Collective management of environmental commons with multiple usages: a guaranteed viability approach

TL;DR

This paper presents a viability theory-based approach for managing environmental commons with multiple usages, ensuring sustainable states despite conflicting stakeholder interests, demonstrated through a lake eutrophication case study.

Contribution

It introduces a guaranteed viability kernel concept for managing commons with multiple conflicting models, advancing collective environmental management strategies.

Findings

Viability approach ensures sustainable commons states.

Method handles conflicting stakeholder models.

Application to lake eutrophication demonstrates effectiveness.

Abstract

In this paper we address the collective management of environmental commons with multiple usages in the framework of the mathematical viability theory. We consider that the stakeholders can derive from the study of their own socioeconomic problem the variables describing their different usages of the commons and its evolution, and a representation of the desirable states for the commons. We then consider the guaranteed viability kernel, subset of the set of desirable states where it is possible to maintain the state of the commons even when its evolution is represented by several conflicting models. This approach is illustrated on a problem of lake eutrophication.