All solutions to environmental problems depend on the imposition of private, common, or public-property rights in natural resources. Who should own the resources: private individuals, private groups of "stakeholders", or the entire society (the public)? Contrary to much of the literature in this field, this book argues that no single property regime works best in all circumstances. Environmental protection requires the use of multiple property regimes--including admixtures of private, common, and public-property systems.

First book to systematically compare the utility and limitations of a variety of property regimes for environmental protection
Focuses on the institutional and technological factors that constrain both environmental protection and the imposition of property rights
Provides a basis for understanding why societies rely on multiple property regimes for environmental protection