GEOG1016 Topic1 Resources 2015 Handout Colour

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies
Guidelines on the use of the pdf files of lecture handouts:
(1) The files shall only be used by registered students of the course for learning purpose only.
(2) The files must not be transmitted in any form to any third parties who are not registered students of the course.
(3) The copyrights of all the texts and illustrations in the files must be strictly observed, and they must not be copied or used in any way outside the realm of normal learning use.
(4) If you breach the above conditions, you will be liable for the legal and other related consequences.
(5) The action of downloading the files signifies your acceptance of the above guidelines and your promise that you will abide by them.

GEOG1016
Nature Conservation for
Sustainable Societies
Professor C Y Jim
Department of Geography
The University of Hong Kong
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

1

AN OVERVIEW OF NATURAL
RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION
ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
QUALITY OF LIFE
NATURE OF RESOURCES
CLASSIFICATION OF
RESOURCES
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

2

1

INTRODUCTION
Human versus resources
 a resource
 humans give an object or a material a use, a function, a value

 a dynamic concept
 changes through time and space
 human appraisal
 consensus
 cultural difference
 technology-dependent
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

3

Resource

 opportunities and limitations
technological constraints
ecological constraints
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

4

2

Before the
Industrial Revolution
 before ~1750
 small human population (c. 500 million)
 little resource shortage problem
 low-impact culture
resource-frugal culture
close to nature
follow nature’s way

 cowboy mentality (perception)
unlimited frontiers

unexplored lands
“unlimited” resources
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

5

The Industrial Revolution
 technological advances
 around 1750 in Europe
 Invention of machines and factories

 animate to non-animate energy
 increased productivity
 rural to urban migration
 uneven distribution of wealth

 growing affluence
 increasing demands on resources
 resource-intensive culture
 resource-profligate culture
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

6

3

World GDP/capita in 1-2003 AD

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

7

Relative share of world manufacturing output
1750-1900

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

8

4

Transition in world manufacturing output

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

9

Relative share of world manufacturing output
1970-2010

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

10

5

Growth of world industrial production
2010-2011

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

11

Large-scale factory production

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

12

6

Large-scale waste production

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

13

A continuum of attitudes
traditional to industrialized
cultural difference
 influence of recent environmental problems

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

14

7

ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
The world is in a mess
 key environmental problems
 symptoms (not causes) of the planet’s crisis

 population-environmental crisis  population versus sustainability GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

15

Uniqueness of the human species
 self-awareness
 knows the consequences of our actions
 clever or wise?
 yet paradoxically continues to foul our own nest
 “Its an ill bird that fouls its own nest” (English proverb)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

16

8

Root cause of the crisis
Population explosion (population bomb)
increase at 1.7% per annum
by net of 2.9 persons per second
(5 births – 2 deaths)
by 174 persons per minute
by 10,400 per hour
by 250,000 per day
by 1.7 million per week
by 7 million per month
by 90 million per year
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

17

World population growth history

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

18

9

World population growth:
Milestone years

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

19

Population growth rate and doubling time GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

20

10

Demographic constant and population doubling time
Demographic constant = 70
(Rule of 70 for exponential growth)
70/Growth rate% = Doubling year
 70/0.5% = 140 years
 70/1.7% = 41 years
 70/2.5% = 28 years
 70/7.0% = 10 years

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

21

Trend in world population growth rate

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

22

11

World population doubling time: By countries

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

23

World population growth:
Fertility scenarios

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

24

12

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

25

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

26

13

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

27

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

28

14

Global population distribution

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

29

Global population density

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

30

15

Countries with large population in 2010

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

31

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

32

16

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

33

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

34

17

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

35

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

36

18

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

37

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

38

19

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

39

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

40

20

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

41

Rural-urban migration

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

42

21

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

43

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

44

22

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

45

Demographic transition

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

46

23

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

47

World population pyramid and trend GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

48

24

Hong Kong population pyramid and trend

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

49

Distribution of population growth in developing and developed regions

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

50

25

Excessive consumption and depletion of resources
 people’s resource needs, aspiration and expectation
 developed versus developing economies
 per capita consumption or resource demand
 USA 5% global population consumes 30% world’s resources

 intensive people-resource interactions

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

51

Pollution
destructive technologies

effluent of affluent nations
variety and volume of pollutants
tragedy of the commons
environment both source (resources) and sink (wastes)
 increasingly serious and pervasive pollution
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

52

26

Population growth and carrying capacity

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

53

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

54

27

Ecological footprint
 Measure of human demands on Earth’s ecosystems
 Demand on natural capital
 Amount of biological productive land and sea to satisfy the resource consumption of human population
and to assimilate the associated waste
 2007: aggregate human ecological footprint = 1.5 plant
Earths)
 Humanity uses ecological services 1.5 times as quickly as
Earth can renew them
 ecological overshoot: human demands on ecosystem exceeds capacity to regenerate resources and absorb wastes
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

55

Global hectare (gha)
 Common unit to quantify biocapacity of the Earth
 1 gha = average productivity of biological productive areas in a given year
 Including croplands, forests, fishing ground
 Excluding deserts, glaciers and open ocean
 The Earth has ~ 11.2 billion gha (1/4 of Earth surface)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

56

28

Global hectare per capita (gha/capita)
 Amount of gha available to each person on Earth
 Highly uneven distribution:
 World average: 1.6 gha/capita
 India: 0.89 gha/capita
 Africa (average): 1.37 gha/capita
 China: 2.0 gha/capita
 UK: 5.33 gha/capita
 Australia: 7.8 gha/capita
 USA 9.42 gha/capita
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

57

Global resource extraction

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

58

29

World gha/capita in 2008
59

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

World gha/capita in 2007
(countries by quintile of smallness of footprint)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

60

30

Ecological footprint: gha/ha

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

61

Countries with high gha/capita and main causes

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

62

31

Carbon footprint of electricity generation

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

63

Countries with high and low gha/capita

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

64

32

Ecological footprint and biocapacity by region in 2000

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

65

Increase in ecological footprint by land use

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

66

33

Used biocapacity of the world
(average 151% in 2007)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

67

World ecological footprint overshoot

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

68

34

Ecological footprint

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

69

Impact on other species

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

70

35

Global warming

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

71

Global warming

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

72

36

Global warming
Thousands of metric tons of CO2 emission in March 2006

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

73

Changing public attitude
 recognized as our problem, not someone else’s
 increasing understanding, interest and concern about the environment
 solutions hinge on people’s attitude, value and expectation GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

74

37

United Nations Human Development Index (HDI)
Long and healthy life
Life expectancy at birth
Access to knowledge

Mean years of schooling
Expected years of schooling
Decent standard of living
Gross national income (GNI) per capita
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

75

Ecological footprint and human welfare

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

76

38

Ecological footprint and human welfare

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

77

Food productivity and civilization level
(labour productivity isocline)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

78

39

United Nations Human Development Index

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

79

Gross domestic product (GDP) versus
Genuine progress indicator (GPI)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

80

40

Recent enlightened views
finite world
limited sink
limit to growth
spaceship earth
balancing economic and ecological considerations changing resource ethics
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

81

QUALITY OF LIFE
Common yardsticks
population size

food supply and quality
industrial production
pollution
social attitude
sustainability of the current path
limit to growth
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

82

41

World income distribution

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

83

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

84

42

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

85

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

86

43

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

87

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

88

44

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

89

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

90

45

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

91

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

92

46

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

93

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

94

47

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

95

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

96

48

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

97

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

98

49

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

99

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

100

50

World food production versus population growth

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

101

World hunger

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

102

51

World undernourished population

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

103

World health

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

104

52

World poverty:
People living on <US$1.00 per day

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

105

Vicious cycle of poverty

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

106

53

Optimistic school
 faith in technology and human ingenuity
 solution to resource and environmental problems

 necessity is the mother of invention
 endless options
 promises

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

107

brink of technological revolution
reactions to shortage
changing pattern of demand and supply
allocation of resources

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

108

54

price increase stimulates
 technological innovations
 use of low grade materials
 discovery of new resources
 substitutes

cheap energy (energy costs)
 reduce unit cost of exploitation

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

109

Scarcity-development cycle GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

110

55

Pessimistic (realistic?) school
 technology unable to solve problems
 inadequate time to respond and adjust
 too little, too late

 exponential population growth (J-curve)
 overwhelming environmental problems
 rapid resource depletion rate

J

S

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

111

population rise and expectation
 resource depletion
 overloaded sink

 Earth system exhaustion
 massive starvation and population reduction  collapse of society

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

112

56

Moderate school
 = pragmatic and realistic attitude
 advocate a fundamental shift
 still enough time
 spendthrift to sustainable society
 live within Earth’s limits
 meet our present needs without preventing future generations and other species from meeting their needs GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

113

suggested solutions
new value on living standard
new economic order
'open' to 'closed' stock perception
cowboy to spaceship mentality
a value to the sink (receiver of pollutants)

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

114

57

strategies for a sustainable society
conservation
recycling
renewable resource use
restoration of damages
population control and management
adaptability to changes

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

115

New/alternative lifestyle
 ecologically sound
 not ecologically suicidal
 requires imagination and inspiration
 demands leadership at all levels
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

116

58

One Earth Value:
Sustainable lifestyle that respects nature

Live within Earth’s limit
1. Zero Energy
2. Carbon Neutral
3. Water Balance
4. Materials Balance
5. Zero Waste

6. Land Balance
7. Visionary
8. Resilience
9. Prosperity
10. Happiness
11. Beauty
12. Health
GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

117

The end
Please help to protect the world’s natural heritage

GEOG1016 Nature Conservation for Sustainable Societies / Professor C Y Jim

118

59