Resource Management

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  • Created by: mbull
  • Created on: 06-04-18 15:12

What are resources?

Resource - a stock or supply of something that has a value or a purpose. 

Most important resources:

  • Food.
  • Water.
  • Energy.

Adequate supplies of these resources are essential for countries to develop.

People need food and water to survive and energy is needed for a basic standard of living.

These resources are unevenly distributed across the world. Most HICs have plentiful supplies and enjoy a high standard of living. 

Many of the world's poorer countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa lack resources and struggle to progress or improve quality of life for their people.

As the world's population continues to grow, resource management will present many challenges.

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The importance of resources

Access to food, water and energy affects the economic and social well-being of people and countries:

Food - Without access to enough safe, nutritious food people can become malnourished - not have the right balance of nutrients.

  • Malnourishment increases the likelihood of getting diseases.
  • People who aren't getting enough to eat may not perform as well at school, meaning that they lack skills needed to help a country's economic development. 
  • It can also prevent people from working, harming their personal economic well-being and also harming the economy of their country.

Water - People need clean, safe water for drinking, cooking and washing.

  • Without proper sanitation, water sources get polluted by raw sewage.
  • Water-born diseases such as chlorera and typhoid kill many people each year..
  • Having to walk long distances to fetch clean water can also have an economic impact on people and on a country's economy - people are able to spend less time working and children may not be able to go to school.
  • Water is needed to produce food, clothes and many other products - it has a big impact on people's lifestyles.
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The importance of resources 2

Energy

  • Countries need energy for industry and transport, as well as for use in homes. 
  • Electricity can allow industries to develop, creating jobs and making countries wealthier.
  • The way of life in high income countries depends on having a large, stable supply of energy.
  • Without electricity, people may burn wood or kerosene for cooking and to provide light and heat for their homes.
  • Using fuelwood can lead to local deforestation meaning people have to walk further and futher to find fuel.
  • Kerosene stoves can release harmful fumes and may start fires.
  • Electricity can also power pumps for wells and provide more safe water for communities.
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The global distribution of resources

  • The global distribution of resources is very uneven.
  • Some countries don't have their own energy reserves. 
  • Others have dry climates or environments that are not suitable for food production.
  • To access more resources, these companies have to import them or find technological solutions to produce more, e.g, build desalination plants to produce fresh water from seawater. This is expensive.
  • Consumption of resources is greater in more developed HICs because they can afford to buy the resources they need and expect a higher standard of living.
  • Consumption is increasing rapidly in newly emerging economies,e.g, China. Industry is developing very fast which requires lots of energy and population and wealth are also increasing rapidly.
  • Consumption is lower in low income countries because they either can't afford to exploit resources that they have, or to import resources if they're lacking their own.
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Food in the UK

People want seasonal food all year round

  • The types of food that are in demand in the UK have changed. Before the 1960s, most of the fruit and vegetables on sale in the UK were locally produced and seasonal.
  • Seasonal food isn't available all year round.
  • Since the 1960s, there has been a growing demand for seasonal products all year round. 
  • Fruit and vegetables are being imported, e.g, apples from South Africa and strawberries from Mexico.
  • There has been an increasing demand for high value foods, such as exotic fruits and vegetables, coffee and spices - they became more popular in the UK because people's incomes have increased.
  • These are often grown in low income countries,e.g, Peru, and exported to the UK.
  • Organic produce is becoming increasingly popular - produced according to strict regulations.
  • Demand is growing as people are becoming more concerned about the environmental impacts of food production and the effect of chemicals on their health. 
  • Some organic food is produced in the UK, but most is imported. 
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The Carbon Footprint of our Food

  • The growing, processing and packaging of food produces CO2, and other greenhouse gases.
  • Transporting food from where it is grown to where it is sold also produced CO2. 
  • Food miles - the distance food is transported to the market.
  • The higher the food miles, the more CO2 is produced.
  • Carbon footprint - the amount of greenhouse gas produced during growing, packing and transporting a food.
  • A larger carbon footprint means more greenhouse gases and more global warming.
  • Imported foods have to be transported a long way so have high food miles and a large carbon footprint. 
  • People are becoming aware of the environmental issues caused by transporting food over long distances.
  • Environmentalists are encouraging people to buy food grown locally.
  • Farmers' markets, farm shops and locally-produced vegetable boxes are becoming more and more popular.
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Industrialised farming

  • Since the 1960s, there has been a growth in agribusiness in the UK. 
  • Agribusiness - large-scale industrial farming where processes from the production of seeds and fertilisers, to the processing and packaging of the food are controlled by large firms.

This means that farms in the UK have been changing, e.g:

  • Farm sizes have been increasing.
  • The amount of chemicals used in food production has been increasing. 
  • The number of workers employed has been falling because of greater use of machinery.
  • Industrial farming also has environmental impacts.
  • Increasing farm size has meant hedgerows have been removed, leading to a loss in biodiversity, and heavy machinery is causing soil erosion. 
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Water in the UK

In the UK, the places with a good supply of water aren't the same as the places with the highest demand:

  • The north and west have high rainfall - good supply of water.
  • The south east and Midlands have high population densities - high demand for water.
  • The south east and Midlands are areas of water deficit. 
  • The north and west are areas of water surplus.

The demand for water in the UK is increasing:

  • Since 1975, the amount of water used by households in the UK has gone up by about 70%.
  • This is partly because people have more appliances that use lots of water.
  • The UK population is predicted to increase by around 10 million by 2040.
  • Population densities are changing - lots of new homes are planned to be built in the south east where there is already a water deficit.
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Water pollution

Polluted or low quality water reduces the amount available for use. This puts more pressure on water resources, especially in areas of water deficit.

Overall the quality of river water in the UK has been improving. There are still some problems:

  • Nitrates and phosphates from fertilisers used on crops are being washed into rivers and groundwater.
  • Pollutants from vehicles are being washed into water sources through runoff when it rains.
  • Accidental chemical and oil spills at factories are polluting local water sources and groundwater supplies.

Up to 80% of water in some parts of Southern England comes from groundwater, but pollution is affecting the water quality of nearly 50% of groundwater used for public supply in the UK. Many groundwater sources  have been closed or have had to have expensive treatment to make them safe to use.

Strategies to manage water quality:

  • Improving drainage systems - slowing down the movement of rainwater to rivers so that pollutants can be broken down in the soil.
  • Imposing regulations on the amount and types of fertilisers and pesticides used. 
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Water transfer

Water transfers can help maintain supplies

One way to deal with the supply and demand problem is to transfer water from areas of surplus to areas of deficit. 

E.g, Birmingham - an area of deficit - is supplied with water from the middle of Wales - an area of surplus. 

Issues with water transfer:

  • The dams and aqueducts (bridges used to transport water) that are needed are expensive to build.
  • If can affect the wildlife that lives in the rivers. E.g, fish migration can be disrupted by dams.
  • There might be political issues, e.g, people may not want water transferred to another area.
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Energy in the UK

Most of the UK's energy is from underground as coal, oil and gas.

The change in the UK's energy mix:

  • Traditionally, the UK has relied on fossil fuels to supply its energy - in 1970, 91% of energy came fom coal and oil
  • The discovery of large gas reserves under the North Sea meant that by 1980, 22% of the UK's energy was supplied by gas.
  • The use of nuclear energy to produce electricity increased during the 1990s.
  • Recently, there has been a shift away from burning fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources. All coal fired power stations are due to close by 2025 and in 2014, 19% of all electricity in the UK was generated from renewable sources. 
  • Wind and bioenergy are the biggest sources of renewable energy, but the use of solar and hydroelectric power has also increased.
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Supplies running out

The UK's supplies of coal, oil and gas are running out.

1. North Sea oil and gas reserves and being rapidly used up and production has been declining since 2000.

2. The UK still has coal reserves but coal production has fallen hugely since the mid 20th century. There has been a decline in the demand due to an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, and the cost of mining the remaining reserves is increasing. The last deep coal mine in the UK closed in December 2015.

3. The use of shale gas from underground is being considered in the UK, as a way of adding resources. It's extracted using a process called fracking: fluid is pumped into shale rock at high pressure, causing it crack. This forces gas trapped into the rock to flow back out of a well, where it is collected.

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Economic and environmental issues

Energy resources are very important - exploiting energy resources creates jobs and wealth for the UK. However, the extraction of fossil fuels and production of electricity can cause problems:

Economic:

  • Extracting fossil fuels can be expensive and the cost of extraction increases as reserves are used up.
  • North sea oil is especially expensive to produce. If the price of oil on the world market drops, it may cost more to produce than it can be sold for.
  • The cost of producing electricity from nuclear and renewable energy sources is relatively high.
  • Money is needed for research into alternative energy sources.
  • Many renewable sources don't provide a reliable enough supply of energy, so the UK still has to pay to import energy from other countries.

Environmental:

  • The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
  • Fracking may pollute groundwater and cause mini-earthquakes - some people in the UK are campaigning to ban it.
  • Accidents such as oil spills or nuclear disasters, can leak toxic chemicals into water sources, soils and the atmosphere.
  • Natural ecosystems can be damaged by renewable energy generators.
  • Power stations and wind farms can be unattractive.
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