Natural Resources and Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Analysis
Natural Resources and Their Importance
Resources encompass all available evidence to satisfy physical, physiological, socioeconomic, or cultural needs, or to develop any project. Natural resources are those obtained directly from nature. They are of two types:
- Non-renewable: Quantities are limited and eventually deplete; their level of consumption is greater than the renewal rate. Examples include oil and coal.
- Renewable: With proper management, these resources are regenerated at the same rate or greater than that consumed.
The reserve is that part of the resource actually usable, as its location and amount are well known, and its use is technically feasible. The terms “resources” and “reserves” are not fixed; they may be transformed into each other according to the economic, social, or political climate of the time. In most cases, the reserve is only a fraction of the resource.
Non-Renewable Energy
Advantages:
- High energy quality.
- Can be stored and transported.
Disadvantages:
- Limited energy resources that are depleted.
- Pollutants that produce dirty energy waste.
- Localized energy sources.
Renewable Energy
Benefits:
- Considered inexhaustible.
- Often leads to fewer environmental problems; it is clean energy.
- Domestic energy.
- Reduces consumption of non-renewable energy and contributes to reducing impacts, achieving sustainable development.
Disadvantages:
- Some are not permanent energy sources.
- Others provide very scattered energies.
- Difficult to accumulate.
- Still present technical and economic problems.
Mineral Resources
Mineral resources are rocks and minerals that are useful to humans. We use the economic term “reserve” to cover not only the part of the resource that can be exploited with current technology for financial gain. They are not renewable; regeneration is much slower than the rate of consumption of its reserves.
Oilfield Minerals
An oilfield mineral is any natural concentration of minerals susceptible to being exploited. When exploited in a field, it is called a mine, and these are on the surface. The mineral found in a proportion of the site, which is the object of the operation, is called an ore; other minerals are called gangue. It is divided into metallic ores for metals and non-metallic ores for industrial use. The site may have had magmatic, metamorphic, or sedimentary origins.
Coal: Origin
If organisms die, their soft parts decompose more or less quickly, as putrefaction bacteria act on them to ferment the organic products. If the decomposition occurs in contact with air, all organic matter disappears quickly. By contrast, where organic remains are covered in water very low in oxygen, anaerobic bacteria act to decompose organic matter, but they ferment carbon. If the decomposition of the remains is done in inland basins, coals originate; if it occurs in the sea, oil is formed. Carbon types include anthracite, coal, lignite, and peat.
Environmental Impact of Coal Mining
Coal mining causes environmental problems and negative consequences for human health. The uses of coal in industry include carbochemical fuel and power plants for electricity. In the process of burning coal, significant environmental damage occurs because large amounts of gases are released, such as those causing acid rain, the greenhouse effect, and smog.
Oil
Oil has three physical states:
- Liquid, such as benzene.
- Gases, such as methane and butane.
- Solids, such as asphalts dissolved in liquid hydrocarbons.
It also contains oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen.
Source of Petroleum
Petroleum is of organic origin; it is often formed by the accumulation of organic debris deposited with mud and silt at the bottom of lakes and shallow seas in an anaerobic environment. Bacterial decomposition of organic material enriches the carbon and hydrogen while removing oxygen and nitrogen.
Environmental Impact of Oil
Exploration: Destabilization of soils, biodiversity loss, noise.
Transportation: Noise, deforestation, soil and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity due to spills.
Operation: Pollution of bodies of water, both surface and groundwater, affecting plant and animal species.
Natural Gas
Origin: From fermentation of organic matter in accumulated sediment. It consists of a mixture of gases, mainly methane, hydrogen, butane, and propane; methane gas is the most abundant. It is used as a heat source in kitchens, domestic heating, and electricity production.
Environmental Impact of Natural Gas Operation
Natural gas has more calorific value than coal and oil, and its air pollution is minimal as it does not emit sulfur. The pipelines are at low risk, but during extraction, there can be methane escapes, which is a potent greenhouse gas.
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is energy from the reactions that occur on or within the nuclei of certain atoms under certain conditions. Nuclear energy is produced by fission and fusion.
Fission
In nuclear fission, the nucleus of a uranium isotope is bombarded with neutrons, splitting it into two lighter nuclei and releasing free neutrons that can produce more fissions. In order to control the reaction, it is enclosed in a container called a nuclear reactor, which will use low concentrations of uranium.
Nuclear Power Plant
A nuclear power plant has four parts:
- The reactor, which produces fission, generating heat.
- The steam generator, where the heat produced by fission is used to boil water.
- The turbine, which produces electricity by turning with the passage of steam.
- The condenser, which cools the steam, turning it into liquid water.
Use: Nuclear fission and radioactivity are used in the production of electricity, the manufacture of nuclear weapons, and medicine.
Fusion
Fusion involves combining two light atomic nuclei to form a heavier one. Such reactions are occurring in the sun and other stars.
Alternative Energy Resources
Wind Energy
Wind energy is produced by air movement. It is a source of renewable energy that humans can benefit from directly or immediately convert into other forms of energy. The primary use is the production of electrical energy by machines called wind turbines, which are installed to meet the energy needs of a particular community.
Advantages:
- Clean energy.
- Installation is not very expensive.
- Helps reduce non-renewable energy consumption.
- High performance is achieved in the transformation of mechanical into electrical energy.
Cons:
- Harnessing wind facilities has environmental impacts.
- Energy efficiency is scarce; winds are intermittent and random.
- Generate interference with TV broadcasts.
Hydropower
Hydropower uses the gravitational potential energy of water from rain or snow that flows from the mountains to the sea to generate electricity. A hydroelectric power plant consists of a reservoir that stores water. It is used to regulate and manage water.
Advantages:
- Renewable.
- Clean.
- Indigenous.
- Maintenance is minimal.
Disadvantages:
- Large reservoirs flood growing areas, villages, and forests, causing human migration and loss of diversity.
- Risks generated by slope movement and failure of the dam.
- Reduced river flow, variations in microclimate, difficulty of fish migration.
Use of Water
There are two types of water use:
- Consumptive: If the water used to perform an activity cannot be used again.
- Non-consumptive: If, once employed in a particular activity, it can be used again.
Consumptive Use Rates
- Urban use: Covers water needs in the home, business, or public service.
- Industrial use: Water demands generated by different manufacturing processes in which this element can have various uses as raw material or a cleaning agent.
- Agricultural use: Increased demands for groundwater, rivers, and lakes. The use of water in agriculture accounts for 70% of total consumption in the world.
Types of Non-Consumptive Use
- Energy: For hydroelectric power.
- Navigation.
- Ecological and environmental uses: To maintain the proper functioning and balance of aquatic ecosystems, conserving biodiversity and its dynamics, and to maintain the landscape.
Waste
Waste is any material that results from a process of manufacture, processing, use, consumption, or cleaning when the holder discards it. Waste can be any substance that has been discarded.
Types of Waste
Domestic Waste
Waste generated in urban centers, in addition to the waste originating from households, includes large waste such as furniture, appliances, or cars, as well as waste generated in shops and services such as learning centers. It is also produced by cleaning streets, beaches, parks, and markets. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is fermentable and can be used as fuel. Liquid wastes include detergents and organic matter, and gaseous waste is emitted into the atmosphere from heating and transport vehicles.
Agricultural and Livestock Waste
Generated by agriculture and livestock. In agriculture, waste pollution highlights two types: fertilizers and pesticides that accumulate in the soil and can reach groundwater. Livestock waste, in many cases, is the source of problems due to intensive exploitation. Aside from the bad smells and health problems associated with sanitary facilities, solid and liquid waste waters are produced with significant organic contamination.
Medical Waste
Generated in the activity of hospitals, clinics, outpatient clinics, research laboratories, and pharmaceutical facilities with biological relevance.
Industrial Waste
Can be grouped into inert and hazardous waste:
- Inert: Have no physical, chemical, or biological activity; examples include rubble and ashes.
- Hazardous: Dangerous to health and generally very contaminating to ecosystems; examples include heavy metals and strong acids.
Radioactive Waste
Waste that emits particles or radiation. They are the most hazardous waste we are generating due to their high persistence in the environment and their high toxicity; they induce mutations in genetic material and cause cell alterations.
Problems with Waste
- Organic matter increases the risk of pests that can carry diseases, such as insects and seagulls.
- In the transport of radioactive waste and hazardous waste, accidents can have fatal consequences.
- Fly-tipping can cause pollution of waters, both surface and underground.
- Occupation or destruction of large areas of land useful for waste accumulation.
Management of Municipal Solid Waste
The composition of MSW is heterogeneous, predominantly organic remains, paper, and cardboard. It has three phases:
- Collection: The loading of waste into vehicles for transportation.
- Transportation: Includes the movement of waste to its destination and unloading. Destinations can be landfills, compost factories, or the sea.
- Treatment: The set of operations to eliminate waste at its final destination or to recover usable products.
The rules for waste reduction are based on producing less waste, such as the use of clean technologies that emit fewer pollutants. Reuse is based on recovering all that still has a profit after mild treatments, such as cleaning glass bottles so they can be reused. Recycling involves extracting raw materials from waste to produce similar or different products; paper and cardboard are products that can be recycled easily. Other wastes that can be recycled include metals, plastics, and organic matter. The recycling of plastics is expensive and must be pre-sorted and separated because each type requires different treatment. The law does not allow recycled plastics to be in contact with foodstuffs.
Sustainable Development
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Principles of Sustainable Development
- Principle of sustainable harvesting: The harvesting of resources must not exceed their regeneration capacity.
- Principle of sustainable drainage: The exploitation of non-renewable resources must not exceed the rate of creation of renewable substitutes.
- Principle of sustainable emissions: Emissions from waste must be less than the natural capacity of assimilation by the ecosystem.
- Principle of sustainable technology selection: It is necessary to promote clean and efficient technologies.
- Principle of irreversibility zero: Avoiding irreversible environmental impacts.
- Principle of equitable development: Ensuring the development of future generations and achieving a better quality of life for all inhabitants of the planet, with access to healthcare, education, and information technology.
Ecological Footprint
The ecological footprint is a simple and understandable way of assessing whether our consumption and resources are sustainable. It is a measure of the total environmental impact generated by a given population on the environment. It is expressed by the amount of productive area, land or sea, valued in hectares of land area needed for the production of all resources consumed, to assimilate all the waste generated, and to develop vegetation necessary to absorb the entire CO2 emitted into the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels. The global ecological footprint is 2.3 hectares per capita, while the average value of the carrying capacity of land is 2.1 hectares per capita.
Biocapacity
Biocapacity of a territory is defined as the availability of biologically productive area by categories: crops, pastures, and forests. Biocapacity allows us to know the extent of the shortfall in the area. If the value of the ecological footprint is higher than biocapacity, we would be in an area of ecological deficit; if there is a surplus, the opposite is true.
Ecological Deficit
The ecological deficit indicates whether a country or region has an ecological surplus available or if it consumes more resources than are available. It indicates that the community is appropriating surface area outside its territory and making use of areas of future generations.