. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University. http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/tragedyofthecommons.htm Sustainability (2015). Environment and Ecology. Retrieved from:

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