Source: Eye Ubiquitous
INTRODUCTION |
The Earth's natural resources are vital to the survival and development of the human population. However, these resources are limited by the Earth's capability to renew them. Freshwater, forests and harvesting products are renewable, provided that exploitation does not exceed regeneration. Fossil fuels and metal ores are non-renewable. Although many effects of overexploitation are felt locally, the growing interdependence of nations, and international trade in natural resources, make their demand and sustainable management a global issue. This chapter focuses on major developments in the use of renewable and non-renewable resources in Europe in the context of global trends. Available statistics to monitor changes in the use of natural resources at the global and European levels are described in Box 13A. The use of natural resources by sectors of activity are detailed in Part IV of this report (Chapters 19 to 26).
RENEWABLE RESOURCES |
Food, water, forests and wildlife are all renewable resources. For resource use to be sustainable, the consumption rate should be maintained within the capacity of the natural systems to regenerate themselves. Current rates of depletion of the Earth's stocks of renewable resources and levels of pressure imposed on their regenerative capacity by means of production and consumption might already be, in some cases, beyond this threshold.
Food |
Since 1950 global food production has increased substantially. Increases in grain outputs, seafood and livestock have outpaced population growth. This has been achieved by raising the production base and by substantially rising productivity. World grain production more than tripled between 1950 and 1990, rising from approximately 700 million tonnes to more than 1900 million tonnes. The annual average increase of 2.7 per cent was greater than that of population. Over the same period, world fish catch increased from 22 million tonnes to 100 million tonnes, more than doubling seafood availability per person from 9 to 19 kg. Today, however, there is increasing evidence of important constraints to expanding production of grain and of major sources of protein as fast as global population. The global area of available agricultural land is decreasing as a result of desertification and urbanisation. Between 1981 and 1991, global harvested area of grain dropped from 735 million hectares to 693 million hectares. After 1989, fish catch started to decline both in absolute terms and per capita. According to FAO, the ocean may not be able to sustain a level of catch greater than that reached in 1989 (FAO, 1992). The environmental impacts of modern production methods (see Chapters 22 and 24) may impose additional threats to food production in the long term.
Global figures of increasing food production also mask relevant regional differences. In the industrialised countries with relatively stable population and higher levels of income, food security is no longer a problem, although poverty in these countries still exists. In developing countries and former central-planned economies relying on imports, purchasing power is often not enough to meet food needs. In addition, emerging difficulties in expanding food outputs pose increasing concerns about whether food production increases can continue indefinitely and about the ecological and economic constraints to its growth. If predictions of global population growth between now and 2025 prove accurate and the patterns of consumption in the developed world remain unchanged, food production should increase at an annual rate of 1.4 per cent to maintain current per capita production levels; and greater increases in production are required to eliminate current undernourishment.
Statistics on the production of food compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) show an increase in production of cereals and meat between 1980 and 1990 in both Western and Eastern Europe, including the former USSR (Table 13.1). A slight decline in the production of fish and shellfish occurred in the same period in Western Europe, while an increase occurred in Eastern Europe and the former USSR. However, the capability of these countries to meet their food requirements has been uneven. Western Europe has continued to produce surpluses of cereals and meat, though it imports animal feed, while most Eastern European countries have relied on imports.
Food surpluses and deficits across world regions are compensated for by international trade. However, lack of ecological considerations in trade policies may cause increased pressure on natural resources by encouraging unsustainable levels of production in some countries and increasing dependency of countries which rely on imports. These imbalances derive from economic mechanisms and national policy interventions intended to support the income of farmers and upgrade production. International trade is driven primarily by the demand and supply of certain food products, but it is also affected by national subsidies and incentives systems. Increasing food surplus in Western Europe is a result of direct and indirect subsidies which stimulate overproduction even in the absence of demand. This leads to distortion in the price of products on the international markets, affecting the capability of emerging economies to enhance food production.
Global export of cereals as a percentage of total production declined worldwide except for Western Europe, where cereal and cereal product exports increased significantly (Table 13.2). In 1990 in Western Europe the equivalent of 30 per cent of the total production of cereals was exported. Conversely, the import of cereals and cereal products by Western European countries declined between 1980 and 1990. By contrast, the former USSR and Eastern Europe in 1990 imported over ten times more cereal products than they exported.
Global trends in the export of meat, fish and fish products increased. In Western Europe, export of fish and meat as a percentage of total fish and meat production increased respectively from 33.1 and 12.4 per cent in 1980 to 43.9 and 16.9 per cent in 1990. Export of fish and fish products as the percentage of total production increased slightly also in Eastern Europe, while export of meat declined slightly.
During the 1980s in Europe there was a general decline in the demand for cereal and cereal product imports. Imports of cereals and cereal products to both Western and Eastern Europe declined by about 20 per cent. Compared with other world regions, Western Europe is still a major importer of some food products such as meat, fish, and animal feed. While only accounting for about 15 per cent of the world imports of cereals and cereal products, Western Europe accounts for about 45 per cent of world imports of total meat and about 40 per cent of world imports of fish and fish products (FAO, 1992). By 1990 Western Europe was importing almost as much meat as it was exporting, and importing considerably more fish and fish products than it was exporting.
Trends in food production and trade reflect regional differences in environmental conditions. However, methods of production together with economic incentives may increase the imbalance between exporter and importer countries, causing adverse environmental effects. One example is the parallel nutrient accumulation and exhaustion in soil in different regions as a result of current methods of crop production (Hoogervorst, 1992). Availability of agricultural land, fertility of soils and climatic regime determine which crops can be grown, what inputs are required and what outputs are possible. International trade causes a large-scale redistribution of the worldwide stock of nutrients. Chemical fertilisers and imported fodder add large quantities of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) to the mass balance of European countries, causing build-up of these substances in the soil. In other regions, where nutrients are subtracted and not replenished, due to lack of finances, the quality and productivity of agricultural land is affected.
Water |
Globally, water use is estimated to have increased more than 35-fold over the past three centuries (L'vovich and White, 1990). Current water abstractions have been increasing at a rate of 4­8 per cent per year. Globally, water withdrawal is of the order of 3240 km3 year. Of this, agriculture accounts for 69 per cent, industry for 23 per cent and the domestic sector for 8 per cent. Total and per capita water use also varies markedly between world regions. In Europe, 700 m3 per capita is the average annual water use, which is slightly higher than the global average (Table 13.3), much lower than the 1692 m3 in North and Central America, but higher than the 526 m3 in Asia and 244 m3 in Africa. Current assessments predict a doubling of global water use by the year 2000 and a slight shift in the share that each continent demands (Figure 13.1).
Europe has only 8 per cent of the world's renewable freshwater resources but it accounts for about 15 per cent of the total world withdrawals (see Chapter 5). By coincidence, compared with the world average, Europe as a whole uses a greater proportion (15 per cent) of its renewable freshwater resources than the world average (8 per cent). These figures suggest that Europe is currently exploiting only a small portion of its renewable water resources. However, in practice the situation is rather different because the availability of good quality water can vary significantly from country to country and even within different regions in the same country. National statistics show that some European countries are already using a significant proportion of their water resources, such as Malta (130 per cent), Belgium (72 per cent), Cyprus (42 per cent), Spain (32 per cent), Italy (32 per cent), Poland (26 per cent).
A comparative analysis of the principal uses of water indicate that Europe as a whole uses over half (53 per cent) of its freshwater withdrawals for industrial purposes and 19 per cent for domestic purposes. These proportions are higher than those of North America and other industrialised regions of the world. In contrast, agricultural withdrawals stand at 26 per cent, lower than the average world use of about 70 per cent (Table 13.4).
Forests |
Exploitation of forest resources such as roundwood and other products has increased worldwide during the last two decades. Global softwood production has risen by 28 per cent and hardwood production by 54 per cent. The total world consumption of roundwood in 1988 was 2972 million m3. Consumption data show that 52 per cent of roundwood was used as industrial roundwood and 48 per cent as fuelwood. However, the share of industrial wood and fuelwood in developed countries is 82 and 18 per cent respectively, while in developing countries these proportions are reversed (UNEP, 1993).
According to the recent FAO assessment (FAO, 1992), global forest area has declined by about 6 per cent in the last 20 years. Between 1981 and 1990 the world's average tropical deforestation was 16.9 million hectares per year, which is a 50 per cent increase in deforestation on the aggregated figure for 1980. In contrast, it is estimated that over the same period there has been a 5 per cent increase of temperate and boreal forest cover (mainly due to afforestation and reforestation).
Between 1981 and 1990, the European region (excluding Iceland and the former USSR) showed a net increase in forest and wooded land of 1.9 million ha (see Chapter 23). The former USSR showed an increase of 22.6 million ha over the same period (UNEP, 1993). While deforestation is the major cause of loss of forest area in the tropical regions, in some parts of Europe forest loss and damage is caused mainly by atmospheric deposition of air pollutants and consequent increase in vulnerability to stress. However, in Russia it is now due to uncontrolled logging (see Chapter 34).
Tropical deforestation is caused by landuse changes, shifting cultivation and various forms of exploitation of forest products. Population pressure and poverty are major causes of deforestation in these regions. In developing countries, forests are often the only hope of subsistence for the increasing human population (Mather, 1990). Together with landuse shifts, another important cause of deforestation is improper land management and development of infrastructure. Large-scale projects such as hydropower plants or mining activities open up the forests by construction of roads. Exploitation for fuelwood and timber together with increasing worldwide trade of forest products are important additional factors threatening these ecological reserves.
Tropical deforestation does not directly affect the state of Europe's environment in the short term, although it does pose increasing threats to the global environment in the longer term. Forests perform a crucial ecological function for the Earth: they support a large variety of species and supply a wide range of resources; they play a crucial role in regulating the atmosphere and the climate and act as a major store of carbon; and they also contribute to soil formation and watershed protection. Loss of tropical forests is both a local and a global concern.
Because of increasing interdependence of world economies, to a certain extent, tropical deforestation is also linked with Europe's demand and supply of natural resources through economic processes. European countries contribute indirectly to deforestation in tropical regions through the use of wood and wood products from these regions. Imports of tropical hardwoods decreased from 6.8 to 3.5 million m3 between 1970 and 1990. In 1990, this constituted about 20 per cent of the total imports into Europe, North America and Japan. FAO estimates that only 6 per cent of wood harvested in developing countries enters international trade; most is used domestically (FAO, 1992).
NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES |
Minerals, oil, gas and coal are non-renewable resources: their use as materials and energy sources leads to depletion of the Earth's reserves. However, the time period during which reserves can be available can be extended by recycling or improving the efficiency of use. Eventually, limitations to the extent to which more efficient processes may expand the use of non-renewable resources stocks will be reached, requiring substitution with renewable resources and restrictions on the volume of activities that can be sustained by existing stocks.
Fossil energy |
It took roughly one million years for nature to produce the present annual worldwide consumption of fossil fuels (Gibbons et al, 1989). Worldwide consumption of energy has grown rapidly over the last decades: from 1650 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) in 1950, to 8100 million toe in 1990 (UNEP, 1992). The annual growth rate in energy consumption of 2.2 per cent at the beginning of the century has more than doubled between 1950 and 1970. After the increase of oil prices in the early 1970s, this rate has stabilised at 2.3 per cent between 1970 and 1990.
Although estimates of proved recoverable reserves of fossil fuels have increased in the last decade, these resources are non-renewable and cannot be relied upon for sustainable development. In addition, the use of fossil fuels is a major cause of environmental impacts (see Chapter 19). Combustion of fossil fuels contributes a large proportion of global anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (5580 per cent), sulphur dioxide (90 per cent) and nitrogen dioxides (85 per cent) (IEA, 1990).
The link between increase in economic activity and energy consumption is evident if the distribution of energy consumption is examined across more and less developed countries. In 1990, OECD countries, together with Eastern European countries and the former USSR (which in total represent only 22 per cent of the world population), accounted for 82 per cent of world commercial energy consumption. Of this, approximately half (40 per cent) is consumed in Europe (including the former USSR).
Energy consumption trends vary across European countries. Between 1980 and 1990, net consumption of energy decreased in Europe, excluding the former USSR. During the same period, energy consumption in the former USSR increased by one quarter of the 1980 figure. Europe and the former USSR together have 36 per cent of the world's proved recoverable reserves of coal and anthracite, and 47 per cent of the world's proved recoverable reserves of sub-bituminous coal and lignite (with the former USSR having the greatest proportions, at 23 per cent and 27 per cent respectively) (UNEP, 1993). Consumption of energy in Europe, excluding the former USSR, is, however, greater than production, as shown in Table 13.5. This implies that Europe is contributing to the depletion of energy resources in other regions of the world.
In Western European countries, the total amount of energy consumed increased despite the considerable decrease in the energy intensity achieved in these same countries; and despite the lower share of energy consumption in most Eastern European countries, the energy intensity of production is still elevated (see Chapter 20). Current trends in the energy mix show also that Eastern European countries are still highly dependent on the most polluting fossil fuels. Indeed (as described in Chapter 19), among fossil fuels there are wide variations in environmental impacts, with coal ranking first as to its content of carbon per unit of energy compared with oil (which contains 17 per cent less carbon per unit) and natural gas (43 per cent less).
Worldwide, the increase in energy consumption has been accompanied by a major shift in the energy mix. Coal, which accounted for about 80 per cent of the total world energy consumption in the 1920s, dropped to 32 per cent in 1970, and to 29 per cent in 1990. The share of oil decreased from 47 per cent in 1970 to 41 per cent in 1990, while the other sources increased: natural gas from 19 to 22 per cent and nuclear energy from 1 to 6 per cent. Parallel to this trend, European countries including the former USSR have achieved a significant reduction in the share of coal and oil. However, the share of coal in Eastern European countries in 1990 still accounted for about half of total energy use (Table 13.6).
Prime raw materials |
Most materials generally used in intermediate and consumer products are substances obtained by physical and chemical methods using raw materials as input. Worldwide, the use of metals and ores increases (UNEP, 1992), although marked differences exist across countries and world regions. During the last decades, important changes in the use of basic materials such as steel, aluminium, copper, lead, zinc and nickel have occurred in most industrialised countries as a result of changes in production and products, material substitution and recycling. The material intensity (expressed in kg per GNP unit) has declined due to higher energy prices and availability of new technologies (eg, glass fibre). Replacing one mineral resource with another or with non-mineral materials can reduce the energy requirements during extraction and processing, as well as use, hence reducing environmental impacts. However, substitution does not always result in less pressure on the environment if substituted materials introduce new environmental problems.
In spite of these changes, the replacement of traditional materials and increased recycling have not reduced the pressure on mineral reserves. Current proved viable reserves of some raw materials could be exhausted in a few years at the current extraction rate. This does not imply that in a few years depletion of raw materials contained in the Earth's crust will be reached. Instead it means that exploitation of future reserves will require increased energy consumption and higher prices. Indeed, the availability of raw materials is often assessed on the basis of the reserves/production ratio (De Vries, 1992). Figure 13.2 shows the world reserves and production of raw materials. It is important to notice that reserve estimates increase as production levels increase, due to increased motivation for exploration.
Since Europe has already depleted its high grade mineral reserves it relies mostly on imports (principally from Africa). The assessment for 1991 given in Table 13.7 shows that Europe has only a small proportion of the world's reserves of some important minerals. On the contrary, unlike the rest of Europe, the former USSR is still a major producer and consumer of many minerals (UNEP, 1993). In addition, Eastern Europe and the former USSR are responsible for a larger share of world steel consumption (21 per cent in 1991) than all other world regions (the 12 EU countries consumed 16.1 per cent), and they also consume the largest share (31 per cent) of scrap metal for steel-making (UNIDO, 1992).
PHYSICAL INTRUSION |
Environmental change is also caused by modifications to the land surface. Human activities cause alterations to the local and global environment by physical intrusion (eg, mining and quarrying, dam-building, river channelisation) or by altering the nature of the land surface (eg, by urbanisation, infrastructure-building, waste tipping), affecting landscapes, landuses and productivity (eg, deforestation, desertification, erosion).
Detailed surveys of landuse are carried out in several European countries. Such surveys are essential to help planners allocate land for different purposes, such as development, recreation, protected areas, waste disposal or reclamation. However, the categories of landuse vary from country to country and, at present, there is not a standardised international collection of such detailed information.
The OECD collects landuse statistics for member countries under the categories of: arable and cropland, grassland, forest and woodlands, and other uses. This broad classification does not highlight those landuses which physically change the natural landscape and its ecosystems. On the other hand, differences in the categories of more detailed landuse statistics collected by European countries make international comparisons, or the estimation of regional totals, difficult. As part of the EC CORINE programme a nomenclature of 44 land-cover classes grouped in a three-level hierarchy has been proposed and gradually applied to EU and some Central and Eastern European countries to produce comparable information across Europe (Box 13B).
A basic set of European landuse statistics used for this report has been presented in Chapter 3. Statistics available for individual European countries show relevant variations between countries, but confirm that only a small proportion of the total land area is used by, or for, the categories which cause the most severe land degradation, such as mining, industry, urbanisation and transport. Despite the small size of such areas compared with other landuses, their impacts could be large and affect the global environment. The importance of these impacts depends on the sensitivity of various land areas. Particularly relevant is the impact of overuse of critical areas such as, for example, the fragile environment of coastal zones (see Chapter 35).
Landuse conflicts can result from the construction of new infrastructure such as plants related to energy production. The construction of new dams affects farmland and forests and can displace communities. The impact of transportation infrastructures on the environment, but also of telecommunication links and electricity pylons, merits special attention; they consume substantial areas, virtually to the exclusion of other uses. In some cases the impacts of such links can be reduced through engineering solutions, such as road tunnels and underground electricity cables. However, this is not always possible for practical or cost reasons. The building of major new transport links is not without controversy for most means of transport (eg, public protest against bypasses, sea tunnels and bridges, canals and high-speed train links). However, landuse requirements which differ considerably between transport modes, form only one of the associated problems (see Chapter 21). Furthermore, the building of infrastructure, particularly for transport, uses vast quantities of natural resources and energy during construction, and also generates substantial waste products which imply additional impacts and physical intrusion by quarrying and tipping of construction waste.