ABSTRACT
Institutions are shared rules and behaviors that regulate the use of natural resources. They reduce environmental degradation that results when individuals use resources selfishly. There is widespread debate about how to define and facilitate institutions. Economists see institutions as rules governing the rational, market-based, exploitation of resources. Sociologists and anthropologists, however, define institutions more broadly, including in traditional or cultural terms. This chapter summarizes the meanings and uses of institutions for natural resource management, and how the different forms of institutions can be used at different spatial scales for global environmental problems such as climate change.
