Wastelands Ordinance
Encyclopedia
The Cultivation of Wastelands Ordinance, also known as a Wastelands Ordinance, is an ordinance that presumes that, in a given area, there exists the problem referred to as a tragedy of the commons
. This phrase has been most frequently used by nobles hoping to be able to convince the population that it would be better for a local economy if they were allowed to lay claim to a given piece of land (for private use), thereby implying that this would "correct" the situation, making the land thus claimed yield more produce. From roughly 1982 onward, however, a body of research has been emerging that suggests that the claimed productivity gains were mostly imaginary, and the only effect it had was that it enriched the new land-owners. This was argued to apply even more to lands under cultivation by so-called 'native populations', and as such this ordinance was invented to allow the colonial power to 'legally' annex the land.
Historically, the wastelands ordinance has most often been used to claim lands from natives, for use by a colonial or occupying power, most notably the British
in Sri Lanka
.
Tragedy of the commons
The tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this...
. This phrase has been most frequently used by nobles hoping to be able to convince the population that it would be better for a local economy if they were allowed to lay claim to a given piece of land (for private use), thereby implying that this would "correct" the situation, making the land thus claimed yield more produce. From roughly 1982 onward, however, a body of research has been emerging that suggests that the claimed productivity gains were mostly imaginary, and the only effect it had was that it enriched the new land-owners. This was argued to apply even more to lands under cultivation by so-called 'native populations', and as such this ordinance was invented to allow the colonial power to 'legally' annex the land.
Historically, the wastelands ordinance has most often been used to claim lands from natives, for use by a colonial or occupying power, most notably the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.