TRAGEDY OF COMMONS:
THE CORONA WAY
~Joysha Agarwal
Hours of quarantine forced me to wonder how it is all linked?
This project is an attempt to study real-life observations under the perspective of concepts introduced in the course.
Exploring the relevance of ‘The Tragedy of Commons’ in the modern world, specifically today with the outbreak of coronavirus, this report highlights the conflict between individual and collective rationality.
WHAT WE LEARNT
This concept is often cited in connection with sustainable development, meshing economic growth and environmental protection. It affects the behaviour in the fields of economics, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, game theory, politics, taxation and sociology.
Local inequality can be disastrous for social-ecological resilience and social justice, as wealth accumulation of elites may fuel overexploitation, disregarding sustainable resource use limits and at the same time disproportionately affecting the poor and most vulnerable members of society.
A WALK THROUGH CORONA
All observations from a perspective of tragedy of commons
Wet markets are central to the perception that fresh meat is better. The habit of buying perishable food for daily use is still prevalent in many consumers since widespread refrigeration only came to China in recent years. While most urban homes now have refrigerators, many in rural areas and low-income urban renters still do not own one.
Clearly, the economical and technological gap has paved the way for the requirement of wet markets, along with the Chinese consumers’ appetite for ‘warm meat’. The indifference or perception of people who simply regard animals as food, tools, or as things have brought the coexistence of humanity and wildlife to the level of conflict, endangering multiple lives around the world.
Ignorance and negligence of one person during the times of coronavirus outbreak can contaminate their entire community and beyond.
A 61-year old lady, known as ‘Patient 31’ had avoided a checkup when her symptoms were in the initial stage and attended a couple of religious services (huge gatherings) in Daegu before being tested positive. This spiked the number of patients in South Korea by thousands.
A similar case was observed in India when a renowned singer hid her travel history from London. She attended and hosted huge parties instead of quarantining herself for 14 days, as had been required. She had been tested positive thrice as of March 25,2020.
Hoarding of necessary items during times of perceived threat results in few people having excess and many not having enough.
Panic shopping doesn’t allow stores and retailers to restock their shelves in times, forcing them to limit sales of certain items. The first items to be overstocked are toilet paper, sanitizer, masks and groceries.
It’s not just grocery shoppers who are hoarding pantry staples. Some governments are moving to secure domestic food supplies during the coronavirus pandemic. As governments take nationalistic approaches, they risk disrupting an international system that has become increasingly interconnected in recent decades. Frenzied shopping coupled with protectionist policies could eventually lead to higher food prices, a cycle that could end up perpetuating itself.
CONCLUSION
Although the tragedy of the commons remains a pervasive concept within the field of economics, I consider it largely a moral value for it highlights ‘We’ before ‘Me’. The ‘commons’ don’t just refer to shared natural resources, but also public healthcare, safety, policies, markets etc.
From warm meat preference to coronavirus pandemic, from negligence to infection and lockdowns, from hoarding to national policies and disruption of trade flow; the observations are enough.
With an understanding of the consequences of an individual effort on the future of the community, sustainability can be better achieved.
REFERENCES
Michael Standaert, 23 January 2020, Appetite for ‘warm meat’ drives risk of disease in Hong Kong and China, The Guardian
John Vidal, 18 March 2020, ‘Tip of the iceberg’: is our destruction of nature responsible for Covid-19?, The Guardian
M. Usman Mirza , Andries Richter , Egbert H. van Nes , Marten Scheffer, Technology driven inequality leads to poverty and resource depletion, Ecological Economics
Isis Almeida, Agnieszka de Sousa, 25 March 2020, Countries are starting to hoard food due to coronavirus outbreak, threatening global trade, The Economic Times
Kelly Kasulis, 3 march 2020, ‘Patient 31’ and South Korea’s sudden spike in coronavirus cases, Aljazeera
Credits given to artists and photographers for all illustrations and pictures, wherever known.
