Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island,...

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Autores principales:	Robert J. DiNapoli, Carl P. Lipo, Terry L. Hunt
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	archaeology collapse Polynesia resilience tragedy of the commons Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/74174267ae744652bcc1c714fba58b5b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:74174267ae744652bcc1c714fba58b5b2021-11-11T19:44:54ZTriumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)10.3390/su1321121182071-1050https://doaj.org/article/74174267ae744652bcc1c714fba58b5b2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12118https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island, 20th-century scholars recast this narrative as a “tragedy of the commons,” assuming that past populations were unsustainable and selfishly overexploited the limited resources on the island. This narrative, however, is now at odds with a range of archaeological, ethnohistoric, and environmental evidence. Here, we argue that while Rapa Nui did experience large-scale deforestation and ecological changes, these must be contextualized given past land-use practices on the island. We provide a synthesis of this evidence, showing that Rapa Nui populations were sustainable and avoided a tragedy of the commons through a variety of community practices. We discuss this evidence in the context of Elinor Ostrom’s “core design principles” for sustainable communities and argue that Rapa Nui provides a model for long-term sustainability.Robert J. DiNapoliCarl P. LipoTerry L. HuntMDPI AGarticlearchaeologycollapsePolynesiaresiliencetragedy of the commonsEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12118, p 12118 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	archaeology collapse Polynesia resilience tragedy of the commons Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	archaeology collapse Polynesia resilience tragedy of the commons Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Robert J. DiNapoli Carl P. Lipo Terry L. Hunt Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
description	The history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has long been framed as a parable for how societies can fail catastrophically due to the selfish actions of individuals and a failure to wisely manage common-pool resources. While originating in the interpretations made by 18th-century visitors to the island, 20th-century scholars recast this narrative as a “tragedy of the commons,” assuming that past populations were unsustainable and selfishly overexploited the limited resources on the island. This narrative, however, is now at odds with a range of archaeological, ethnohistoric, and environmental evidence. Here, we argue that while Rapa Nui did experience large-scale deforestation and ecological changes, these must be contextualized given past land-use practices on the island. We provide a synthesis of this evidence, showing that Rapa Nui populations were sustainable and avoided a tragedy of the commons through a variety of community practices. We discuss this evidence in the context of Elinor Ostrom’s “core design principles” for sustainable communities and argue that Rapa Nui provides a model for long-term sustainability.
format	article
author	Robert J. DiNapoli Carl P. Lipo Terry L. Hunt
author_facet	Robert J. DiNapoli Carl P. Lipo Terry L. Hunt
author_sort	Robert J. DiNapoli
title	Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
title_short	Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
title_full	Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
title_fullStr	Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
title_full_unstemmed	Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
title_sort	triumph of the commons: sustainable community practices on rapa nui (easter island)
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/74174267ae744652bcc1c714fba58b5b
work_keys_str_mv	AT robertjdinapoli triumphofthecommonssustainablecommunitypracticesonrapanuieasterisland AT carlplipo triumphofthecommonssustainablecommunitypracticesonrapanuieasterisland AT terrylhunt triumphofthecommonssustainablecommunitypracticesonrapanuieasterisland
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Triumph of the Commons: Sustainable Community Practices on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

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