Natural resource: Resources that are naturally made by our planet e.g. water, wind, coal, gold and diamonds.
Human resource: Resources that have been created and developed by humans e.g. computers and schools.
Renewable resources: A resource that can be used over and over again. Resources that don't run out are often described as being infinite e.g. wind.
Non-renewable resources: A resource that runs out once it has been used. Non-renewable resources are described as being finite i.e. they will eventually run out e.g. fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels: Fuels that have been created over millions of years from decaying biological matter. The three main fossil fuels are; oil, gas and coal.
It is possible to place many resources in more than one category. For example wind is a natural, an energy and a renewable resource. As technology develops it might be the case that resources change categories. For example it is now possible to recycle most metals so should they be considered recyclable resources.
Some areas of the world are described as being resource rich, and other areas are described as being resource poor (scarcity of resources). In theory having natural resources should help with a country's development. However, this is not always the case. Japan which has a scarcity of natural resources has the third largest economy in the world whereas the DR of Congo which is resource rich, is one of the poorest.
To overcome its natural shortages, Japan invested heavily in its human resources. Its education system became very developed. Its human capital was then able to create valued-added research and manufacturing industries e.g. Sony, Honda, Toyota and Casio.
The DR of Congo is still relatively poor because its natural resources have caused many problems including;
Deforestation of rainforest
Biodiversity loss (mountain Gorilla)
Exploitation by colonial Powers (King Leopald of Belgium)
Kleptocratic governments (corruption)
Exploitation by TNCs and other countries
Conflict over resources
Water and air pollution
The DR of Congo has also tragically been exploited for its human resources during colonialism and the slave trade.
Resources and Population
Resources and population are obviously interconnected. Earlier in the core you learnt about overpopulated, underpopulated and optimumly populated countries (Population change and Responses to high and low fertility). You also need to know about how people have predicted the relationships between population and resources will change.
Thomas Malthus: In 1798 Thomas Malthus produced his essay on the ''Principle of Population". He believed that population was growing at a faster rate (exponentially) than resources (arithmetically). As population exceeds resources he believed there would be either preventive checks (reduced birth rates) or positive checks (famine and war).
Preventative checks: These are measures taken by humans to reduce shortages. This might be reducing population through better family planning and possibly anti-natalist policies. Or it could be reducing waste e.g. through better recycling.
Positive checks: Despite their name, they are actually more negative solutions to resource shortages. These might be fighting and war or massive famines which actually reduce the overall population and therefore demand.
Neo-Malthusian: This is an idea of thought that follows Malthus's ideas. Paul Ehrlich and the ''Club of Rome" both have Neo-Malthusiasn ideas.
Paul Ehrlich: In 1968 Paul Ehrlich published his book ''The Population Bomb". He believed that population growth had now outstripped the availability of resources and that starting in the 1970's there would be mass famines killing millions. So far Paul Ehrlich views have not come true, but they might do in the future if humans aren't able to control population growth or increase resource production.
Club of Rome: The Club of Rome were formed in 1972. They were headed by Dennis Meadows and developed the Limits to Growth Model. They are also believed that the growth in population would lead to worldwide misery.
Limits to Growth Model: Developed by the Club of Rome it looked at population, natural resources, agricultural output, industrial production and pollution. They predicted that the limits to growth would be reached in 2070. The model basically suggests that ability of resources, food, the environment, etc. to meet human needs will be reached by 2070. Beyond this point if population is not controlled naturally, it will start to decline because of increased death rates. The model has come in for some criticism because it does not look at individual regions that may be well resourced and underpopulated. It also doesn't take into account certain developments in technology like renewables, GM crops and desalination.
Limits to Growth Model
Ester Boserup: Born in 1910, Ester Boserup had a very optimistic outlook. She believed that humans could adapt, develop new ideas and find new resources that would support the growing population. Her famous saying was ''necessity is the mother of invention''.
Anti-Malthusian: Anti-Malthusian is simply the school of thought that disagrees with Malthus's pessimism and is more aligned to Boserup's optimism i.e. that humans will always find solutions to shortages.
Carrying Capacity
Carrying capacity: The maximum number of people that may live in or visit a destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of the living environment.The IB splits carrying capacity into environmental carrying capacity and perceptual carrying capacity. Environmental carrying capacity is the maximum number of residents an area can support, before environmental harm is done. Perceptual carrying capacity is the maximum number of people in an area before residents consider an impact like noise to be excessive.
The idea of carrying capacity does come in for criticism. The main argument is that population and technology constantly change so the carrying capacity may change. A country's carrying capacity may change because:
New resources are discovered or resources run out
New technology like solar panels or desalination are introduced
New transport links are built
New sources of water are found or new crops engineered
Natural disasters damage infrastructure and resources
Carrying capacity is often divided into different sections:
Ecological/Environmental/Biological/Biophysical: This deals with the extent to which the natural environment can tolerate a population. This is made more complicated by the fact that because it deals with ecology which is able to regenerate to some extent so in this case the carrying capacity is when the damage exceeds the habitats ability to regenerate.
Economic: This relates to the amount of people an economy can support in terms of jobs, levels of debt. If an area has high levels of unemployment and debt then it probably exceeds its carrying capacity.
Perceptual or Social: This relates to the negative socio-cultural affects related to populations size. Perceptual and social carrying capacity may have been reached when the local tolerance for an area decreases and they decide to move.
Physical: This is the maximum number of people that an area is actually able to support/hold. For example Singapore is a finite size, so there is only so many houses that can be physically built there for people to live in.
There are a number of factors that can affect a country's carrying capacity including:
Terrain (relief): It is harder to build industry, homes and infrastructure in mountainous environments, so mountainous countries like Nepal and Bhutan are likely to have smaller carrying capacities.
Climate: Very hot or very cold climates are harder to grow crops in, probably have less available water and probably need more energy to make conditions comfortable to live in. Therefore cold areas like Greenland and very hot areas like the Sahara are going to have lower carrying capacities.
Political Stability: Countries that are stable and have lower level of corruption and wastage are more likely to have higher carrying capacities, than less stable and corrupt countries like Afghanistan.
Technology and Development: Rich countries and countries with access to technology like the US and Japan tend to have much higher carrying capacities because they can minimise environmental damage (renewable energy) and create jobs.
Arable Land (soil): Countries with fertile soil and good levels of farming e.g. irrigation/fertilers/GM then they are likely to have higher carrying capacities e.g. the UK
Problems if a destination exceeds its carrying capacity include:
Inflation
Tensions between different groups e.g. environmentalists and industrialists
Deforestation
Congestion
Water pollution from increased waste
Water shortages from increased demand
Air pollution from increased cars and flights
Unemployment or underemployment
Drought and famine
Power black-outs (electricity shortages)
Visual and noise pollution
Disturbance of wildlife
Reduction in visitor numbers (tourists)
Increase in crime
Increased death rates and reduced life expectancy
Shortage of school and hospital places
Housing shortages (homelessness and increase in informal settlements)
Ecological Footprint
Ecological footprint: A measure of human demand on the earth's ecosystems. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea needed to regenerate the resources human population and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste.
Biocapacity: The ability of an area to provide resources and absorb waste.
Global Hecate: The measurement of biocapacity and ecological footprint. There were 13.4billion hectares of biologically productive land and water on this planet in 2005. Dividing by the number of people alive in that year, 6.5 billion, gives 2.1 global hectares per person.
Ecological Creditor: Country's whose ecological footprint is lower than there biocapacity.
Ecological Debetor: Country's whole ecological footprint is higher than there biocapacity.
Carbon footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.
Ecological footprints can be looked at on an individual level, a household level, a city level, a country level or a global level. Calculations are complicated but basically look at carbon footprint and then people's impact on resources and the environment in terms of agriculture, fisheries, energy, forestries and settlements.
Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI): Created by scientists at Yale and Columbia Universities, it attempts to measure countries environmental sustainability. It uses 26 indicators and 76 measurements and looks at things like pollution levels, environmental regulations and resource use. The higher the score the more environmentally sustainable a country is.
However, in 2005 it was decided to replace ESI with EPI. The EPI rather than comparing sustainability strategies of different countries, looked at outcome orientated indicators. The EPI in 2012 places Switzerland at the top of its index and Iraq at the bottom.
If countries don't develop and use resources sustainable it can lead to many problems including:
Deforestation
Biodiversity loss (extinctions)
Desertification
Pollution (air, water, noise, etc.)
Drought and famine
China's Changing Resource Demands
China's large population (about 1.3 billion people) as well as its rapid economic development and urbanisation has meant that it is increasingly demanding more and more of the world's resources. Because China itself only has a finite amount of resources it is looking to other countries and regions to supply it, most noticeably Latin America and Africa. Demand for resources is increasing because:
The population is growing and getting richer its is demanding more food (especially meat). This requires ever big areas of land and water to grow the food
China's population is rapidly urbanising so there is growing demand for construction materials like copper and steel
China's developing population are demanding more luxury products like televisions, washing machines and mobile phones that all require resources to manufacture.
China has a large manufacturing economy - it is the world's biggest exporter. To maintain its position it needs a reliable supply of resources
China's economic growth means the demand for fossil fuels is growing.
China is able to continue as a major exporter of manufactured goods
China makes more through adding value to the resources e.g. by making TVs, mobile phones, etc.
Its growing population can be fed, land is actually being purchased in some countries
Major infrastructure projects can be continued e.g. new roads and railways
Improved trading relationships with potential new customers
Improvements in infrastructure e.g. roads, railways and schools
Foreign currency
Improved trading and political links with China
Reduced unemployment as people work in mines
Improvement in technology because of equipment introduced by China
Hopefully an increase in worker skills so that DR of Congo can mine its own resources in the future
DISADVANTAGES
Increased pollution from increasing number of power stations and factories
Bad public image because of accusations of exploitation
Reliance on foreign governments to ensure continued growth
Rising oil prices makes transportation of resources increasingly expensive
Possible exploitation of local resources
Most managerial jobs given to Chinese
Increased levels of pollution because of extraction methods
Resources sold below market value
No value added on resources i.e. they are not being processed or manufactured
Some profits may get used to pay for criminal activities or conflict. Such resources have been given various names including 'blood diamonds' and ''conflict minerals'
Patterns of resource consumption
Resources: Anything that can be used by humans.
Natural resource: Resources that are naturally made by our planet e.g. water, wind, coal, gold and diamonds.
Human resource: Resources that have been created and developed by humans e.g. computers and schools.
Renewable resources: A resource that can be used over and over again. Resources that don't run out are often described as being infinite e.g. wind.
Non-renewable resources: A resource that runs out once it has been used. Non-renewable resources are described as being finite i.e. they will eventually run out e.g. fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels: Fuels that have been created over millions of years from decaying biological matter. The three main fossil fuels are; oil, gas and coal.
It is possible to place many resources in more than one category. For example wind is a natural, an energy and a renewable resource. As technology develops it might be the case that resources change categories. For example it is now possible to recycle most metals so should they be considered recyclable resources.
To overcome its natural shortages, Japan invested heavily in its human resources. Its education system became very developed. Its human capital was then able to create valued-added research and manufacturing industries e.g. Sony, Honda, Toyota and Casio.
The DR of Congo is still relatively poor because its natural resources have caused many problems including;
The DR of Congo has also tragically been exploited for its human resources during colonialism and the slave trade.
Resources and Population
Resources and population are obviously interconnected. Earlier in the core you learnt about overpopulated, underpopulated and optimumly populated countries (Population change and Responses to high and low fertility). You also need to know about how people have predicted the relationships between population and resources will change.
Thomas Malthus: In 1798 Thomas Malthus produced his essay on the ''Principle of Population". He believed that population was growing at a faster rate (exponentially) than resources (arithmetically). As population exceeds resources he believed there would be either preventive checks (reduced birth rates) or positive checks (famine and war).
Preventative checks: These are measures taken by humans to reduce shortages. This might be reducing population through better family planning and possibly anti-natalist policies. Or it could be reducing waste e.g. through better recycling.
Positive checks: Despite their name, they are actually more negative solutions to resource shortages. These might be fighting and war or massive famines which actually reduce the overall population and therefore demand.
Neo-Malthusian: This is an idea of thought that follows Malthus's ideas. Paul Ehrlich and the ''Club of Rome" both have Neo-Malthusiasn ideas.
Paul Ehrlich: In 1968 Paul Ehrlich published his book ''The Population Bomb". He believed that population growth had now outstripped the availability of resources and that starting in the 1970's there would be mass famines killing millions. So far Paul Ehrlich views have not come true, but they might do in the future if humans aren't able to control population growth or increase resource production.
Club of Rome: The Club of Rome were formed in 1972. They were headed by Dennis Meadows and developed the Limits to Growth Model. They are also believed that the growth in population would lead to worldwide misery.
Limits to Growth Model: Developed by the Club of Rome it looked at population, natural resources, agricultural output, industrial production and pollution. They predicted that the limits to growth would be reached in 2070. The model basically suggests that ability of resources, food, the environment, etc. to meet human needs will be reached by 2070. Beyond this point if population is not controlled naturally, it will start to decline because of increased death rates. The model has come in for some criticism because it does not look at individual regions that may be well resourced and underpopulated. It also doesn't take into account certain developments in technology like renewables, GM crops and desalination.
Anti-Malthusian: Anti-Malthusian is simply the school of thought that disagrees with Malthus's pessimism and is more aligned to Boserup's optimism i.e. that humans will always find solutions to shortages.
Carrying Capacity
Carrying capacity: The maximum number of people that may live in or visit a destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of the living environment.The IB splits carrying capacity into environmental carrying capacity and perceptual carrying capacity. Environmental carrying capacity is the maximum number of residents an area can support, before environmental harm is done. Perceptual carrying capacity is the maximum number of people in an area before residents consider an impact like noise to be excessive.
The idea of carrying capacity does come in for criticism. The main argument is that population and technology constantly change so the carrying capacity may change. A country's carrying capacity may change because:
Carrying capacity is often divided into different sections:
Ecological/Environmental/Biological/Biophysical: This deals with the extent to which the natural environment can tolerate a population. This is made more complicated by the fact that because it deals with ecology which is able to regenerate to some extent so in this case the carrying capacity is when the damage exceeds the habitats ability to regenerate.
Economic: This relates to the amount of people an economy can support in terms of jobs, levels of debt. If an area has high levels of unemployment and debt then it probably exceeds its carrying capacity.
Perceptual or Social: This relates to the negative socio-cultural affects related to populations size. Perceptual and social carrying capacity may have been reached when the local tolerance for an area decreases and they decide to move.
Physical: This is the maximum number of people that an area is actually able to support/hold. For example Singapore is a finite size, so there is only so many houses that can be physically built there for people to live in.
There are a number of factors that can affect a country's carrying capacity including:
Problems if a destination exceeds its carrying capacity include:
Ecological Footprint
Ecological footprint: A measure of human demand on the earth's ecosystems. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea needed to regenerate the resources human population and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste.
Biocapacity: The ability of an area to provide resources and absorb waste.
Global Hecate: The measurement of biocapacity and ecological footprint. There were 13.4billion hectares of biologically productive land and water on this planet in 2005. Dividing by the number of people alive in that year, 6.5 billion, gives 2.1 global hectares per person.
Ecological Creditor: Country's whose ecological footprint is lower than there biocapacity.
Ecological Debetor: Country's whole ecological footprint is higher than there biocapacity.
Carbon footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.
Ecological footprints can be looked at on an individual level, a household level, a city level, a country level or a global level. Calculations are complicated but basically look at carbon footprint and then people's impact on resources and the environment in terms of agriculture, fisheries, energy, forestries and settlements.
However, in 2005 it was decided to replace ESI with EPI. The EPI rather than comparing sustainability strategies of different countries, looked at outcome orientated indicators. The EPI in 2012 places Switzerland at the top of its index and Iraq at the bottom.
http://epi.yale.edu/
If countries don't develop and use resources sustainable it can lead to many problems including:
China's Changing Resource Demands
China's large population (about 1.3 billion people) as well as its rapid economic development and urbanisation has meant that it is increasingly demanding more and more of the world's resources. Because China itself only has a finite amount of resources it is looking to other countries and regions to supply it, most noticeably Latin America and Africa. Demand for resources is increasing because:
China to seal $9bn DR Congo deal - BBC article
DR Congo's rail revamp backed by China and World Bank - BBC article
China and IDB to launch $1bn fund for Latin America - BBC article
China defends Africa economic and trade role - BBC article
China-Africa trade set to keep on booming in 2011 - BBC article
DR Congo: Cursed by its natural wealth - BBC Article
CHINA
DR OF CONGO
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES