Emphasising on how locals can be used as management tool in resource management, Elinor Ostrom, the world’s first woman Nobel Prize winner for economics, has said “locals can do it” when there is great resource destruction happening all over the world in the name of growth.  

“Common property resources will always be degraded, has given way to the realisation that these resources can be managed well by local communities,” said Ostrom, who teaches political science at Indiana University, USA. Her theory challenges the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatised. She was addressing a press briefing here on Thursday.

“Bargaining power should be provided to the local community,” she offered in her explanation. But she noted that this would succeed only if the locals have a long term assurance that they will benefit from their own hard work.

“When local users have long term rights to harvest from the forests they were more likely to monitor and sanction those who break the rules and better forest conditions,” Ostrom pointed out.

She added, "numerous empirical studies of natural-resource management prove that monitoring by local users held the key to improved forest conditions." She said blocking indigenous people from the forests will not help. Her explanation is pertinent at a time when the centre’s policies have allegedly driven tribals from the forests in the name of development and these groups have fought for their own rights leading to clash at several places.

The 77-year-old professor said that the management of commons is applicable in forests, fisheries and the irrigation system by local people leads to better outcomes than management by the state alone. “When local users have a right to harvest from commons they are more likely to monitor and sanction those who break rules leading to better resource conditions.”

Ostrom also said that the global warming threat is not myth but it is real. “Given the more area related to coastal region in India, the country is highly vulnerable,” she emphasised.