Why Shared Governance Could Save Our Oceans

In the summer of 1968, Garrett Hardin published his seminal paper, “The Tragedy of the Commons”, offering a sobering analysis of how shared resources face depletion when individuals act solely in their self-interest, leading to overconsumption, underinvestment, and eventual resource exhaustion. More than 50 years later, Hardin’s insights remain strikingly relevant, resonating through today’s environmental crises, including climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

However, the very factors that make shared resources vulnerable can also provide opportunities for innovative governance models, such as shared governance.

A poignant example of Hardin’s theory is playing out in the world’s oceans, where uncontrolled use has driven marine resources to the brink. As quintessential “commons”, the oceans are shared globally, yet more than 90 percent of fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished, and an estimated eight million metric tonnes of plastic enter the sea annually.

These pressures are further compounded by the accelerating impacts of climate change, including rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation. Together, these challenges form a cascade of threats that jeopardize both ocean ecosystem balance and global security. Addressing this crisis requires a paradigm shift in ocean conservation.

Historically, ocean protection has operated predominantly under a top-down model, where governments tak…