Community-based Conservation in Brazil and Beyond

More than half a century has passed since Garrett Hardin's influential article, The Tragedy of the Commons, was published in 1968. Hardin argued that human greed and short-term thinking would drive societies toward collapse. However, two decades later, Elinor Ostrom challenged this foretold tragedy by developing a theory of cooperation applied to the use of common-pool resources. Ostrom explained how locally agreed rules can enable shared benefits, expressing confidence in human social intelligence. This theory helps explain many successful cases of collective natural resource management, including community-based conservation in Brazil and beyond. In these cases, locally agreed rules enable shared benefits, averting collective failure. This approach offers a promising solution to the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving humanity's natural heritage.