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Assessing Resource Depletion in LCA: a Review of Methods and Methodological Issues
Assessing resource depletion in LCA: a review of methods and methodological issues Serenella Sala www.jrc.ec.europa.eu Serving society Stimulating innovation Supporting legislation Outline Sustainability and resources Key concepts and perspectives Review on current impact assessment methodologies for Resources 27 November 2012 2 Resources and sustainability -1 One of the father of the definition of “sustainability” was Hans Carl von Carlowitz. The concept was founded in forestry and was strictly resource-based and stayed so for centuries (Carlowitz 1713, Cotta 1828). The concept was developed by foresters because timber had been excessively overused and become a very scarce resource in the process of the industrial revolution and urbanisation. Carlowitz HC (1713)Sylvicultura oeconomica, oder haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäßige Anweisung zur wilden Baum-Zucht 27 November 2012 3 Resources and sustainability _2 Around 1700, the mining industry and livelihood of thousands was threatened in Saxony. It was not that the mines had been exhausted of their ores, the problem was an acute scarcity of timber. The mining industry and smelting of ores had consumed whole forests. In the vicinity of places of mining activity the old growth forests had disappeared completely. Trees had been cut at unsustainable rates for decades without efforts to restore the forests. First, the river systems in the Erzgebirge was engineered, so logs could be transported from ever more distant forest areas, but these measures only postponed the crisis. The prices for timber rose ever more, which led to bankruptcy and closure of parts of the mining industry. 27 November 2012 4 Resources and sustainability _3 • Environmental as well as economic and social dimension • Interplay between socio-economic drivers, environmental and socio economic impacts Should resources be included in LCIA? Scientific debate For sure they should be part of the impact assessment in LCSA…. -
How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly?
4/30/2020 How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly? How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly? ••• Updated March 10, 2018 By Milton Kazmeyer While extinction of animal species is part of the natural process of evolution, the expansion of the human species has led to significant increases in the extinction rate. Because humans share ecosystems with endangered species, our quality of life and our survival is linked to them. Habitat destruction, climate change, resource depletion and other factors have increased the extinction rate by a factor of 1,000, putting substantial pressure on thousands of the most vulnerable creatures on the planet. American Bison One example of how the depletion of a species affected humans is what occurred after the American bison nearly vanished in the 19th century. Originally, the bison was a common animal on the central plains, with an estimated population of 15 million, and the Native Americans of the region depended on the animal for food, leather, fur and many https://sciencing.com/extinctions-other-creatures-affect-humans-directly-20692.html 1/11 4/30/2020 How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly? other goods vital to a nomadic lifestyle. By 1890, however, there were only a few thousand bison left in America. Tribal hunters were able to kill more of the animals with the aid of firearms, and in some cases the United States government encouraged the widespread slaughter of bison herds. The vanishing species forced tribes dependent on the animal to move to new lands in search of food, and eventually those tribes could no longer support themselves and had to deal with the United States government for survival. -
Plight, Plunder, and Political Ecology
1 Plight, Plunder, and Political Ecology CIVIL STRIFE in the developing world represents perhaps the greatest international security challenge of the early twenty-first century.1 Three-quarters of all wars since 1945 have been within countries rather than between them, and the vast majority of these conflicts have oc curred in the world’s poorest nations.2 Wars and other violent conflicts have killed some 40 million people since 1945, and as many people may have died as a result of civil strife since 1980 as were killed in the First World War.3 Although the number of internal wars peaked in the early 1990s and has been declining slowly ever since, they remain a scourge on humanity. Armed conflicts have crippled the prospect for a better life in many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, by destroying essential infrastructure, deci mating social trust, encouraging human and capital flight, exacerbat ing food shortages, spreading disease, and diverting precious financial resources toward military spending.4 Compounding matters further, the damaging effects of civil strife rarely remain confined within the afflicted countries. In the past de cade alone tens of millions of refugees have spilled across borders, pro ducing significant socioeconomic and health problems in neighboring areas. Instability has also rippled outward as a consequence of cross- border incursions by rebel groups, trafficking in arms and persons, dis ruptions in trade, and damage done to the reputation of entire regions in the eyes of investors. Globally, war-torn countries have become ha vens and recruiting grounds for international terrorist networks, orga nized crime, and drug traffickers.5 Indeed, the events of September 11, 2001, illustrate how small the world has become and how vulnerable even superpowers are to rising grievances and instabilities in the de veloping world. -
Using Game Theory to Develop Sustainability Strategies in an Era
ering & ine M g a n n E a Seifi and Crowther, Ind Eng Manage 2018, 7:1 l g a i e r m t Industrial Engineering & DOI: 10.4172/2169-0316.1000240 s e u n d t n I Management ISSN: 2169-0316 Research Article Open Access Using Game Theory to Develop Sustainability Strategies in an Era of Resource Depletion Shahla Seifi and David Crowther* Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK *Corresponding author: David Crowther, Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK, Tel: +44(0)7971629198; Fax: +44(0)1332720660; E-mail: [email protected] Received date: 02 November 2017; Accepted date: 07 March 2018; Published date: 14 March 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Seifi S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Objective: Sustainability is recognized as an important objective in business planning and is of equal relevance to policy makers. It is equally accepted, almost universally, that the resources of the planet are finite and are being over consumed on an annual basis. The prognosis therefore is that resources are being depleted and competition for access to remaining resources must ensue, as countries seek to grow and develop. This will have the effect of increasing the transaction costs of business activity as they find greater difficulty in seeking restricted supply of resources. -
Evaluating the Economic Impact of Water Scarcity in a Changing World
ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22194-0 OPEN Evaluating the economic impact of water scarcity in a changing world ✉ Flannery Dolan 1 , Jonathan Lamontagne 1, Robert Link2, Mohamad Hejazi3,4, Patrick Reed 5 & Jae Edmonds 3 Water scarcity is dynamic and complex, emerging from the combined influences of climate change, basin-level water resources, and managed systems’ adaptive capacities. Beyond 1234567890():,; geophysical stressors and responses, it is critical to also consider how multi-sector, multi- scale economic teleconnections mitigate or exacerbate water shortages. Here, we contribute a global-to-basin-scale exploratory analysis of potential water scarcity impacts by linking a global human-Earth system model, a global hydrologic model, and a metric for the loss of economic surplus due to resource shortages. We find that, dependent on scenario assumptions, major hydrologic basins can experience strongly positive or strongly negative economic impacts due to global trade dynamics and market adaptations to regional scarcity. In many cases, market adaptation profoundly magnifies economic uncertainty relative to hydrologic uncertainty. Our analysis finds that impactful scenarios are often combinations of standard scenarios, showcasing that planners cannot presume drivers of uncertainty in complex adaptive systems. 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. 2 Department of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA. 3 Joint Global Change Research Institute, -
Narratives of Scarcity: Understanding the 'Global Resource Grab'
Working Paper Working Narratives of scarcity: understanding the ‘global resource grab’ Ian Scoones, Rebecca Smalley, Ruth Hall, Dzodzi Tsikata February 2014 Working Paper 076 www.future-agricultures.org Abstract Global resource scarcity has become a central policy concern, with predictions of rising populations, natural resource depletion and hunger. Resulting narratives of scarcity drive behaviour and justify actions to harness resources considered ‘under-utilised’, leading to contestations over rights and entitlements and producing new scarcities. Yet scarcity is contingent, contextual and above all political. We present an analysis of three framings – absolute scarcity, relative scarcity and political scarcity – associated with the intellectual traditions of Malthus, Ricardo and Marx, respectively. A review of 134 global and Africa-specific policy and related sources produced over the past six years demonstrates how diverse framings of scarcity – what it is, its causes and what is to be done – are evident in competing narratives that animate debates about the future of food and farming in Africa and globally. We argue that current mainstream narratives emphasise absolute and relative scarcity, while ignoring political scarcity. We suggest a more political framing of scarcity requires paying attention to how resources are distributed between different needs and uses, and so different people and social classes. This requires, we argue, a policy emphasis for land and resource issues on rights and access, and distributional issues, centred on equity and justice. Working Paper 076 2 www.future-agricultures.org 1. Introduction agribusiness and civil society material concerning agriculture, natural resources, food availability and the global land rush? We considered material that addresses Understandings of what has been called the ‘global these issues at a global level, as well as material that resource grab’ – the large-scale acquisition of land and focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. -
The Depletion of the World's Natural Resources
The Depletion of the World’s Natural Resources Is Population the Problem? FRED MAGDOFF Environmentalists and scientists often refer to the two different ends of the environmental problem as sources and sinks. Thus the environmen- tal limits to economic growth manifest themselves as either: (1) shortages in the “sources” or “taps” of raw materials/natural resources, and thus a problem of depletion, or (2) as a lack of sufficient “sinks,” to absorb wastes from industrial pollution, which “overflow” and cause harm to the environment.1 The original 1972 Limits to Growth study emphasized the problem of sources in the form of shortages of raw materials, such as fossil fuels, basic minerals, topsoil, freshwater, and forests.2 Today the focus of environmental concern has shifted more to sinks, as repre- sented by climate change, ocean acidification, and production of toxics. Nevertheless, the problem of the depletion of resources used in produc- tion remains critical, as can be seen in discussions of such issues as: declining freshwater resources, peak (crude) oil, loss of soil fertility, and shortages of crucial minerals like zinc, copper, and phosphorus. In conventional environmental analysis the issue of a shortage or depletion of natural resources has often been seen through a Malthusian lens as principally a problem of overpopulation. Thomas Malthus raised the issue in the late eighteenth century of what he saw as inevitable shortages of food in relation to population growth. This was later trans- formed by twentieth-century environmental theorists into an argument that current or future shortages of natural resources resulted from a pop- ulation explosion overshooting the carrying capacity of the earth.3 The following analysis will address the environmental problem from the source or tap end, and its relation to population growth. -
Responses to Water Scarcity: Social Adaptive Capacity and the Role of Environmental Information. a Case Study from Taõiz, Yemen
RESPONSES TO WATER SCARCITY: SOCIAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY AND THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION. A CASE STUDY FROM TAÕIZ, YEMEN. by: Yasir Mohieldeen [email protected] Occasional Paper No. 23 Water Issues Study Group School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) September 1999 1 ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of the social aspects (dynamics) of water in the highly political process of water policy formulation and implementation. A second purpose is to illustrate the potential usefulness of one type of data in the enhancement of the mutual adaptive capacity of governments and local communities in developing safe and sustainable water allocation and management practices. The type of data used were derived from remotely sensed imagery and have been integrated into geographical information systems. The data enabled rural water use to be detected in the 1980s and in the 1990s. The social dynamics of water scarcity are exceptionally complex. Societies have different abilities to cope with water deficits, which are referred to in the study as 'first order scarcity'. Ohlsson (1999) calls the ability to cope with water deficits the 'adaptive capacity' of a society. Lack of 'adaptive capacity' can be considered as a 'second order scarcity'. A recently developed framework by Turton (1999a) emphasises that it is the 'adaptive capacity' of the society that determines its water development trajectory. The experience of competing water users in the Ta'iz region of Yemen in the 1960-1996 period provides empirical evidence on a number of technical, informational and social factors which contributed to the 'closure' of a groundwater resource. -
Resource Efficiency
Resource Efficiency Issue 26 May 2011 Editorial Contents Page Report outlines global patterns of resource Think big for a resource efficient future consumption 4 Dramatic increase in resource extraction. Humanity is demanding ever greater economic productivity at a Choosing the path towards a sustainable future 5 time when natural resources, the input that feeds this productivity, What will the world be like in 2100? are dwindling. To reduce pressure on key assets, such as water, Socio-economic transformation needed to minerals, fuel and land, we must use less of them, and we need reduce resource extraction 6 to increase the efficiency and productivity of resources that we Policies to help avoid increasing resource use. do use, to achieve more output per input. Put simply, we must do Seven steps to improving resource productivity and dematerialisation 7 more with less. This thematic issue reports on research which helps Practical steps to reduce material output. guide the way to a more resource efficient society. Resource scarcity threat and eco-innovation demand EU policy response 8 Developing this society will require large-scale and widespread Plan to speed up EU’s eco-innovation. changes to how the economy functions. However, scientific, International cooperation needed to prevent depletion of resources 9 economic and social research can play an important role in Action needed to promote efficient resource use. reaching this goal, by determining current levels of consumption, Material Productivity (MP) as consumption measuring levels of efficiency, and developing new, more efficient indicator needs careful interpretation 10 technologies and processes. Furthermore, it can analyse different High-income countries favoured by MP indicator. -
Impact of Population Growth on Environmental Degradation: Case of India
Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1700 (Paper) ISSN 2222-2855 (Online) Vol.2, No.8, 2011 Impact of Population Growth on Environmental Degradation: Case of India Sarbapriya Ray (Corresponding Author) Dept. of Commerce, Shyampur Siddheswari Mahavidyalaya, University of Calcutta,West Bengal, India. Tel:+91-33-9433180744,E-mail:[email protected] Ishita Aditya Ray Dept. of Political Science, Bejoy Narayan Mahavidyalaya, Burdwan University, West Bengal, India. Tel:+91-33-9433861982, E-mail:[email protected] Received: October,21, 2011 Accepted: October,29, 2011 Published: November 4, 2011 Abstract: Rapid population growth in a country like India is threatening the environment through expansion and intensification of agriculture, uncontrolled growth of urbanization and industrialization, and destruction of natural habitats. The present paper is an attempt to study the population change and its impacts on land, forest and water and energy resources. Rapid population growth plays an important role in declining per capita agricultural land, forest and water resources. The analysis reveals that outcomes of high population growth rates are increasing population density and number of people below poverty line. Population pressure contributes to land degradation and soil erosion, thus affecting productive resource base of the economy. The increasing population numbers and growing affluence have resulted in rapid growth of energy production and consumption in India. The environmental effects like ground water and surface water contamination; air pollution and global warming are of growing concern owing to increasing consumption levels. The paper concludes with some policy reflections and emphasizes the potential importance of natural resources. Key words: Population, India, Growth, environment, degradation. -
Natural Capital Depletion: the Impact of Natural Disasters on Inclusive Growth
Munich Personal RePEc Archive Natural capital depletion: The impact of natural disasters on inclusive growth Rajapaksa, Darshana and Islam, Moinul and Managi, Shunsuke Queensland University of Technology, Kyushu University, Kyushu University March 2017 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/79277/ MPRA Paper No. 79277, posted 27 May 2017 07:49 UTC Natural capital depletion: The impact of natural disasters on inclusive growth Darshana Rajapaksa1,2, Moinul Islam1 and Shunsuke Managi1,2 1 Urban Institute, Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744, Motooka Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan 2 QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Level 8, Z Block, Gardens Point, 2 George St, Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia [email protected], [email protected] Abstract The impact of natural disasters on inclusive growth has received little attention from empirical analyses compared to the attention focused on other growth parameters. Thus, this study considers country-level panel data (108 countries over 25 years) and estimates three econometric models to explore the nexus of natural capital depletion and climate-related natural disasters. The results indicate that the impact is nonlinear: there is an inverted ‘U’ shape for small-to-medium level disasters in which natural capital depletion is increasing. The impact of natural disasters is higher when the magnitude of resource depletion is lower or higher. Similarly, trade openness, FDI and GDP growth rate are other important determinants of natural capital. This paper provides insights into how sustainable development can be pursued by means of conserving natural resources in the face of frequent climate-related disasters. -
Plight Or Plunder? Natural Resources and Civil War
PLIGHT OR PLUNDER? NATURAL RESOURCES AND CIVIL WAR Colin H. Kahl Department of Political Science University of Minnesota 2006-14 About the Matthew B. Ridgway Center The Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies at the University of Pittsburgh is dedicated to producing original and impartial analysis that informs policymakers who must confront diverse challenges to international and human security. Center programs address a range of security concerns – from the spread of terrorism and technologies of mass destruction to genocide, failed states, and the abuse of human rights in repressive regimes. The Ridgway Center is affiliated with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) and the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), both at the University of Pittsburgh. This working paper is one of several outcomes of the Ridgway Working Group on the Political Economy of International Security chaired by Peter Dombrowski, Sue Eckert and William Keller. THE NATURE OF WARFARE: NATURAL RESOURCES AND CIVIL WAR Colin H. Kahl, University of Minnesota Introduction Although the study of international security has long been fixated on war between countries, especially great powers, three-quarters of all armed conflicts since 1945 have been within countries, and the vast majority of these conflicts have occurred in the developing world (Holsti 1996). The number of civil wars peaked in the early 1990s and has been declining gradually ever since, but they remain a scourge on humanity. Indeed, as many people have died as a result of internal strife since 1980 alone as were killed in the First World War (Leitenberg 2003). Armed conflicts have also crippled the prospect for a better life in many countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, by destroying essential infrastructure, decimating social trust, encouraging human and capital flight, exacerbating food insecurity, spreading disease, and diverting precious financial resources toward military spending.