Sustainable Finance and Banking

2

Environmental Consciousness andSustainable Development

INTRODUCTION

Environmental problems are well described by the metaphor of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ (Hardin, 1968), in which an insufficient appreciation of the scarcity of resources leads to soil exhaustion, erosion and, with even wider implications, an interference with nature's ability to regenerate itself. This metaphor is frequently applied to the fishing sector. It is obvious to any fisher when overfishing is taking place, endangering future stocks.

Continuing the metaphor of the ‘tragedy of the commons’, every fisher knows that the problem is developing but has no incentive to tackle it. After all, by voluntarily reducing the size of his or her catch, the fisher would only ...