
Tragedy of the Commons: a visualization - yummyfajitas
http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_archive/zimbabwe/landreform
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barrkel
These don't look like they were taken at the same time of the year, at least
with respect to whatever rainy seasons apply. The first image has what appear
to be blue lakes, while the second doesn't. The contrast in the first image
seems to be lower than the contrast in the second; this makes the second's
green areas seem more verdant, while its dry areas (including those lakes)
seem more dry.

It certainly isn't a convincing visualization of what it purports to describe,
to me at least.

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viggity
The author states that the dams that formed the lakes collapsed once under
communal control => they look a different color because there is no water in
them.

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rmorrison
Is this article a joke?

In order to make this conclusion, they'd need to isolate the land reform
variable and show that the reforms were the cause. Give the deterioration of
Zimbabwe's economy and government since 2000, I'd think this is impossible.

In 2000, inflation in Zimbabwe was a measly 55%. In July of 2008, it was
231,150,888.87%. Now, who knows the date of the Google Maps pictures that
they're using, but things started getting bad soon after 2000.

(figures from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_Zimbabwe>)

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sh1mmer
I think this may not be a "fair" example (are any). There have been severe
criticisms of Mugabe for a number of things including cronyism.

A lot of the media reports I read in Britain suggested much of the land didn't
in fact become common land, but actually was handed over to Mugabe supporters,
particularly ex-paramilitaries.

While I'm not going to dispute that commercial farming by a smaller number of
individuals was more productive, it may not be entirely fair to attribute this
to a tragedy of the commons.

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ithkuil
I don't know about your, but I have the impression that the whole photograph
changes only in color balance (a 'sepia' filter?).

the right part seems less green because it contains more green. If you look
carefully on the left side, you will see that it's less green too.

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yummyfajitas
Seeing as entire lakes have dried up, I really doubt it's just color balance.

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barrkel
Did Mugabe stop the rain from falling, or turn up the volume of the sun shine?
It seems a bit of a leap, to be frank; my guess is that those lake beds are
dry for much if not most of the year, and only fill up during or after a rainy
season.

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pmjordan
Those lakes are almost certainly not natural, but created by dams. The dams in
that part of the world tend to be quite simple and need frequent maintenance.
It's easily conceivable that they fell into disrepair and drained.

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dmlorenzetti
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I lived in Botswana for a while in the 1980s. My
village was right on the border with South Africa. Aerial photos show a
dramatic "step function" in how green each side of the border is (even during
the dry season). I always heard the difference attributed to the free-ranging
of goats and cows in Botswana, versus managed livestock in South Africa. From
my experience (the goats are everywhere), may be.

There also may have been large effects from burning wood on the Botswana side,
versus gas cylinders in RSA, but that was outside my direct experience.

I believe the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic shows a similar
effect.

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TorKlingberg
This shows a particular farm. Is it representative?

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URSpider94
Besides illustrating the Tragedy of the Commons, this is visual proof that,
dare I say it, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

