Fact Sheets: Common Resources

Catch limits are protective caps on the number of fish that can be caught in a fishing year. They are a fundamental measure to prevent overfishing and ensure the long-term sustainability of fish stocks. These measures are set based on scientific assessments of the health of fish stocks.

Con demasiada frecuencia, cuando un economista o banquero mira los bosques vírgenes o los ríos fluyendo libremente, no ve la naturaleza — ve “capital natural.” Este concepto promueve la idea de que a nuestros recursos naturales se les debe atribuir un valor y que deben administrarse bajo principios basados en el mercado de la oferta [...]

In 1977, Congress passed a set of amendments to the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Together, the original act and the amendments came to be known as the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA set a strong and simple standard that polluting is illegal, and that the national goal is zero discharge into our public waterways. Failing achievement of zero discharge, the CWA set limits on discharges.

Enbridge Inc., Canada’s largest transporter of crude oil, claims to no longer be pursuing its ‘Trailbreaker’ plan as first proposed in 2008: to run Canadian tar sands oil through an aging pipeline that stretches across northern New England from Montreal, Canada, to Portland, Maine. Yet given that efforts to send tar sands oil south to refineries in Texas through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline — as well as efforts to send the oil west from Alberta to British Columbia — have face stiff opposition and stalled, New England remains at risk.

The United States and the European Union are moving toward privatizing their fisheries management systems through catch shares, while Iceland, with one of the world’s oldest and most comprehensive catch share programs, is struggling to find a way to dismantle its program. Why? The answer is that catch shares have failed Iceland’s fisheries and the nation as a whole.

All too often when an economist or banker looks out at an expanse of virgin forest or free-flowing river, she doesn’t see nature — she sees “natural capital.” This concept promotes the view that our natural resources should be attached a value and managed using market-based principles of supply and demand. It is the cornerstone of the “green economy” that many free-market proponents and market-oriented environmentalists assert will provide environmental sustainability.

Many communities have had no option but to go to court to try and protect their groundwater from corporate water bottlers. These legal battles can be extremely expensive and time consuming, and water-bottling schemes have torn towns apart. Although some communities have banned commercial water extraction, not all towns have had such success.