Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security
Unit 3: Global resource consumption and security
1. Global trends in consumption
How global development processes affect resource availability and consumption
Global and regional/continental progress towards poverty reduction, including the growth of the 'new global middle class'
Measuring trends in resource consumption, including individual, national and global ecological footprints
An overview of global patterns and trends in the availability and consumption of: water, including embedded water in food and manufactured goods; land/food, including changing diets in middle-income countries; energy, including the relative and changing importance of hydrocarbons, nuclear power, renewables, new sources of modern energy
How different patterns and trends are interrelated and involve spatial interactions between different places
2. Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption
How pressure on resources affects the future security of places
The water-food-energy 'nexus' and how its complex interactions affect: national water security, including access to safe water; national food security, including food availability
national energy security, including energy pathways and geopolitical issues
The implications of global climate change for the water-food-energy nexus
Detailed examples of two countries with contrasting levels of resource security
The disposal and recycling of consumer items, including international flows of waste
How perspectives on, and priorities for, national resource security vary between places and at different scales
3. Resource stewardship
Possibilities for managing resources sustainably and power over the decision-making process
Divergent thinking about population and resource consumption trends: pessimistic views, including neo-Malthusian views; optimistic views, including Boserup; balanced views, including resource stewardship
Resource stewardship strategies, including: the value of the circular economy as a systems approach for effective cycling of materials and energy; the role of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and progress made toward meeting them
Different perspectives on global resource use and the likely effectiveness of management actions at varying scales
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