Tragedy of the commons: The responsibility of the rich countries

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Hasnat Abdul Hye It used to be a recurrent theme in the development discourse. Then it went off the radar and not much was heard about it except as a routine reference in the project pro forma used by the Planning Commission. Perhaps a sense of ennui or sheer frustration overtook and pushed it to the background. Looked through the prism of optimism, complacency also could account for its sudden absence from public discourse. Now its sudden re-appearance in official circle after a long hiatus suggests that like legendary albatross it has always been there, weighing the nation down. According to newspaper reports, the government is going to finalise national sustainable development strategy for 2010-2021 to meet the challenges of environmental sustainability of the country keeping the economic and social development agenda in view. The subject will be discussed at the highest level of the National Economic Council to consider the strategy. By the time the column is published the deliberations of the meeting may already be made public. From official source it is learnt that the vision of national sustainable development strategy has been developed through extensive consultations with the stakeholders and its objective is to achieve a 'happy, prosperous and enlightened Bangladesh free from hunger, poverty, inequality, illiteracy and corruption'. The ownership of the vision will be by the people who would work for a healthy environment. The implementation period of the strategy has been set at 2010-2021 with the hope that the country will reach the path of sustainable development by 2021. The strategy is based on the long-term development vision of the government, the Sixth Five Year Plan (2011-2015), the Perspective Plan (2010-2021) and other existing plans, policies and strategies of the government. A spokesperson of the Planning Commission has told the press that the need for population planning to maintain a balance between population development and environment has been prioritised in the strategy as slowing the growth of population will contribute to the status of the environment and efforts to increase the standard of living not just for the present generation but also those in the future. It has been pointed out that the other challenges of sustainable development will include poverty, inequality, unplanned urbanisation, energy security, inefficient water resources management, natural disasters and climate change. The national sustainable development strategy has identified five strategic priority areas along with some cross-cutting areas with a view to achieving the stated vision and addressing long-term sustainability issue of critical areas. The vision for the future is based on a holistic approach to development incorporating all the goals and the means to achieve them. Such an overarching goal was missing in the recent past as development efforts addressed only one side of the equation viz. consumption of resources, particularly physical ones. No or very little attention was given to the impact of development strategy on the reserve or stock of resources that would be used to attain the goal of economic growth. Like the fabled one-eyed deer the strategy of economic development forgot to look at the other side of the equation for potential risks and danger. It has now dawned on the planners and policymakers that through ignorance or indifference the potential danger lurking beyond their ken, but just around the corner, may not only undermine the achievement of growth but may also give rise to catastrophic situations endangering the lives and livelihood of the people. Though belated, the sense of urgency revealed is most encouraging. It remains to be seen if this declaration of intent will also languish in the drawing board like so many other grandiloquent thinking in the past. Involvement of the stakeholders, the civil society and the media can help the government in creating awareness about the potentials of growth opportunities and also risk of reversal. Narrowly defined, sustainable development is maintaining the level or momentum of development after the initial thrust has been made. It strives to keep the development in the economic and social sectors at the same growth path and if possible, at an incrementally rising growth in future to achieve the main goal of ensuring a higher standard of living for the people. Starting with meeting the basket of basic needs, sustainable development aims at augmenting the goods and services in the basket for common people. In this view of sustainable development growth lifts all the boats together ensuring social and economic justice. If growth occurs but its fruits are enjoyed disproportionately by those at the top of the economic ladder, sustainability receives a setback. Inequity in the standard of living of people of different economic strata is seen as running counter to sustainability. There is another and perhaps more important aspect of sustainability that has been ignored for a long time. To be fair, this aspect of sustainability has been discussed and written about but mostly as a stand alone subject, not as part of an integrated framework. This facet of sustainability covers the resources that are used for development in various degrees. They include land, forest resources, water and mineral resources. In the process of development these resources are used and without their input development cannot take place or accelerated. Some of these resources are renewable like land and water while others are non-renewable like mineral resources, gas and petroleum. If the renewable resources are used indiscriminately their reserve will be depleted faster than renewal. The resultant mismatch between used (demand) and availability (supply) will become a bottleneck in the development process. If the resource is non-renewable indiscriminate use will deplete its reserve and at one stage it will become extinct. The country's development will be at jeopardy if the extinct resource cannot be imported timely and adequately. At present all countries have become aware about the danger of depleting non-renewable resources and therefore, import will be uncertain. For Bangladesh, both the issues of sustainability are crucial. We cannot effort to allow fruits of development to be sequestered by the few making the vast majority to wallow in abject poverty with all the social and political unrest that it entails. It is not too late to take corrective action to ensure equitable distribution of growth. But for the other aspect of sustainability time is of the essence. If resources are depleted it will have catastrophic effect on the economy which may not be possible to set right. We have to be, therefore, very careful and remain ever vigilant about the depletion of resources as a result of development. The critical nature here is that depletion can take place even without development, just to meet the day-to-day need of the people. Of late, environmental issue has become fraught because of the consequences of climate change. Here efforts at national level will not be enough to avert disaster, the source of the problem being both inside the country and beyond its borders. While adapting to climate change our efforts to get assistance from the international community for mitigation should be relentless. Of equal importance will be the policy to arrive at global action to take concerted steps like reducing carbon footprint. Experts, both at home and abroad, point out the burgeoning population as the greatest threat to environment and stress on population control. While there is merit in this argument and policy prescription the fact of rich countries causing greater havoc to environment because of their insatiable need for consumption cannot be lost sight of. If the world's resources constitute a commons and countries are the users, it is not the number of people consuming the resource that is more important than the number of countries using disproportionately the resource than the others. For the tragedy of commons, it is the rich countries which are more responsible than the developing countries and they should compensate the latter adequately for that besides cutting back their consumption. The tragedy of the commons is shared by all but it has been mainly caused by a few. As we undertake measures to maintain our environment on an even keel through national policy we should not flinch from pressure being brought to bear on the major offenders of environmental depletion and degradation. hasnat.hye5@gmail.com