Sustainable use and management of natural resources.

Agence Europeenne Pour L'Environnement

Description

Copenhague. http://temis.documentation.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/document.xsp?id=Temis-0065982

Sujets

• Environnement
• Consommation
• Croissance économique
• Protection de l'environnement

Informations

• Publié par: temis-developpement-durable
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 12
• Licence : En savoir +
  Paternité, pas d'utilisation commerciale, partage des conditions initiales à l'identique
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

EEA Report No 9/2005
Sustainable use and management of natural resources
ISSN 1725-9177XEEA Report No 9/2005
Sustainable use and management of natural resourcesCover design: EEA
Cover photos: © EEA; Source: Pawel Kazmierczyk, 2005
Layout: EEA
Legal notice
The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of the European
Commission or other institutions of the European Communities. Neither the European Environment
Agency nor any person or company acting on behalf of the Agency is responsible for the use that
may be made of the information contained in this report.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without the
permission in writing from the copyright holder. For translation or reproduction rights please contact
EEA (address information below).
Information about the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the
Europa server (http://europa.eu.int).
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2005
ISBN 92-9167-770-1
ISSN 1725-9177
© EEA, Copenhagen 2005
European Environment Agency
Kongens Nytorv 6
1050 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Web: www.eea.eu.int
Enquiries: www.eea.eu.int/enquiriesContents
Contents
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 4
Summary .................................................................................................................... 5
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 9
2 Drivers of resource use ....................................................................................... 11
2.1 Demographic developments ..............................................................................11
2.2 Economic growth .............................................................................................12
2.3 Patterns of development ..................................................................................13
2.4 Growing resource use in the global context ........................................................15
3 Natural resources and their use .......................................................................... 18
3.1 Material flows and material intensity ..................................................................19
3.2 Renewable resources 23
3.3 Non-renew .................................................................................34
4 Policy responses .................................................................................................. 46
4.1 Examples of individual policies 47
4.2 The challenges of policy integration ....................................................................47
4.3 Resource economics and the role of prices .........................................................52
4.4 Implications for competition .............................................................................53
5 Outstanding questions ........................................................................................ 58
Abbreviations and definitions ................................................................................... 63
References .............................................................................................................. 65
3Sustainable use and management of natural resourcesAcknowledgements
Acknowledgements
This report was written by the expert team of the Mr. Andrew Terry, IUCN — The World
European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Conservation Union, Regional Office for Europe,
Management (ETC/RWM), consisting of Stephan Brussels
Moll, Mette Skovgaard and Philipp Schepelmann. It
was coordinated and edited by Paweł Kaźmierczyk Mr. Bill Duncan, Assurre, Brussels
(EEA), under the general guidance of Jock Martin
(EEA) and Jeff Huntington (EEA). Ms. Caroline Raes, DG Enterprise and Industry,
European Commission
The information and analysis in the report is
based on six background papers compiled and Mr. David Capper, DEFRA, United Kingdom
edited by the ETC/RWM. Background papers on
'general policy issues', 'land use', and 'material Mr. Frans Vollenbroek, DG Environment, European
flows and waste' were prepared by Stephan Moll, Commission
Philipp Schepelmann, Mette Skovgaard, Helmut
Schütz, Stefan Bringezu and Raimund Bleischwitz. Ms. Helen Mountford, Environment Directorate,
A background paper on 'forestry' was written by OECD
Jo Van Brusselen, Markus Lier, Andreas Schuck,
Richard Fischer and Bruce Michie from the Ms. Helga Weisz, IFF-Social Ecology, Klagenfurt
European Topic Centre on Nature and Biodiversity/ University, Austria
European Forest Institute. A background paper
on 'water use' was prepared by Peter Kristensen, Mr. Michael Massey, DTI, United Kingdom
European Topic Centre for Water/Danish National
Environmental Research Institute. A background Mr. Peter Eder, DG Joint Research Centre, European
paper on 'fisheries' was prepared by Gunnar Album Commission
from the Trygg Mat Foundation, Norway.
Mr. René Kemp, University of Maastricht, the
The EEA gratefully acknowledges the contributions Netherlands
of the advisory group set up for this report. The
advisory group, whose extensive knowledge and Mr. Rocky Harris, DEFRA, United Kingdom
experience benefited this work, consisted of:
Mr. Uno Svedin, Director of International Affairs,
Formas, Sweden
Mr. William Floyd, GOPA, European Commission.
4 Sustainable use and management of natural resourcesSummary
Summary
Background from that at the global level. With population
growth limited, the main driving forces are
The EU sixth environment action programme economic growth and the pattern of development.
(6EAP) expressly calls for 'breaking the linkages
between economic growth and resource use'. This The European model of wealth is based on a high
report, which contributes to the EEA's five-year level of resource consumption, including energy
report 'The European environment — State and and materials. Current material consumption in
outlook 2005', was prepared in recognition of the industrialised countries is between 31 and 74 tonnes/
importance of the sustainable use and management person/year (total material consumption), and
of natural resources on the policy agenda. environmentally most significant is the consumption
of materials for housing, food and mobility. The
Given the broad coverage of 'natural resources', average material intensity in the EU-25 is slightly
it was decided to focus on a handful of natural less than in the United States, but twice as high as
resources: fisheries, forestry, water, fossil fuels, in Japan. The picture is similar for energy intensity,
metals and construction minerals, and land use. where the efficiency of the Japanese economy is even
more pronounced.
Global driving forces There are large differences between EU countries.
On average, resource and energy productivity in
The main driving forces of resource consumption western Europe is several times higher than in
are population and economic growth, and the the new EU Member States in central and eastern
pattern of development, broadly defined to include Europe. Material intensity varies from 11.1 kg/EUR
technological level, economic structure, and the of GDP in Estonia to 0.7 kg/EUR in France.
patterns of production and consumption. The
projected 50 % growth in the global population over Some relative decoupling of economic growth
the next fifty years will put a significant pressure on from materials and energy consumption has been
the environment. achieved in many EU countries during the past
decade. This did not necessarily lead to an absolute
If, over the next fifty years, the population of the decrease in environmental pressures, because
developing countries achieves levels of material absolute resource use has generally remained steady
wealth similar to today's levels in industrialised over the past two decades. In part, this decoupling
countries, world consumption of resources would may be due to increased imports of natural
increase by a factor ranging from two to five. resources, substituting for their declining production
or extraction in Europe.
Without dramatic technological improvements or
changes in the patterns of consumption, growth
in resource use and environmental impacts due Measuring the use of resources and its
to increased population and economic growth impact on the environment
in developing countries are likely to outweigh
technological efficiency gains in industrialised High use of natural resources increases the pressure
countries. on these sources (e.g. maintaining the availability
of supplies and ensuring sustainable yields) and on
sinks (e.g. managing the environmental impacts of
European patterns of resource use resource use, and whether ecosystems can absorb
discharges). It is generally accepted that there are
In Europe, the relationship between the main physical