Caroline Lucas MEP, leader of the Green Party of England & Wales, has today congratulated the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for economics.
Elinor Ostrom, a US political scientist (1), shared the prize on the basis of her work on green economics (2).
Caroline Lucas, a Member of the European Parliament for South East England since 1999 and now the leader of the Green Party, said today:
"Elinor’s detailed research shows that indigenous people and other groups with strong local communities are best placed to protect the environment.
"Elinor’s must important work, Managing the Commons, shows that the privatisation of forests and other vital ecosystems is a severe threat to the environment.
"Elinor’s work provides vital lessons in dealing with climate change and other ecological problems.
"On behalf of the Green Party, I'd like to offer my warmest congratulations to Elinor Ostrom."
Notes
1. The Indiana University professor has commented: "I was surprised. I am a political economist, so I've spent my career at the borders between political science and economics. In many parts of the world, indigenous people have communally owned resources for a very, very long time. The community does have ownership, but individual persons do not. Then the community has to agree who has access, who can harvest, how do they harvest, who has responsibilities etc." See http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/10/2009101214395613823.html.
2. See this article on Elinor Ostrom’s importance as a green economist: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/30218?tid=14.