Dietz wins 2005 Sustainability Science Award for Science paper

Tom Dietz, lead author of the paper "The Struggle to Govern the Commons" (Science, 2003), has been recognized by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) with the 2005 Sustainability Science Award. The award is given to the authors of a scholarly contribution that makes the greatest contribution to the emerging science of ecosystem and regional sustainability through the integration of ecological and social sciences. One of the most pressing challenges facing humanity is the sustainability of important ecological, social and cultural processes in the face of changes in the forces that shape ecosystems and regions. Unprecedented directional changes in climate, human population, technology and social and economic institutions alter the structure and functioning of current ecological and social systems. The Sustainability Science Award recognizes the role that science can make in addressing these challenges. The Sustainability Science Awards Committee was impressed with this paper and with all the work that led up to it. The award will be presented at the annual ESA meeting in Montreal Aug. 8-12. Dietz co-authored the paper with Elinor Ostrom and Paul Stern.

For more information on Dr. Dietz's award winning paper, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~workshop/announce.html.