7.1 Natural resources—uses and management

• Raw materials and energy sources used by society

• Sunlight, air, water, land, rocks, ecosystems, living things

• Stock of natural resources on Earth

• Goods: fish, timber

• Services: climate regulation, flood prevention

• Terms imply particular perspective on nature

• Model for sustainable resource use

• Life-supporting services

• Water replenishment, flood/erosion protection

• Pollution mitigation, carbon sequestration

• All resources finite

• Renewable: regenerated as fast as used

• Non-renewable: cannot be regenerated

• Renewable becomes non-renewable if used beyond regeneration rate

• Aesthetic, cultural, economic, environmental

• Health, intrinsic, social, spiritual, technological

• The value of natural capital is dynamic in that it can change over time

• Include: a variety of reasons for both increases and decreases in value, along with two named examples of change over time

• Consider, e.g., coal, lithium, cobalt, whale oil, cork

• The use of natural capital needs to be managed in order to ensure sustainability

• The long-term well-being of ecosystems and humans depends on resources not being used more rapidly than they can be regenerated

• Include: examples to illustrate how ecosystems and societies could be harmed by excessive harvesting of resources and by the release of polluting waste products

• Resource security depends on the ability of societies to ensure the long-term availability of sufficient natural resources to meet demand

• Consider: the extent to which resource security in two contrasting named societies has been achieved for food or water

• The choices a society makes in using given natural resources are affected by many factors and reflect diverse perspectives

• Factors affecting such choices may include economic, sociocultural, political, environmental, geographical, technological and historical factors

• International agreements cutting GHG emissions with the aim of achieving net zero emissions changes the priority of these choices

• Consider: factors affecting the local choice of a named natural resource

• A range of different management and intervention strategies can be used to directly influence society’s use of natural capital

• Government management could include national action plans for SDGs

• Government intervention could include strategies to reduce or stop the use of certain natural capital goods and services such as taxes, fines and legislation

• For example, increasing the price of fossil fuels and carbon emission restrictions

• The SDGs provide a framework for action by all countries in global partnership for natural resources use and management

• Addresses sustainable resource management in development projects

• Surveys, audits, continued monitoring

• Different by country and region

• Baseline studies predict impacts, suggest mitigation

• Allow citizens as stakeholders in decision-making

• Resource may be renewable

• Extraction/harvesting/transport/processing may be unsustainable

• Favour short-term responses

• Undermine long-term sustainability

• Example: resource depletion

• Hinders socio-economic development

• Environmental degradation, geopolitical tensions/conflicts

• Examples: oil (OPEC), minerals (lithium, cobalt, rare earth)

• Reduce demand, increase supply, change technologies

• Increases supply, increases interdependence

• May reduce national resource security