NAIROBI: Material extraction is expected to rise by 60 per cent by 2060 and could derail efforts to achieve not only global climate, biodiversity, and pollution targets but also economic prosperity and human well-being, according to a report published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)-hosted International Resource Panel.
Extraction of the Earth’s natural resources tripled in the past five decades, related to the massive build-up of infrastructure in many parts of the world and the high levels of material consumption, especially in upper-middle and high-income countries.
The 2024 Global Resource Outlook, developed by the International Resource Panel with authors from around the globe and launched during the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly, calls for sweeping policy changes to bring humanity to live within its means and reduce this projected growth in resource use by one third, while growing the economy, improving well-being, and minimizing environmental impacts.
The report finds that growt
h in resource use since 1970 from 30 to 106 billion tonnes – or from 23 to 39 kilogrammes of materials used on average per person per day – has dramatic environmental impacts. Overall, resource extraction and processing account for over 60 per cent of planet-warming emissions and for 40 per cent of health-related impacts of air pollution.
The extraction and processing of biomass (e.g., agricultural crops and forestry) accounts for 90 per cent of land-related biodiversity loss and water stress, as well as one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. Similarly, extraction and processing of fossil fuels, metals and non-metallic minerals (e.g., sand, gravel, clay) together account for 35 per cent of global emissions.
‘The triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution is driven from a crisis of unsustainable consumption and production. We must work with nature, instead of merely exploiting it,’ said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. ‘Reducing the resource intensity of mobility, housing
, food and energy systems is the only way we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and ultimately a just and liveable planet for all.’
At the heart of global resource use are fundamental inequalities: low-income countries consume six times less materials and generate 10 times less climate impacts than those living in high-income countries. Upper middle-income countries have more than doubled resource use in the past 50 years due to their own growth in infrastructure and the relocation of resource intensive processes from high-income countries. At the same time, per capita resource use and related environmental impacts in low-income countries has remained relatively low and almost unchanged since 1995.
‘We should not accept that meeting human needs must be resource intensive, and we must stop stimulating extraction-based economic success. With decisive action by politicians and the private sector, a decent life for all is possible without costing the earth,’ said Janez Potocnik, the International Res
ource Panel’s Co-Chair.
Source: Emirates News Agency