Ch6 - Ecology and Sustainable Development - Natural Resources

Drivers of increased resource (and energy) use:

population growth - transition from agrarian to industrial regimes - rising income and GPD

Since 1900 the global energy and resource consumption has grown by a factor..

15

Major ecosystem services are..

food prduction . fresch water supply - climate regulation - soil and water protection - biodiversity conservation - recreation and tourism

10, 20, 30 or 50% of the global land surface are covered with forests.

30%

Europe has seral types of forests, like

boreal forest - alpine forest - mountain forest - mediterranean forest - mediterranean protection forest

Since 1970 the Amazon rain forest lost in total until now 5, 10, 20 or 50% of area.

20%

Globally tropical rain forest capture about 5, 10, 20 or 50% of the total CO2 emissions

20%

In SE-Asia native rain forest is usually replaced by plantations for tea, rice, palm oil or sugar production.

palm oil

Impact of deforestation on the environment:

greenhouse gas emissions from burning forests - soil degradation and drying - biodiversity loss - desertification - reduced groundwater recharge - higher runoff and flash floods

Agriculture started 40.000, 10.000, 5.000 or 2.000 years ago.

10 000 years ago

Neolithic founder crops of agriculture are wheat, corn, peas, coffee, lentils, potatoes, barley, bananas and flax.

wheat - peas - lentils - barley - flax

Modernisation of agriculture has allowed the world population to grow by 20%, 50%, 100% or 200% over the last 50 years.

100%

Agricultural production accounts for ca 1, 5, 10, 20 percent of the gross world product.

5%

Area needed for production of 1 kg of vegetable 0,1; 1; 5 or 10 m2

1 m²

Major factors for the enhanced food production during the last decades are..

intensification of farming - irrigation - fertilisers - pesticides - cropland expansion - high yield crops and mechanisation

Meat makes up ca 5 % of the global food production and uses roughly 5, 10, 25 or 60% of the agricultural land for this.

60%

In terms of their production volume the three most important food products are beef, soy beans, wheat, milk, rice, potatoes or maize.

wheat - rice - maize

The origin of the following essential crops is in the Americas: potatoes, wheat, corn (maize), sorghum, coffee, rice.

potatoes - corn - maize

Globally only 6, 12, 20 or 30 % of land surface usable for agriculture.

12%

The share of GM soy within the global soy harvest is 20, 50, 75 or 90% (2023).

75%

Presently agricultural production uses per capita a land area 1; 0,5; 0,25 or 0,15 ha.

0,25 ha

Genetic modification of seed material allows to produce plants with new properties:

insect resistance - herbicide resistance - improved nutrient content - higher drought resistance - higher salt resistance

The most important GM crops are..

soybeans - maize - cotton - canola or rapeseed

During the last 100 years labor productivity has increased by a factor of 5, 10, 50 or 200.

factor 200

The major genetically modified agricultural products are wheat, maize, barley, soy, tomatoes, rapeseed and apples.

maize - soy - rapeseed

According to the European Commission’s Report of Biosafety the consumption of GMOs poses less risks, more risks or equal risks compared to food and feed obtained with conventional breeding techniques

equal risks

Gene editing is distinct from genetic modification, because it is more widely used for creation of new varieties of crops, it uses genes from the same or a similar species, has been successful to develop blight resistance potatoes or it has already demonstrated to be able to produce alcohol free wine

genes from the same or a similar species

Global fish catches amount to 40, 60, 90 or 120 million tons (2025)

90 million tons

The most important modern fishing technologies leading to an overexploitation of many fish stocks are:

sonar and radar detection of fish swarms - purse seine fishing - trawling and bottom trawling

The … treaty deals with aspects of overfishing and grants coastal states exclusive fishing rights for a 200 mile zone.

UNCLOS or United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Global aquaculture production amounts to ca 20, 30, 80 or 95 million tons (2025).

95 millions tons

The EU has set recycling goals between 50 and 85% for:

household waste - construction and demolition waste - electrical and electronic waste - end of life vehicles - packaging

Important Critical Raw Materials for the realization of the Green Deal are:

lithium - cobalt - neodymium - graphite - nickel and copper

For implementation of the Green Deal in the EU a massively increase demand for the following critical raw materials is foreseen: cobalt, iron, neodymium, calcium, copper, lithium.

cobalt - neodymium - copper - lithium

The core of earth contains mainly the metals aluminium, iron, copper, nickel, cobalt and magnesium.

iron - nickel

The most important Critical Raw Materials for the realisation of the EU Green deal are silicon, cobalt, hydrogen, nickel, gold, neodymium, iron, lithium.

cobalt - nickel - neodymium - lithium

The most important raw materials used for the production of the presently used car batteries are: carbon, iron, cobalt, neodymium, lithium, phosphate.

carbon - cobalt - lithium - phosphate - iron for LFP batteries

The core of our planet consists of iron and nickel and provides for the … of our earth

magnetic field

In the Anthopocene during the last 100 years the consumption of energy and natural resources has increased by a factor of 5, 10, 15 or 25.

factor 15

Since 1900 the global production and consumption of energy has increased by a factor of 5, 11, 20 or 50.

factor 11

30, 45, 66 or 86% of the present global energy production is from fossil fuels.

86%

The share of fossil fuels in total primary energy production in the EU is roughly 20, 40, 75 or 90% (2024).

75%

The share of oil in global total energy production in 2024 was 12, 24, 33 or 45%.

33%

The share of low-carbon electricity production in global total energy production in 2024 was 6, 13, 18, or 25%.

13%

The share of natural gas in global total energy production in 2024 was about 12, 25, 33, 50%.

25%

In global energy production natural gas, coal, uranium or oil will be largely phased out by 2050.

coal

Per capity energy consumption in Africa is 10, 20, 40, 50% of Europe.

20% of Europe

Per capity energy consumption in North America is half of Europe, the same as in Europe, twice of Europe or five times higher than Europe.

twice as high as Europe

The function establishing the relation between the per capita GDP of a country and the per capita primary energy consumption is called the … curve

kuznets

The most important methods for global electricity production are presently nuclear power plants, wind turbines, hydro power plants or coal fired power plants.

coal fired power plants

The share of fossil free energy production of global total energy production (and consumption) in 2024 is ca 5, 8, 14 or 20%.

14%

Major suppliers (exporters) of crude oil are South Africa, Venezuela, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Nigeria, China, Brasil, Russia.

venezuela - saudi arabia - nigeria - russia

Major suppliers (exporters) of natural gas are South Africa, Venezuela, India, Canada, Germany, China, Brasil, Russia, USA.

canada - russia - USA

10, 30, 50 or 75% of the global known conventional oil reserves have already been consumed.

50%

The amount of electricity produced from fossil sources in the EU amounted 2024 to ca 20, 30, 60 or 80%.

30%

10, 30, 50 or 75% of the global known conventional gas reserves have already been consumed.

30%

The new technology to exploit gas reserves in deep rock formations by hydraulic cracking of the rock layers is called..

fracking or hydraulic fracturing