Common Property Resources (CPR)

Common Property Resources (CPR)

Subject – Governance

Context – Increasing population density can also lead to better community management of common property resources, if community property rights are adequately defined

Concept –

• Areas like rivers, forests, village ponds, water bodies, parking lots and train compartments are referred to as Common Property Resources (CPR) or Common Pool Resources in academic and governance domain.
• Common represents all natural resources used for human welfare, which are not necessarily owned by an individual or a group of individuals.
• Such resources are owned by state and state extends the ‘use right’ to the defined communities touse it to meet their needs.
• Therefore, in Common pool Resources the group may or may not have a collective claim, ownership or custodianship but may have access or ‘use rights’ to the resource.
• Two important examples of CPRs in India are Panchayat lands in villages and water or canal irrigation owned by the village communities.
• In the present era it is utmost important that we sustainably manage CPR so that our generation as well as future generations can avail of them.
• The value of a common pool resource can be reduced through overuse because the supply of the resource is not unlimited, and using more than can be replenished can result in scarcity.
  • Overuse of a common pool resource can lead to the tragedy of the commons