Ecosystems, Resources, and Sustainable Development

Ecosystems and Their Resources

An ecosystem encompasses all living beings inhabiting a given area and their relationship with their environment. Large ecosystems are known as biomes.

Resource Depletion

Renewable resources are energy sources like wind, solar, and biomass. If the consumption rate exceeds the renewal rate, it leads to resource exploitation.

• Nuclear fuels provide substantial energy from small quantities of radioactive material.
• Mineral resources require a high concentration of minerals for profitable extraction.
• Agricultural resources have improved productivity using fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified plants.
• Livestock resources form the foundation of human sustenance.

Environmental Impacts

• Air Pollution: Caused by the accumulation of gases from engines, leading to a toxic mist in the lower atmosphere.
• Acid Rain: Caused by gas emissions from coal combustion, acidifying rivers and lakes, harming living organisms.
• Ozone Layer Depletion: Caused by CFC emissions, reducing the ozone layer’s ability to filter ultraviolet rays.
• Greenhouse Effect: Caused by carbon dioxide emissions, trapping heat and causing global warming.
• Desertification: Caused by converting forests into agricultural areas, overuse of fertilizers, erosion, and aquifer depletion, resulting in desert expansion.
• Biodiversity Loss: Caused by ecosystem degradation and environmental alterations, leading to species extinction.
• Climate Change: Caused by the greenhouse effect, ozone layer destruction, air pollution, and acid rain, resulting in global climate alterations.

Environmental Risks

An environmental contingency is any risk or danger that causes injury or illness to people or other living beings.

Types of Environmental Risks

• Natural Hazards: Natural disasters are a source of natural resources, but exceeding certain limits can pose risks. These can be geological, biological, atmospheric, or cosmic.
• Anthropogenic Risks: Caused by human activity, including conflicts, industrial and technological hazards, and other human-induced causes.

Development Models

Factors to evaluate the degree of development:

• Human Development: The ability to achieve personal well-being and that of one’s immediate circle.
• Social Development: Improvement in the quality of life and well-being of the general population.
• Economic Development: Acquisition of economic wealth in a region or country to improve the material well-being of its inhabitants.

• Uncontrolled Development: Based on population and economic growth without considering limiting factors.
• Zero Growth: Emerged in the 1970s as an alternative to the previous model.
• Sustainable Development: Aims to meet present needs without compromising the development opportunities of future generations.

Resource Management

Fundamental principles of resource management:

• The exploitation rate of renewable resources should not exceed their recovery rate.
• The exploitation rate of non-renewable resources must be less than the rate at which they are replaced by renewable resources.
• Pollutant emissions should be less than the environment’s capacity to absorb them.

Risk Prevention

• Predictive Measures: Seek to determine in advance when and where a risk may occur.
• Preventive Measures: Aim to prevent risks through actions that eliminate or reduce them.
• Remedial Measures: Used to repair damage once it has occurred.