Elinor Ostrom and Global Warming

Elinor Ostrom and Global WarmingUnited Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 24, 2010

The Economic Daily News is part of the United Daily News Group. Its "2010 Masters Forum" opened today. Its guest of honor was Elinor Ostrom, last year's Nobel Laureate in Economics, a professor at Indiana University and the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economics. Climate change is a difficult problem. According to Ostrom, modern man's selfishness and greed have reached extremes. Modern man must reclaim his lost integrity, his sense of altruism and other moral and ethical ideals. He must address the pressing issue of global warming from the level of the individual. Modern man must cherish the shared environment and resources. Only then he talk of sustainable development.

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Ostrom said that we must all work together for our communities, large, medium, or small, and for the sustainable development of the globe as a whole. In particular, she championed the concept of community. Tribes, nations, and the world as a whole may be different in scale. But their members are all mutually interdependent. Only by understanding our mutual interdependence can we design a system for "us." Only then can we abandon struggles for advantage, share resources, and enjoy sustainable development.

Ostrom is powerfully committed to "common pool resources." She hopes to prove that the outlook for mankind is not as pessimistic as suggested by Professor Garrett Hardin in his 1968 publication, "The Tragedy of the Commons." The two professors have arrived at very different conclusions. Hardin believes that human greed and selfishness will inevitably lead to environmental tragedy. The traditional solution to this problem is external intervention, either forceful government management or privatization. Only these can prevent tragedy. Ostrom on the other hand, firmly believes in people's "capacity for self-governance." She also believes that public affairs should not always be turned over to the government to handle. That is why she designed a system of "collective action." Public affairs require public participation and public concern. Only through collective study and cooperation can one ensure management efficiency. This is particularly true for the management of natural resources, and is no different for the management of global resources as a whole. They require the participation of everyone on earth. Backroom deals by politicians simply will not do.

Ostrom stressed the concept of "community." When managing common pool resources one must not overlook the power of cultural constraints. Social trust and social consensus is a prerequisite for successful public policy. Common pool resources need not end in disaster or tragedy. Whatever size or scope, as long as members of a community recognize their mutual interdependence, we can begin with the individual and avoid disaster to our common pool resources.

The theme of this year's Masters Forum was "Climate Change and Global Governance." Ostrom proposed new solutions and new ways of thinking about the depletion of earth's natural resources, global warming, and wild fluctuations between droughts and floods. One need not wait for the leaders of each nation to issue binding action plans. One can begin now, starting with the individual. Each individual's experience can become teaching material for members of the "community." Honesty and ethics can replace selfishness and self interest, Only then can one solve these problems.

Ostrom notes that the management of common pool resources faces a major obstacle -- internationally binding agreements. The first of these was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming and control carbon emissions. Its ratification allowed each nation to continue polluting until the protocol took effect in February 2005. Disputes over national interests delayed progress in global carbon reduction. The Copenhagen summit late last year was even worse. It was supposed to establish legally binding carbon reduction standards for the post-Kyoto era, beginning in 2012. Who knew a huge summit with 13,000 attendees would achieve absolutely nothing.

This year, early in April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel convened a small-scale climate summit. She hoped to address the problems overlooked during the Copenhagen summit. To her surprise, her own summit was utterly ineffectual, It even foreshadowed the debacle of the 16th UNFCCC in Cancun, Mexico. The chaos did not end here. US President Barack Obama promised the international community he would pass a Climate Change Bill promoting domestic carbon reduction. This did not even clear Congress. Since the 1992 Earth Summit, global efforts to reduce carbon emissions have all come to naught.

All this confirms Ostrom's conviction that common pool resources can no longer be managed in a traditional top-down manner. Instead of listening as world leaders yammer on, it is better to step forward and take action. Ostrom's convictions are the result of extensive field experience accumulated during her 40 year long academic career. Her experience with fishing grounds, pastures, forests, groundwater, even management studies of police systems, in both developing and developed countries, has confirmed that people have a strong "capacity for self-governance." The ability to participate in public affairs is the key to avoiding disaster in common pool resources.

Ostrom's visit to Taiwan coincides with drama-filled local controversies over the management of common pool resources. Should the mudflats at the mouth of the Cho Shui Creek be devoted to Chinese white dolphins, or the petrochemical industry? Can we strike a balance between agricultural revitalization and industrial development? Taiwan is a major contributor to carbon emissions, both total and per capita. The establishment of a system for the declaration and verification of greenhouse gas reduction is pending within the Legislative Yuan. The government once led environmental protection. Now the public is becoming increasingly involved.

Public controversy indicates demand for change. We look forward to greater public action in response to global climate change. We look forward to changes in the governance of public affairs on Taiwan. We look forward to the impact of new thinking by Professor Ostrom.

歐斯壯開講：以人心美化來治療地球暖化
【聯合報╱社論】
2010.08.24 01:51 am

本報系經濟日報「2010大師論壇」今天登場，邀請到的大師是去年諾貝爾經濟學獎得主美國印第安那大學歐斯壯（Elinor Ostrom）教授，這位諾貝爾經濟學獎首位女性得主針對氣候變遷這一當前最棘手的問題，開出的藥方是：現代人貪婪自私已達於極點，應找回失落的誠信、利他等倫理道德，從自身做起參與解決嚴重的暖化問題，珍惜共有的環境、資源，才有永續可言。

誠如歐斯壯接受本報系專訪時致讀者的話：「為我們所有的社區，不管中或小、乃至全球社區的永續發展，一起共同努力。」她特別提出社區的概念，是認為不管是部落、國家乃至地球，雖然規模有別，但成員間須能找出相互依存的關係，才能設計出一套「我們的」制度，拋棄爭鬥算計，共享資源，永續發展。

歐斯壯致力「共有財的治理」研究，要證明人類前景並不若1968年哈丁教授發表「共有資源的悲劇」那麼悲觀。兩位教授結論殊異的關鍵是：哈丁認為人類貪婪、自私，造成竭澤而漁的局面是必然的；解決這個問題，傳統的思維是靠外來干預，例如交給政府強力管理，或私有化兩條路，才能阻止悲劇發生。歐斯壯則一直對人民「自我治理能力」有很強的信心，也認為公共事務本質不全然相同，並非都適合交給政府管理，因此設計出「人民參與」的制度，公共事務要人民參與、關心，一起學習、合作，才會創造出管理效率，這尤其適用在自然資源之類的共有財管理。全球格局的共有財亦然，必須要地球人都參與，靠政治人物密室交易是談不出結果的。

歐斯壯強調「社區」概念，認為管理共有財絕不能忽略其中文化制約的力量，源於社會互信形成的社會共識，是凝聚出成功公共政策的前提。共有財不必然走向災難或悲劇，不論規模、範圍大小，只要成員體認大家相互依存的關係，就會從自己做起，避免共有財災難發生。

今年大師論壇主題「氣候變遷與全球治理」，歐斯壯將針對地球自然資源枯竭、暖化造成非旱即澇氣候災難提出解決的新思維，不必等各國領袖談出具約束力的行動方案，而是現下從每個人動起，把各個人的經驗當成「社區」更多成員的學習素材，以誠信、利他的倫理取代自私自利，這樣才能解決問題。

歐斯壯的論述正指出此刻共有財管理的困境。就國際約束力的形成而言，先是遏止暖化、控制碳排放的京都議定書1997年通過，開放各國批准到跨過生效門檻已是 2005年二月，各國的利益糾葛，嚴重蹉跎全球的減碳行動；去年底哥本哈根峰會情況更糟，原本該訂出2012後京都時代具法律約束力的新減碳文件，未料一萬三千人的大會一事無成。

今年四月初，德國總理梅克爾邀集一個小規模的氣候峰會，想把哥城峰會後的紊亂局面先做修補，未料這個會毫不發生作用，甚至預告年底墨西哥坎昆舉行的氣候公約第十六次締約國大會已經破局。紊亂局面還不止此，美國歐巴馬總統向國際減碳宣示及推動國內減碳依據的氣候變遷法案，國會竟然不通過，讓1992年地球高峰會以來推動全球減碳的努力跌回原點。

這一切都證實歐斯壯的信念，共有財的管理不能再以傳統由上而下的思維面對，與其空等世界領袖談出對策，不如自身先做。歐斯壯的信念源自她四十餘年學術生涯太多的田野調查證據，不論漁場、草場、森林、地下水，乃至警察制度設計等的管理研究，在開發中或已開發國家，都確認人民有很強的「自我治理能力」，這個能力參與公共事務運作，是避免共有財災難的關鍵力量。

歐斯壯這趟台灣行，正值台灣社會共有財管理爭議最劇烈的一刻，濁水溪口泥質灘地該留給中華白海豚，或是石化工業？農地在興辦工業或農用間該怎麼權衡？碳排放台灣不管總量或人均，都是世界大戶，但牽涉到申報、盤查的制度面建設，溫室氣體減量法至今還在立法院待審；而環境保護的主導權過去在政府，現在也有越來越強人民參與的聲音。

爭議代表求變，不管是參與全球氣候變遷行動，或是調整台灣公共事務的治理制度，我們期待歐斯壯教授的新思維帶來關鍵的衝擊。