Should stewardship of natural resources be entrusted to "private enterprise or government"?

Question

If in the case of the Murray Darling Basin, Australia's food bowl, what will happen if we continue with the poor stewardship by government. Can we avert a system collapse, or should we continue to suck the guts out of this system through generating more business cases for managing it more sustainably?

Answer 1

Private enterprise would exploit it for capital gain to the point of ruining it. Example: Forest land in Oregon or Washington protected by the government. Some logging takes place to thin the weaker growth from the stronger and letting the forest thrive. Or Forest land in Oregon or Washingon entrusted to a corporation whose whole purpose for existance is to make money. They clear cut the forest because they get money for every tree that is logged. The brush under the canopy of the forest dies, the animals die or move to a harsher place to live and we have an ugly bare hill for our children to look at and fight rain and water errosion on because some greedy gus wanted to make more money than he was entitled to. In flatter terrain a contractor may come in after the logging and plant houses instead of trees. Trees make oxygen. No trees not oxygen. We need oxygen to live. Without it we die. Take your pick.

So far the government has done a pretty good job managing our forest land. For now I would say let them keep it up.

Answer 2

Private enterprise. Govt. always finds a way to mess things up because they really can't be held accountable for anything. In other words they don't care too much about quality of work because they always know that no matter what tax revenue will always be coming in no matter what. Private enterprise has to always work hard, has to always be competitive, has to listen to public opinion, & has to make sure that they maintain a steady supply of natural resources or else they will go out of business.

Answer 3

The government needs to set standards for private enterprises with a timeline for them to comply by whatever means they wish. If they don't comply they will face severe economic repercussions. That balances both interests nicely and gets the job done.

Answer 4

private enterprises, because if you do not use said resource, then why should you have to pay for it in the form of taxes?

Answer 5

Neither one it should be the decision of the legal Citizen Majority!

Answer 6

private enterprise, the government is full of waste, bureaucracy always fails!