Growing Scarcity Of Resources Research Articles

Exploring 2040: Global Trends and International Policies Setting Frames for the Finnish Wood-Based Economy

Global trends influence the approaches and mindset for using natural resources and technological capacities. Participatory scenario methods have proven useful in long-term foresight. However, country-level foresight studies often ignore the broader trends affecting international markets and setting frames for economic development. This study envisions which global trends could occur and how the resulting European policies might affect the Finnish forest sector’s development in 2040. We applied a Futures Wheel approach, where stakeholder groups consisting of policy-, economic- and social sustainability-, technology-, and climate sustainability -experts in the field of forestry and interlinking industries created three future scenarios in a workshop: (1) biodiversity and regulated economy, (2) circular economy, and (3) era of social connection. The scenarios assumed growing resource scarcity as a result of climate change, as well as over-consumption and increasing inequality problems globally. Thus, European-level policies focused on the circular economy and resource-use restrictions. Finnish industries should invest in wood-based side stream and waste utilization to increase added value and decrease virgin wood uses to succeed in these scenarios. However, this would require investments in non-wood energy sources to release these secondary wood flows from energy uses.

The future of intercropping under growing resource scarcity and declining grain prices - A model analysis based on a case study in Northwest China

Intercropping, i.e. mixed crop species cultivation on a field, can potentially reduce pressure on land and water resources by generating higher resource use efficiencies and crop yields through exploitation of complementarities between species. Intercropping systems in China and elsewhere have come under pressure through labor migration, growing water scarcity, changing crop prices and other factors. However, little hard evidence is available on how these socio-economic factors interplay and affect the prevalence of intercropping systems now and in the near future. The objective of this study is to explore the effect of growing scarcity of (water and labor) resources and declining (maize) grain prices on the share of intercropping in the optimal cropping plan and on associated agricultural income levels in an intercropping-dominated agricultural system in China. To undertake this analysis, we developed a mathematical programming model to simulate crop production for a model village in Gaotai county in the Hexi Corridor in northwest China, for given resources and economic conditions in 2013 and possible changes (scenarios) in the future. In the Hexi Corridor, conventional wheat/maize intercropping contributed greatly to rising food production while cash crops integrated with maize provided important cash income. With the introduction of seed crops and stricter water regulations, intercropping has become less prevalent in this area in recent years. In the absence of water constraints and at price levels and labor availability in 2013, our model results indicate that an optimal land use would entail that all land would be devoted to intercropping. Sole cumin and sole cotton enter the optimal cropping plan when water becomes scarce and the maize price declines substantially, while increases in hired labor wages have a strong negative impact on intercropping only when on-farm labor becomes scarce.

Mixed Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica [L.]) stands under drought: from reaction pattern to mechanism

We review causes of synergies in mixed-species stands, develop guiding hypotheses for revealing their mechanisms and present a rainfall exclusion experiment along with a transect (KROOF) for exploring drought effects. While monocultures have dominated forest research and practice in the past, in face of growing resource scarcity and climate change, mixed-species stands are on the advance. Long-term observations show that mixed-species stands frequently over-yield monocultures, and they further suggest that the over-yielding is often higher on poor than on fertile sites and in low-growth than in high-growth years. However, the underlying causes have not yet been clarified. We start with a review of, among others, hydraulic redistribution, complementary eco-physiological traits, and ectomycorrhizal networks as possible causes behind the observed productivity gains in mixed-species stands. Then, we develop guiding hypotheses for further exploration of synergies in mixed-species stands. Finally, we introduce into the concept and model approach of the rainfall exclusion experiment for examining the role of water supply in mixed versus pure forest stands of spruce and beech. At the Kranzberg site, six plots are equipped with water retention roofs, which only close during rain events. The remaining six plots serve as non-roofed control. Together with the rainfall exclusion experiment, an ecological gradient with five sites extending through SE-Germany forms the “Kranzberg Roof Experiment” (in short KROOF). Kranzberg Forest is a part of this gradient from moist to dry conditions, with each site providing mixed and pure associations each of spruce and beech. The ecophysiological approach will be complemented by tree ring analysis and modelling of productivity of the tree associations under intense drought.

Growing Resource Scarcity and Global Farmland Investment

Recent strong commodity prices have led to increased investor interest in farmland. Global analysis indicates that suitable land to bring into cultivation is available but concentrated in a limited number of land-abundant countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. In a much larger number of countries, productivity on currently cultivated land is significantly below potential. Higher returns to farming and relatively cheap land have contributed to a wave of investments into farming, mostly through very large ventures in land-rich countries. If land and other markets work well and a regulatory framework is in place, there are opportunities to generate considerable benefits by providing access to capital, technology, and new markets. However, investments have often been controversial because poor land governance and weak institutional capacity have made many of these ventures economically, socially, or environmentally unsustainable. Strengthening land governance and institutions and increasing public investment to raise smallholder productivity are major priorities for most countries to improve development outcomes from these investments.

The Future State Project: meeting the challenges of the 21st century

Powerful global forces will reshape the context for New Zealand over the next few decades. They include increasing international connectedness, geopolitical power shifts, rapid technological developments, demographic changes, climate change, growing resource scarcity and changing values. Some of these changes have been in train for several decades; others have come to the fore more recently. Together they are creating a world that is fast-paced, heterogeneous, complex and unpredictable. Within this context, New Zealand also faces some policy choices that are both unique and significant – for example, concerning the recently extended exclusive economic zone, and the completion of the Treaty of Waitangi claims settlement process.

Overview: Applying Ethnographic Perspective to Programs and Policy

The summer of 2008 may well be remembered as the season when the real world collided head on with the American Dream. Home foreclosures, rising energy costs, and escalating food prices are only the most obvious ramifications of a system unraveling. Behind the scenes lies a flow chart of consequences that would make Julian Steward smile; systems theory played out at its finest. Municipalities announced energy-related cut backs on public transit, even as ridership doubled. School boards voted to close or merge facilities while also experiencing a mini baby boom. Pet owners put beloved Labradors up for adoption because they couldn't pay the vet bills. Airline CEOs wrote to customers asking us to write to congress concerning energy speculation. A private university asked faculty to do research consultation over the phone rather than travel. Though the latter is a particularly hard task for ethnographers, these are only a few of the emerging public and private strategies for survival in a time of growing resource scarcity.

Participatory Development in the Presence of Endogenous Community Imperfections

The participatory or decentralised approach to development is now favoured by most bilateral and multilateral aid organisations. At the root of this approach lies the belief that rural communities can be an effective channel of development if they receive a genuine delegation of powers and responsibilities. This article argues that there unfortunately exists a widespread tendency to downplay the community imperfections that plague many rural societies while simultaneously stressing market and state failures. In fact, such imperfections, as illustrated in the case of lineage-based societies of Africa, increase as development proceeds by way of expanding economic opportunities, growing resource scarcity, as well as rising aspiration and education levels. Under these circumstances, any early implementation of the approach runs a high risk of causing considerable disillusionment, as well as undue appropriation, by local elites operating within a logic of patronage, of the resources channelled through rural communities in this way.