Sustainable Use of Biosphere Resources for Human Development

Posted on Aug 30, 2024 in Geography

Resources and Uses of the Human Being Biosphere

Development of the Human Species

The development of the human species is conditioned by the availability of food.

Paleolithic Era

  • Hunting and gathering enough food
  • Population: 8 million people

Neolithic Era

  • Emergence of agriculture and livestock
  • First expansion of mankind
  • The man and the biosphere

Population Growth and Resource Demand

  • Principles of the 19th Century: 1 billion population
  • Principles of the 20th Century: 1.6 billion population
  • World Population 2011: 7 billion population
  • Increased population: intensification of demand for resources
  • Consequence: symptoms of imbalance in the biosphere

Agricultural Resources

The Green Revolution (Early 1960s)

  • Contributed to increased food production worldwide
  • Is underpinned by improving three cereals:
    • Wheat
    • Rice
    • Maize

Traditional vs. Intensive Agriculture

Traditional Agriculture
  • Low performance
  • Different varieties
  • Difficult topography
  • Less technical
  • Organic fertilizer
  • No use of pesticides
  • Polyculture
Intensive Agriculture
  • Improved performance
  • A single variety
  • Flat course, fossil fuels, and machinery
  • Pesticides and fertilizers
  • Monoculture

Environmental Impacts of Agriculture

  • Deforestation
  • Increased greenhouse gases
  • Loss of biodiversity
  • Desertification, erosion, and salinization of soils
  • Overexploitation of aquifers
  • Water eutrophication
  • Toxic effects of pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, fungicides)
  • Waste generation
  • Impact on landscaping

Sustainable Farming Practices

  • Reducing environmental deterioration caused by fertilizers and pesticides
  • Substitution of inorganic fertilizers by organic biopesticides
  • Use of integrated pest control: keeping pests at a tolerable level, not exterminating the species
  • Biological control: introducing natural predators
  • Genetic manipulation
  • Reduced water demand:
    • Drip irrigation
    • Creation of water markets to establish criteria for allocation
  • Impact on the use of crops:
    • Multiple crops: crop rotation and intercropping plant biotechnology
    • Selecting more effective photosynthesis and less sensitive to insects, diseases, and pollution
    • Reducing consumption of meat: making better use of crops to reduce their consumption by livestock

Livestock Resources

Livestock provides 80% of the protein we consume.

  • Activity viewed from the point of nutrition
  • Two types:
    • Extensive livestock farming
    • Intensive livestock farming

Environmental Impacts of Livestock

  • Large amount of organic waste (slurry) exceeding storage capacity, becoming a source of contamination
  • Overcoming the livestock carrying capacity of soil compaction, leading to loss of biological potential
  • Deforestation generated to obtain pasture
  • Increasing demand for feed, with a significant portion of cereal crops dedicated to this purpose

Fishery Resources

Types of Fishing

Inshore Fishing
  • More traditional mode
  • Small boats operating near the coast
  • Affected by pollution
  • Low productivity
Deep Sea Fishing
  • Large boats with refrigerators, freezers, and canning factories
  • Using sophisticated techniques to detect schools of fish (radar, satellites, aircraft)

Environmental Issues from Fishing

  • Overexploitation
  • Catching fish fry
  • “Dirty” fisheries (bycatch species with no economic value)
  • Water pollution

Aquaculture

Cultivation of algae and aquatic animals.

  • A solution to prevent the exhaustion of fisheries resources
  • The fastest-growing protein production industry in the world
  • Took off three decades ago in Norway with salmon farming
  • Practiced thousands of years ago in China and Egypt
  • Cultivation of fish and seafood in special facilities (farms)
  • Developing a new species for cultivation takes 10 to 15 years
  • Steps:
    • Remove breeding individuals from their natural environment
    • Ensure they adapt to captivity
    • Ensure their survival
    • Hatching eggs
    • The larval stage
    • Fattening
    • Marketing

Forest Resources

Forests are one of the most valuable ecosystems in the world, considered the “lungs of the planet.”

  • Since the beginning of agriculture, forest volume has been reduced by one-third
  • Disappearing at a rate of over 16 km2/hour

Major Causes of Deforestation

  • Pressure to increase crop and grazing areas
  • Collection of wood and timber
  • Forest fires
  • Pests, diseases, and droughts
  • Acid rain
  • Urban development and public works

Importance of Forests

Ecological Importance
  • Contain more than 60% of the planet’s biodiversity
  • Regulate climate on a local and global scale
  • Maintain the hydrological cycle
  • Form and protect soils
  • Are one of the main sinks of CO2 in the world
Economic Importance
  • Provide raw materials:
    • Wood
    • Paper pulp
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Resins, cork, oil
    • Food products and textiles

Sustainable Use of Forests

  • Increase the efficiency of wood-based industries
  • Reduce paper usage and increase recycling
  • Reduce fuel consumption
  • Find alternative uses for forests
  • Increase planting of high-performance forests, especially in marginal areas

Constraints in Food Production

  • Agricultural yields reaching their limit in industrialized countries
  • Currently:
    • Crops less efficiently use fertilizers due to poor soils
  • Cultivable area reduced by:
    • Erosion
    • Acidification
    • Desertification
    • Salinization
  • In non-industrialized countries, population is growing faster than food resources
  • Needs for food and water for livestock make their production unprofitable
  • Increased livestock leads to serious pollution problems and alteration of arable land for processing
  • Over-exploitation of fisheries and marine pollution endanger the renewal capacity of fishery resources

Options for Sustainable Food Production

Agriculture

  • Develop sustainable farming practices
  • Limit the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers
  • Reduce consumption of fossil energy
  • Improve irrigation systems
  • Develop new plant varieties that are more productive and resilient
  • Enhance the different denominations of origin

Livestock

  • Maintain local breeds
  • Balance intensive and extensive farming
  • Restore degraded pastures
  • Increase the quality and livestock production through genetic engineering
  • Reduce stocking rate on farmland

Fishing

  • Stop the overexploitation of fishery resources
  • Protect captured species
  • Enhance aquaculture
  • Protect marine sites
  • Avoid “dirty” fishing
  • Conduct biological recovery
  • Prohibit the marketing of fish fry