Sustainable Natural Resource Management

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Sustainable Natural Resource Management Globalizat
ion Challenges and Opportunities for Science and
Technology Education for Sustainable
Development Karl Karmsen UNESCO-UNU
International Conference, 23-24 August
2006, Yokohama, Japan
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Key words gt Globalization gt Challenges
Opportunities gt Science Technology gt
Education gt Sustainable Development
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• Contents
• Definition
• The context
• Sustainable NRM
• Processes in soil-plant-atmosphere systems
• Globalization

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1. Sustainability Definition
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Sustainable development development that
meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs Brundlandt Report, 1987
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2. Sustainability The Context
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Limits to Economic Growth
Environment
Social Political Issues
Biodiversity
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Environment
Chief Seattle's Speech of 1854 (Version 1) Dr.
Henry A. Smith, Seattle Sunday Star, Oct. 29,
1887)
(..) Our religion is the traditions of our
ancestors - the dreams of our old men, given them
in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit
and the visions of our sachems, and is written in
the hearts of our people. (..). Our dead never
forget this beautiful world that gave them being.
They still love its verdant valleys, its
murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains,
sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and
bays, (..)
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Environment

• Concern about the environment in Europe started
  about 20 years after WW-2, that is, the post-war
  generation
• Radioactive fallout (atmospheric atomic bomb
  explosions USA ex-USSR)
• Heavy metal contamination Cadmium (itai-itai
  disease) and Lead (Minamata Bay)
• Organic micro-pollutants, pesticides,
  Phosphorus, Nitrogen, acid deposition, etc
• Emission of gases that cause climate change
  gases that break down the ozone layer

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Environ-ment
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Biodiversity

• Eutrophication of surface water (N P) fish
• Acid deposition (NH3, NOx, SOx) forests
• Use of biocides disappearance of plant and
  animal species (frogs, storks, birds of prey)
• Habitat destruction, e.g., deforestation
  disappearance of plant and animal species
• Over-fishing of seas and oceans
  disappearance of fish species

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Limits to Economic Growth

• Industrialization
• Population growth
• Malnutrition
• Non-renewable resources
• Environment
• Club of Rome, Limits to Growth, 1972

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Social Political Issues

• Cold war
• Decolonization process
• Racial emancipation (USA)
• Emancipation of women
• Democratization from the state level to the
  workplace (e.g., universities, factories)
• Mass media ICT Television, Internet, Cell
  Phones
• Globalization Economy, Information

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3. Sustainable Management of Natural Resources
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• Define the system in terms of its components and
  metricized parameters
• Soil chemical, physical, biological parameters
• Ground- and surface water chemical, biological
  parameters
• Air chemical parameters
• Above- and below-ground biodiversity
  ecosystems biological parameters
• gtgt Define functions and services !!

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• Functions
• Culture or production function
• Filter or buffer function
• Ecological functions
• Services
• Provide clean water, refugium for biota, food of
  good quality, recreation, etc

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• Measure individual parameters, functions,
  services, metrics quantify them and compare
  against set criteria.
• How do the individual parameters change over
  time? Portfolio picture.
• How does the management system affect the
  resource base? Renewable non-renewable
  resources.
• Is the management system economically viable?
  Culturally and socially acceptable? Policy
  environment? Institutions?
• Is the management system sustainable ?

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4. Processes in Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Systems
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Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System
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Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System
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Processes in Soil as a Black Box
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Processes in Soil Systems
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Processes in Soil Occur in the Rhizosphere of
Growing Crops
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Simplified Food Web in a Soil
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Processes in Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Systems
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The Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System in the Landscape
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• Sustainability
• Dynamic quality processes (x,t)
• Dynamic concept relates to processes, not to
  static parameters
• Processes are functions of time (t) and space
  (x,y.z)
• ?Time scale Space scale are important
• ? Up-scaling extrapolation Agro-Ecological
  Zoning, simulation modeling, dynamic systems
  analysis

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Time t
Time t ?t
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5. Globalization
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Globalization (1) Relates primarily to economic
relations multinational companies move their
production units to countries with low wages and
little or no social or environmental legislation
(or enforce-ment of any existing legislation).
In a political and cultural sense, globalization
has been perceived as spreading western values
and consolidating global power structures The
anti-globalization movement and NGOs may have
contributed more to conservation of the
environment and biodiversity than the
globalization per se
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Globalization (2) Science and technology always
have been international cq global, but this has
been facilitated by improved travel facilities
worldwide and the upsurge in information and
communication technologies, facilitating
increased access to knowledge and technology Some
countries in SE and E Asia seem to have benefited
significantly of the opportunities provided by
economic globalization. More recently, China and
India seem to be solidly on the path of economic
development, their growth being clearly linked to
economic globalization.
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Globalization (3) The poorest countries do not
seem to benefit much from economic globalization
(other than providing cheap labour), their
environment may be further degraded by polluting
industries, and only the urban elite seems to
benefit from the ICT and other positives of
globalization. Nevertheless, some countries
(e.g., Ghana) have realized sustained economic
growth over the past decade and it remains to be
seen whether this development model can deal
effectively with rural poverty and
underdevelopment
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An Artists View of Processes in Soil
THANK YOU
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Soil Functions
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The Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System in the Landscape
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Production Function
Ecological Functions
Filter Function
REFERENCE STATE
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Production Function
Filter Function
Ecological Functions
INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE
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Nutrient Balance
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Nutrient Balance
influx
accumulation
source - sink
depletion
efflux
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THANK
YOU