1. Sustainable use of Natural Resources
Victoria Robinson

2. Structure of this unit Part 1: Population & Consumerism
The history of human resource use
Extraction of resources
Trade & Consumption
Part 2: The Plastics Revolution
The rise of convenience
Plastics and the ocean
Part 3: Towards Sustainable resource use
The 3 R’s
Food security
Energy
Water supply

3. Introduction
Natural resources are the basis of all living beings on our planet:
Useful raw materials which cannot be human-made
Used and modified for human benefit
Necessary for economy & society to function
Electricity, heat, construction materials, drinking water, food, clothing etc.

4. Natural Resources

5. History of human resource use
Material base of societies and economic systems
Dramatic changes in per capita resource use
Inhabitants of industrial society
4-8x more resources than in agricultural societies
15-30x more resources than hunter-gather societies
Global ecosystems cannot keep up with demand

7. Extraction of resources
Natural resource use is increasing
60 billion tonnes a year
50% more than 30 years ago
Almost half of global extraction takes place in Asia
Followed by North America (20%)
Then Europe & Latin America (13% each)
Large variations exist in resource extraction per capita
Australian inhabitant extracts 10x more than inhabitant of Asia or Africa

10. Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia & China
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, USA
Figure 6: Global resource extraction, by major groups of resources and regions (OECD, 2008) (source: OECD,2008; based on Giljum et al., 2008)

11. Trends in resource extraction
Friends of the Earth Europe (2009): Overconsumption

12. Trade in Resources World trade accelerates resource extraction
Local resources linked to global demand

13. What world regions export (2006)
Friends of the Earth Europe (2009): Overconsumption

14. Consumption
Friends of the Earth Europe (2009): Overconsumption