Noble Laureate for united efforts to save common resources
By IANSWednesday, January 12, 2011
HYDERABAD - Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom Wednesday underlined the need for all organisations to work together to save common property resources like water and grazing land.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the 13th biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) here, she said there were several important issues that need to be dealt with collectively across the globe.
“These issues vary by country, by authority, by history and by diversity but if we can bring to this issue a better understanding it will prove beneficial,’ said Ostrom, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009.
Common properties are resources, which are accessible to the whole community or village to which no individual has exclusive ownership or property right.
Ostrom was of the view that the government is not the only entity to be blamed and said there are some honest and effective governments too.
“Media should ask the policy makers that what they are learning, what mechanisms are they adopting and to know why there are successes and failures in conserving the commons,” Ostrom said.
On the second day of the conference David Bollier, senior fellow at USC Annenberg School of Communication and editor of the web portal OntheCommons.org, and Bina Agarwal, professor of economics at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University, delivered key-note speeches.
Bina Agarwal spoke about people’s interest in commons. “The dependence of women and men on the common resources is distinct in both its intensity and extent. One needs to recognize this diversity in addressing the issue of commons. We cannot assume that men and women have the same interest in commons,” she said.
