SAJC Cluster 1 Lecture 5 Notes (Classification of Resources)

St. Andrew’s Junior College H2 Cluster 1: Development, Economy and Environment (Topic 1.1) H2_Cluster 1_Lecture 5_2024/pg 1 Lecture 5 Environment and Resources (II): Classification of Resources KEY QUESTION: Will our supply of provisioning services ever be depleted? With the completion of this lecture, attached readings and tutorial, you should be able to discuss: - the classification of resources based on renewability - the impact on supply of resources when their regenerative capacity is exceeded - the classification of provisioning services based on availability Lecture Outline 5.1 Classification of Resources based on their Renewability (a) Renewable resources (b) Non-renewable resources 5.2 Impact on supply of renewable resources when their regenerative capacity is exceeded 5.3 Classification of Provisioning services based on their Availability (a) Proven reserves (b) Conditional reserves (c) Hypothetical reserves (d) Speculative reserves Reading 1: How overfishing threatens the world's oceans – and why it could end in catastrophe BLUEFIN TUNA, MEDITERRANEAN Fishermen haul in a bluefin tuna caught in the old Mattanza method. The giant bluefin used to surge through the Straits of Gibraltar each spring, fanning out across the Mediterranean to spawn. Over millennia, fishermen devised a method of extending nets from shore to intercept the fish and funnel them into chambers, where they were slaughtered. Today, all but a dozen or so of the trap fisheries have closed, primarily due to lack of fish, but also because of coastal development and pollution. (Source: National Geographic)

St. Andrew’s Junior College H2 Cluster 1: Development, Economy and Environment (Topic 1.1) H2_Cluster 1_Lecture 5_2024/pg 2 5.1 Classification of Resources based on their Renewability (a) Renewable resources • Resources that can be depleted in the short run but that replace themselves in the long run are called renewable resources. They naturally regenerate to provide new supplies of those resources to be of use to human society (see Fig. 1). • Forests, most groundwater, and fisheries are good examples. Although they can be depleted by harvesting in excess of the replacement rate, if given sufficient time and the right conditions, natural processes will replace them. • The key to maintaining the availability of renewable resources is keeping our rate of use at or below the rate of natural replacement (recall the Daly Rules from Lect 1). (b) Non-renewable resources • Non-renewable resources are resources that have taken millions of years to form and so exist in finite supply. They are not being generated at a significant rate in comparison to our use of them. Once they are used up, that is the end of them. • Most geologic resources, such as fossil fuels and mineral ores, are of this type (see Fig. 1). 5.2 Impact on Supply of Renewable Resources when