Privatizing nature

What stands in the way of privatizing whales or the atmosphere is that enforcement of a market would require as large a bureaucracy as if the whole thing had been centralized in the first place. The privatization route has other drawbacks. Were whale-killing rights to be auctioned to the highest bidder, protectors (who would want to buy rights in order to let them go unused) would likely be unable to match the buying power of the whalers. A premium would be paid for shares in national parks by those who would rather operate strip mines or charge access might be prepared to pay a premium for the shares, whereas those who would keep the parks pristine and allow visitors free access might not.Moreover, there is no guarantee that rationality would call for a private owner of an environmental public good to preserve it or use it sustainably.