Natural Resources: Ownership, Management and Use

As per the meaning of Natural Resources, no man has a hand in its existence. It may therefore be right to think or say that these resources can and should be used by all. But is that really the case? Not exactly. Allowing all and sundry access to Natural Resources would lead to depletion and unsustainable use. This is best explained by the "Tragedy of the Commons", as theorized by Garret Harding. In simple terms, the theory seeks to explain the innate selfish behaviour of human beings when it comes to openly using Natural Resources. One tends to consume or use as much as he/she can without giving a thought about others or the future generation. People will seek to maximize their usage for their own satisfaction, without putting measures in place for future consumption.

The question of Ownership, Management and Usage of Natural Resources can best be answered by using the theory of Common Pool Resources. In his book, "Managing Common Pool Resources", Kata Singh defines Common Pool Resources as, "a significant proportion of the total endowment of Natural Resources, comprising land, water, forests and fisheries, that are used in common by people." This presupposes that Common Pool Resources can be tapped from by many different people for different purposes. Nathalie Steins and Victoria Edwards term this as Complex Multiple-Use Common Pool Resources.

Owning, Managing and Using Common Pool Resources is done under four regimes. These are:

1. Public Resources: This is sometimes termed as public goods. Resources are said to belong to the nation, region or local government. As such, people in authority set rules regarding who can access such resources. Managing such resources is done by the government of the nation, who regulate the rate at which these resources are used in order to sustain it for future generations.An example in this case is a forest area, where the government set rules to regulate the number of trees that can be cut within a certain time frame.
2. Common Property Resources: Such resources are usually owned by communal groups, thus used and managed by them. For example, a demarcated area among a huge Common Pool Resource area owned by a community
3. Private Property: This is where Private individuals or corporate bodies have obtained or purchased a resource area. In such a case, the private owners determine the use rate and management of the resources. For example, a private entity obtaining a section of a river for fishing purposes.
4. Open Access: In this regime, the resource is free for all and it is used in common. There are no rules pertaining to access to resource and the allocation of units from the resource. An example of this could be a forest area in a local community. People can tap wild fruits or game from it, while others would tap fire wood from it, without any any regulation. Depletion of resources is very high in this case.

Common Pool Resources have multiple users, who have benefit differently. What happens when the use of resources by a user depletes the resource availability for other users? Is management of these resources effective? Is the process of allocating resources and giving access to resource usage done fairly?