Global Resource Consumption and Security

Concepts

Poverty

  • Difficult to define
  • Poverty line: used by government to determine the minimum level of income required to secure the necessities in life
  • Extreme poverty threshold = US$1.90

Middle Class: households with per capita incomes between $10-$100 per person per day

Resources: useful to humans, varies across society and time

  • Natural: naturally occurring material that a society perceives as useful to economic/social well-being
  • Renewable: materials that quickly replenish themselves to be used again and again
  • Non-renewable: finite materials that cannot be reused or replaced as they take too long to grow and reform

Ecological Footprint: theoretical measurement of the amount of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes, and to absorb its waste under prevailing technology

Biocapacity: ecosystem's capacity to produce resources that are used by people and absorb waste materials produced by humans, assuming current technology and management systems


  • Carbon Footprint
  • Croplands
  • Grazing lands
  • Forests
  • Oceans
  • Built-up land

Biocapacity Debtor Country: ecological footprint of pop > biocapacity of area


Ecological deficit

  • Import biocapacity through trade
  • Overuse ecological assets
  • Emit CO2 waste

Biocapacity deficit

  • High resource consumption
  • Large population relative to area

Biocapacity Creditor Country: biocapacity of area > population's ecological footprint

  • Large area compared to population
  • Low economic development = low resource consumption

Advantages

  • Monitor and manage resources to secure their future
  • Measure progress towards goals
  • Set policies informed by ecological reality

Disadvantages

  • Difficult to measure/obtain statistics
  • Different countries have different measures = cannot compare
  • Wetlands and rivers excluded due to lack of data

Water Water Cycle

Types of Water

Blue: precipitation that has collected in lakes, rivers and groundwater, and is stored and available for human use until it flow to the ocean or evaporates

  • Can be extracted, piped, drunk
  • Household, industrial, agriculture, recreation, power generation

Grey: wastewater produced by agricultural, manufacturing, household, service activities

Black: wastewater containing faecal contamination

  • Cannot be reused

Green: precipitation that has fallen = stored temporarily as surface, soil moisture, in plants as they grow, before being released back into the atmosphere

  • Cannot be managed, piped, drunk
  • 60% of precipitation
  • For food production

Water Scarcity

Types

Physical: >75% of river flows withdrawn for industrial, agriculture, domestic uses

  • Approaching/exceeded sustainable levels
  • Availability of water to demand --> if there is no demand = no scarcity
  • Australia, South Africa, Middle East

Economic: <25% water drawn for human use

  • Water resources are abundant compared to use
  • Limited by human, institutional, financial capital = water is not available
  • Sub-saharan Africa, Asia, South America

Factors

Environmental

Climate

  • Seasonal rainfall: availability of rainfall only during certain months (India = 90% during monsoon)
  • Low rainfall: Australia (moderate of 455mm, unreliable)
  • High Temperature: high evapotranspiration (Gaza, 61% lost)

(Geology) Aquifers: 50% of world's drinking/agricultural water

  • Overexploitation: fall of water table = cuts supply of water (China: rice production decreased from 140M tonnes in 1997 to 127 in 2005)
  • Contamination: sea water, sewage (Gaza, seawater detected 1.5km inland)

Natural Hazards

  • Earthquake: damage water pipes
  • Tsunami: contaminates water
  • Tohoku 2011 = damage water supply facilities in 187 cities, 2.25m households

Human

Population Growth

  • Shijiazhuang: population increase to 2.3m = overextraction of groundwater

Income

  • Affluence: lifestyle consumes more water
  • Low income: cannot build water infrastructure/afford water (Gaza: $1.20/cubic metre despite low income = 10,000 without access)

Pollution: introduction of garbage, chemicals or wastewater without proper regulation

  • Ganges, India: leather industries = 400m living along polluted river

Conflict

  • Shared rivers (Mekong, China dams = flooding, water shortage)
  • Shared aquifers (Israel consume 86% of aquifer shared with Palestine, pollutes it)
  • War (Gaza: 30km of infrastructure destroyed by Israel, 11 wells inoperable)

Embedded Water: quantity of water used in the entire process of producing, selling and consuming a product

  • Varies by: product, country, type of water used
  • Maximise green water use, top up with blue water irrigation
  • Traded together with goods

Food

  • Costly: dairy, meat
  • Cheaper: roots, tubers

Energy

Organisations

Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

  • Coordinate and unify petroleum policies
  • Secure fair and stable prices for producers
  • Ensure efficient, economic and regular supply to consuming nations
  • Ensure fair return on capital for those who invest in the industry
  • Owned 79.4% of oil reserves in 2018

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

  • Demographic system of government
  • Principle of free economy
  • Usually higher GDP

Sources

Fossil Fuels: non-renewable, created by anaerobic decomposition of buried, dead organisms

  • Coal, oil, natural gas (cleanest)

Advantages

  • Large amounts of energy
  • Cheap
  • Pipelines to transport oil and gas
  • Structures and processes for extraction already in place and mature

Disadvantages

  • Finite
  • GHG
  • SO2 = breathing problems, acid rain

Solar: light converted to chemical

  • SG Green Plan: 20% of schools carbon-neutral

Advantages

  • Potential in sunny areas
  • Available for all
  • Pollution-free
  • Good for low-power us
  • Cheap, excluding installation

Disadvantages

  • High initial costs (solar panels)
  • Less effective if cloudy
  • Less effective for high power (cannot control intensity of radiation)

Geothermal: energy from hot rocks and water beneath the earth's surface

Advantages

  • Cheap
  • Pollution-free
  • Water can be reused
  • Potential to operate 24/7/365

Disadvantages

  • Saline groundwater
  • Restricted to areas with suitable geology (tectonically active)
  • Maximum 25 years of use

Biofuels: from biomass

Wind Power: using wind turbines

Advantages

  • Clean
  • Renewable
  • Cheap to produce
  • Land below can have other uses

Disadvantages

  • Unreliable
  • Visual pollution
  • Noise pollution

Types

Biodiesel: vegetables, used cooking oil

  • Additive to other fuels = reduce pollution by diesel vehicles

Solid Biofuels

  • Require boilers
  • Used on power stations, heating systems

Advantages

  • Cheap
  • Renewable
  • Stable prices compared to oil
  • Secure supplies
  • Carbon neutral

Bioethanol: ferment sugar from plants (maize)

  • Add to petrol to improve emissions
  • Brazil, USA

Disadvantages

  • GHG
  • Increases food prices
  • Deforestation
  • Food shortage

Hydropower: fast running water

Advantages

  • Pollution-free
  • Low maintenance, operation costs
  • Reservoirs can be used for recreation
  • Large amount of energy

Disadvantages

  • Expensive
  • Dam construction risks (3 Gorges, China = silt deposition, flood, landslides)

Nuclear: fission of uranium atoms

Advantages

  • Cheaper than FF
  • Fewer raw materials
  • Less GHG
  • Waste stored safely underground

Disadvantages

  • Radioactive waste (terrorist, accident, cancer, weapon)
  • Costly to build power plants

Resource Security

Water-Energy-Food Nexus

  • Collision of systems creating a more complex set of relationships, challenges and opportunities

Food-Water

  • Crop irrigation
  • Fertilisers, pesticides pollute water

Water-Energy

  • Water to cool power plants

Energy-Food

  • Green revolution
  • Fertiliser production
  • Processing
  • Livestock transport

Case Studies

Singapore

Water

  • Diversified: imported, local catchment, NEWater, desalination
  • 141L per person per day
  • Rainfall increased by 67mm/decade since 1980 = more supply
  • Water Conservation Awareness Programme: water saving tips and devices (5% drop in monthly, 165L/person to 141L fr. 2013-2019)

Food

  • 90% imported
  • Diversified: 170 sources
  • Only 1% of land suitable for local production = buffer supply
  • 2600kcal to 2470kcal from 2010 to 2018
  • CC = increased cost of imports, changes pH of water --> fish
  • Funding for rooftop/vertical farming
  • Encourage home-farming by distributing seeds
  • Invest in indoor farming = less affected by CC

Energy

  • 27% reserve margins, 0.25 minute interruption
  • 8361kWh/capita/year
  • 95% natural gas, rest coal, oil, solar, municipal waste
  • Imported electricity (Laos, Malaysia, Thailand)
  • Emerging energy-intensive data sectors
  • Solar target = 2GWp by 2030
  • EMA: invest in energy efficient, competitive technology
  • Low carbon solutions (carbon capture, hydrogen)

Nigeria

Water

  • Economic water scarcity: Only 19% of 56 trillion gallons of surface water used
  • Rivers polluted by metals, pesticides
  • 34.9L per person per day --> costs 7% of monthly income
  • Droughts = less water in aquifers, rivers

Govt, WaterAid

  • National Plan: increase technical capacity of water storage
  • WASH Fund: align resources with expenditure to attain SDG for water and sanitation by 2030

Energy

  • 60% electrification = 1.6M households without
  • Coal, petroleum, natural gas, peat, hydropower, solar, wind
  • 123kWh/capita/year
  • Gas supply constraints --> pipeline vandalism (potential 30% increase)
  • Drying of Lake Chad, Niger River
  • World Bank: $486M to upgrade and expand electricity transmission network
  • Nigeria Electrification Project: renewable energy for offgrid communities
  • National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy: diversify, incentivise, promote research

Food

  • Net food importer = $10B annually
  • Subsistence, local: yam, cassava, maize
  • Neglect food production to export oil
  • Boko Haram conflicts = increased prices, lower purchasing power
  • Extreme weather events, low tech = soil degradation, low yields

Government

  • Climate resilient seeds/higher yield, nutritional value
  • Training on food production practices

  • Fertilisers for small-scale farmers


  • Rural Poor Stimulus Facility: $US900,000 for rural, small farmers

Waste

Case Study: Singapore

Waste Reduction: efforts taken to reduce the generation of waste through recycling or reuse

Innovative technology to reduce waste

Work with Industries

  • IKEA: no plastic bags
  • GRABFOOD: option to not take plastic cutlery

Recycling: processing of industrial and household waste so it can be reused

Encourage participation

  • Programmes, publicity, recognition

Develop the market

  • Improve the quality of recycled products

Infrastructural Support

  • Bins and facilities
  • Convenient to recycle

Substitution: use of common and less valuable resources instead of rare, more expensive resources

  • Copper --> aluminium
  • Styrofoam --> cardboard
  • Fossil --> renewable

Green Plan 2002

  • Change from oil to natural gas (95.5% in 2015)

Conservation: management of human use of natural resources

Water Efficient Homes (2003)

  • Help residents save water = cut bills

Mandatory WELS (2009)

  • Grading system of 0-3 ticks
  • Reflects water efficiency

E-Waste: all electrical/electronic equipment and its parts that have been discarded without the intention of reuse

Problems

High Volume

  • Rapid obsolescence
  • Higher income = demand newest

Complexity

  • Different materials mixed = difficult to separate
  • Toxic materials contaminate others

Financial Incentives (Lack)

  • Not enough value to cover the costs of responsible recycling
  • Burn/discard instead
  • Send to low-income countries

Lack of Regulations

  • Not responsibly recycled
  • Labourers not protected

Labour Issues

  • Lack labour standards, rights
  • Not properly compensated
  • Occupational exposure

Toxic Design

  • Heavy metals, plastics
  • Health and environmental issues when burnt

Movement

From NA, Europe

  • Expensive to recycle
  • Avoid disposal responsibilities
  • Exploit the environmental consciousness of citizens

To Africa, Asia

  • Lack of jobs for locals = small profits
  • Uneducated
  • Weaker environmental regulations

Case Study: Guiyu

  • 80% of population in E-waste recycling
  • Unaware of dangers

Health Problems

  • Inhale toxic fumes = lead poisoning in children
  • High level of flame retardants in blood

Highest Levels of Cancer-causing Dioxins

  • Printer Toner Recovery = carcinogens

Economic Water Scarcity

  • Acid stripping = dumped = pH 0
  • Melting circuit boards = heavy metals saturate soils

Views

Malthusian (Thomas Malthus): fixed environmental ceiling to population growth = population will exceed food supply without checks on reproduction

  • Human pop grows exponentially, food production linear
  • Positive checks: overshoot = lack of food = famine, disease, war brings population back to sustainable levels
  • Negative checks: measures before overshooting (later age of marriage)

Evidence:

  • Correlation between fluctuations in crop prices and marriage rates in rural England
  • Early 1800s = limits to agricultural productivity gains

However:

  • New lands for cultivation
  • Development of irrigation systems
  • Green revolution
  • Slowing of population growth as economy develops

Neo-Malthusian (Club of Rome):

  • Food output and population grow exponentially
  • Rapidly diminishing resource base = slowdown in industrial growth
  • Delays = population and pollution continue to increase after the peak of industrialisation
  • Insufficient food = increased death rate = halts population growth
  • Alter growth trends: sustainable environmental and economic stability

Evidence

  • Global decline in area of farmland per person
  • Steep increase in costs of food products
  • Growing scarcity of fish
  • Impact of climate change on agriculture

However

  • Does not distinguish different parts of world
  • Ignores spatial distribution of population, resources, activity, pollution
  • Does not consider the rate of discovery of new resources, technologies

Anti-Malthusian (Esther Boserup): carrying capacity (resources) will increase with human population

  • Improvement in technology will increase crop yields
  • Resource substitution will overcome depletion
  • Recycling to conserve existing resources

Evidence

  • Replacement of less efficient with more efficient resources
  • Rapid development of green technology
  • Advance in agricultural research
  • Stabilising consumption levels in some countries

Resource Stewardship: encourages a sustainable and responsible approach to managing resources that looks towards the needs of future generations rather than seeking immediate, short-term outcomes

Conservation: protecting and preserving valuable resources

Hard Conservation: preservation of a resource by prohibiting any adverse human impact

Soft Conservation: allows usage but insists there should be no wastage of the resource


New Zealand

  • Cut speed limit from 100 --> 80km/h = 20% fall in petrol consumption
  • Cars: fuel-efficient, hybrid engines, aerodynamic body shapes
  • Emission control rules
  • Solar/electric cars = cannot match petrol engines

Linear Economy: take finite natural resources and manufacture them into products for consumption = waste

Circular Economy: products and services are traded in closed loops and there is no waste

Cycles

  • Inner circle: goods with active life and high value
  • Outer circle: goods have to be broken down into constituents

Biological Cycle

  • Food, organic materials from agriculture, water
  • Renewable if consumed responsibly (not contaminated/overconsumed)
  • Production and packaging decisions: compostable

Technical Cycle

  • Non-biodegradable --> consumerables
  • Valuable metals recycled = extends resource life beyond usability of one individual
  • Less easily disassembled = expensive to recycle

Powers

Power of Circling Longer: reuse, redistribute, refurbish, remanufacture for a longer time

  • Prevents waste
  • Saves expenditure on labour, materials, investment, energy for new product

Power of the Inner Circle: maintain technical materials to prolong working lives = not discarded so often

  • Maintained/repaired more quickly = increase value by saving labour, funds, materials, energy

Power of Cascaded Use: waste from one industry is used productively in other industries

  • Cotton from clothing = fill cushions = insulation for housing = decompose to nutrients

Power of Pure Inputs: uncontaminated resources can be reused safely, maintaining the quality of products

  • Extends the life of products = reduces waste

Examples

Renault

  • Recycle car batteries = energy storage for solar panels (cascading)
  • Chemically extract metals from batteries (circling longer)
  • 30% = recycled products

Nike

  • Biodegradable shoes from recycled materials (non-toxic = pure inputs, environmentally-friendly rubber, water-based adhesives)
  • Reuse-A-Shoe programme: 32M pairs + 120M pounds of scraps
  • Plastic bottles = shirts, 30M recycled/year (cascading)
  • 75% of apparel + shoes have recycled material

Timberland + OMNI United

  • Green rubber: turn waste tyres into new materials = 42% recycled outsole
  • Circling longer, cascading

Alaska Airlines

  • Repurpose seat leather = handbags, purses, soccer boots
  • 5000 pounds recycled, 10M gallons water saved (cascading)
  • Recycle trays, used cups, toilet paper (circling longer)
  • Compost used coffee beans, food waste
  • Sustainable aviation biofuel

Sustainable Development Goals: new universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states are expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies till 2030


  • Improved on MDGs which expired in 2015
  • Did not consider the root cause of poverty
  • Overlooked gender inequality and the holistic nature of development
  • No mention of human rights and economic development explicitly
  • Targets for poorer countries financed by richer countries
  • Narrow perspectives

Goal 1: No Poverty

  • Eradicate extreme poverty for all everywhere (<$1.25/day)
  • Reduce the number of people living in poverty in all dimensions according to national definitions, by half

Efforts

  • Governments had 1600 short-term social protection measures for COVID-19
  • 118 countries reported Local Disaster Reduction Strategies in April 2021
  • ODA grants for basic social services and food aid

Progress

  • Before pandemic: Decrease in poverty from 10.1% in 2015 to 9.3% in 2017
  • Pandemic: Increase in poverty rate for the first time in 20 years

Example: Panama

  • Training to improve the entrepreneurial skills of artisans = 50% increase in income, raise prices in fashion
  • Rural tourism routes: profits for small businesses along route

Evaluation

  • Projected global poverty rate in 2030 = 7%
  • COVID + CC + Conflict = goal unachievable unless substantial policy action is taken

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

  • Achieve universal and equitable access to safe, affordable drinking water for all
  • Improve water quality (reduce pollution, eliminate dumping, minimise release of hazardous materials, half proportion of untreated wastewater)
  • Increase recycling and safe reuse globally

Progress

  • 2000-2020: using safe water, sanitation increased by 2B and 2.4B
  • 2B lack drinking water, 3.6B lack sanitation, 2.3B lack basic hygiene services in 2020
  • Global use efficiency increased from $17.3-19/mcube in 2018

Efforts

  • 2018, 2019: 109 reporting countries = laws, policies for participation of local communities in water sanitation

Evaluation

  • 129 countries not on track to meet target
  • Rate of implementation has to double globally