The Tragedy of the Commons Invading Our Environmental Rights Case Study: Coral Reefs

10/27/04 Research in the Disciplines First Paper Final Draft

Tragedy of the commons invading our environmental rights:
Case study Coral Reefs

In our world there are many resources, all of which people do not have a choice in sharing such as our air and our oceans. These resources are looked at as infinite, although this is not actually the case. Each time one person does something to pollute or use these types of resources, it affects the whole of society. This is the idea of the tragedy of the commons. This tragedy is the phenomena in which a resource may be used to such an extent that it is ruined for all. An example of this tragedy is given in the following scenario: given an open pasture as a commons to which all the herdsmen have a stake; each one will try and keep as many animals on the commons as possible. By adding one more animal to his herd, an individual gains a positive to himself but the negative effect of over grazing is felt throughout the commons. The effect, of overgrazing by one additional animal appears minimal so the other rational herdsmen conclude to add an additional animal to their own herd. Since all the herdsmen are thought to be rational this conclusion is reached by each of them. The effect of, overgrazing will become detrimental to the pasture and all the animals will die. There in is the tragedy because of peoples' greed to use and or need of a limited resource the over use or degradation of it leads to its destruction. The destruction of these resources leads into another topic discussed by Shari Collins-Chobanian as well as others; this is the idea of "environmental rights" (Collins Chobanian). This idea entails that all people have certain natural rights to their environment that should be unalienable "…[the] most basic rights are the right to subsistence and include unpolluted air, unpolluted water, adequate food, adequate clothing, adequate shelter, and minimal preventative healthcare" (Collins-Chobanian 17). Basically she is stating the fact that each person has the right to live in a clean world, be able to obtain the necessities which are needed to live, and make a living in which they can lead a healthy lifestyle.
It is through the theories of the tragedy of the commons and environmental rights that we realize that all of society is invading one another's environmental rights through the tragedy of the commons. This is done very inconspicuously in some cases such as that of the Coral Reefs.
The Coral Reefs are limestone formations that are produced by living organisms. They are found in shallow tropical waters. The predominate organisms that make them up are stony corals, which are colonial cnidarians that secrete calcium carbonate (limestone) as an exoskeleton. Calcium carbonate is also deposited by other types of marine organisms such as tube-building annelid worms but any reef formed by a biological community is called a coral reef. These skeletons accumulate due to the tides and create a formation that supports the living coral as well as the highest species diversity of all explored marine habitats. Reefs are found between the latitudes of 30°N to 30°S of the equator. Corals will not grow at depths greater then 100 ft because the water temperature falls below 72° F which is deadly to them. (I may discuss the different types of reef formations here but I am not sure how related to the rest of the paper that will be) There are many environmental pressures that are damaging reefs. These include, water pollution, tourism, increased coastal development, change in water temperature, runoff containing agricultural chemicals, and abrasions by ships. As well coral reefs are also destroyed during fishing when poison or dynamite is used to catch the fish and coral is harvested for jewelry. Recently, many unknown diseases began attacking the reefs worldwide causing rapid damage. As you can see, many of the threats to the coral reefs are created by industry and other human activities that have no direct contact with them, but through using common resources, people are still destroying them and invading the environmental rights of other people.
Environmentally speaking, one of the greatest problems facing humans in this time is that of global warming. This process has been occurring sense the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It is a process in which the large amounts of gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuels enter our atmosphere. "Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%, methane concentrations have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen by about 15%. These increases have enhanced the heat-trapping capability of the earth's atmosphere."(EPA) This large increase in these gases within our atmosphere is causing the global temperature of the earth to rise. The EPA states that earths surface temperature has increased .5-1°C sense the late 19th century (EPA). Because of this the, snow cover and ice of the Artic Circle has decreased and the sea level has risen 4-8 inches. While it seems that the global temperature going up would be good for the coral reefs, it is the opposite; because of this change in temperature, ocean currents have shifted slightly and weather patterns have changed (EPA).
Coral is a fragile organism. Freshwater flooding, increase or decrease in light, and change in temperature are all events that may cause coral to die. (Jordan M. West And Rodney V. Salm) These types of events can be the result of global warming; "Huge swathes of the coral at Rangiroa in French Polynesia died during three months of exceptionally warm weather in 1998, when sea temperatures soared to 34 degrees centigrade for the first time." (NASA) This huge change in temperature from the usual 28 degrees Celsius to 34 degrees was said to be in direct correlation with global warming. Global warming is a tragedy that our world faces and we all add to it each day in many ways some of which you probably don't realize. We are invading our common resource of the air and atmosphere of our world through this neglect. This process is destroying many things including the coral reefs of our world. Through the destruction of the reefs is invading the Environmental rights of those who need the reefs to thrive.
One of the most harmful effects that global warming has on coral is that of coral bleaching. "Healthy tissue of most stony corals ranges from yellow to brownish in color, a function of the photosynthetic pigments of their symbiotic zooxanthellae. When corals are inordinately stressed, they often expel their zooxanthellae, or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments declines."(CORIS) This phenomenon which is known as coral bleaching has always been around but not until recently has it been a large scale problem "Localized bleaching has been observed since at least the beginning of the 20th century. However, beginning in the 1980s, regional and global bleaching affecting numerous species has occurred on reefs worldwide."(CORIS) Bleaching has been linked to the trend of global warming. "Since the 1980's, regional bleaching events have occurred on coral reef areas throughout the world with increasing frequency and increasing geographic extent. Thes large-scale belaching events correlate with elevated sea surface temperatures (SSts). The increase in SST is generally believed to be the result of climate change because of anthropomorphic release of carbon dioxide and other gasses" (Jokiel and Brown)
Along with the pending threat of global warming on coral reefs another threat is humans. Humans over-fish and/or over exploit the coral reef habitat for recreational and commercial purposes. Reef fish and coral heads are collected for the growing aquarium and jewelry industries. Reef fish are also collected as food along with careless or untrained divers that often can trample the fragile coral. (CORIS) In addition to this, there are many fishing techniques which damage the coral significantly such as blast fishing, cyanide fishing, deep-water trawling, and muro-ami netting. Blast fishing is a method in which dynamite or other heavy explosives are detonated to stun fish for and easy capture. Cyanide fishing entails spraying or dumping cyanide onto reefs to stun and capture live fish. This kills the coral polyps and degrades the reef habitat . Deep water Trawling is method of fishing in which a net is dragged along the bottom of the sea. Muro-ami netting is a type of fishing where the reef is pounded by weighted bags to startle fish out of crevices. (CORIS) It can be seen that all these methods of fishing are extremely detrimental to the reefs. They break and poison the fragile coral, as well as kill or remove the other inhabitants of the reef. The people who depend on the reef for a living whether for a fishing purpose or that exploit the reef commercially are helping to destroy one of the worlds most lush climates in our world. They are invading this "Common Resource" to meet there own needs and in doing so, destroying it for everyone else. While it may be one of their "environmental rights" to eat and make a living, it should not be met at the cost of one of our worlds resources. (Restoration-types of restoration and the feasibility )
The coral reefs of the world are a resource that is being rapidly depleted "40% of the world's coral reefs will be lost by 2010, and another 20% in the 20 years following unless urgent management action is implemented" (CORIS). This degradation is due to human activities, we are destroying one of the worlds valued resources to promote our own gains. It is because of this that we should devise ways in which we can restore or rebuild the coral reef as well as put a stop to the damage being done. So that this tragedy of the commons can be stopped before the resource is totally destroyed, also by finding ways to preserve the coral reefs of the world we will be saving the environmental rights of those who need the reefs. By restoration it is meant to return the habitat to a close approximation of the natural habitat to it condition prior to the disturbance. Types of restoration used in Coral reefs are that of artificial structure and Sexual Recruitment. (Precht) Hopefully through restoration we will be able to save the reefs therefore adverting the tragedy of the commons and keeping environmental rights entact.
(Conclusion)
Coral reefs are one of our most beautiful natural habitats that need to be preserved. We, as a society, are destroying this ecosystem through over use and over exploitation. Not only is this an invasion of our "environmental rights," it also is going to mean that our children my not witness this wonderful piece of our world. The major human threats to coral reefs can be managed by providing alternative livelihoods and educating people about the stresses that degrade the coral reefs.

Works cited

Lesley A. Runnalls and Max L. Coleman. "Record of natural and anthropogenic changes in reef environments (Barbados West Indies) using laser ablation ICP-MS and sclerochronology on coral cores" Coral Reefs 22 :416-426
Hoegh-Guldberg, "Coral reefs in a century of rapid environmental change."Symbiosis 37(2004) 1-31.
Jokiel Paul l and Brown Eric K "Global warming, regional trends and inshore environmental conditions influence coral bleaching in Hawaii" Global Change Biology 10(2004)1627-1641
Kühlmann, Dietrich H. H. (1985) Living Coral Reefs of the World. New York: Arco Publishing, Inc.

Global Warming. Environmental Protection Agency . November 2, 2004.

Famous Coral Reefs Damaged Due to Global Warming will Take a Century to Recover. NASA. November 2, 2004

West Jordan M. and Salm Rodney V. "Resistance and Resilience to Coral Bleaching: Implications for Coral Reef Conservation and Management" Conservation Biology 17.4(2004) 956-967

Major Reef-building Coral Diseases. NOAA&CORIS November 9 2004 http://www.coris.noaa.gov/about/diseases/diseases.html#coral%20bleaching

Coral reef restoration: the status of the science. William F. Precht November 11, 2004.
http://www.nova.edu/ocean/ncri/precht.html