Environmental Resources

A.S. Mather, K. Chapman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781317894469
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sciences physiques
• Subtopic: Géographie

Environmental Resources provides a comprehensive text for undergraduate resource management courses. It begins with an introduction to natural and environmental resources and then considers them in the context of politics, time and space.

CHAPTER 1

Introductory concepts

Some environmental resources are easily recognized. Most people would regard fertile farmland, for example, as such a resource, producing food for sale or for direct consumption, and many would see a fast-flowing river as a potential resource for producing hydro-electricity. Perhaps there might be more disagreement about whether a wilderness area or a barren mountain could be regarded as environmental resources. In the case of the fertile farmland and fast-flowing river, useful products such as food and electricity can be derived, but the value of the wilderness area or mountain cannot be expressed in similar material forms. This is not to say that they have no value, but their value is of a kind different from that of the farmland and river.

Natural resource is a term that has for long been applied to certain forms of land and water, and natural resources are, of course, the physical bases for human life. The term environmental resource is used here for a number of reasons, including a wish to embrace the wilderness or mountain that may be considered valuable even if it does not yield physical products or materials of economic value.

Environmental resources are parts of nature that humankind considers to be useful or valuable. What is meant by ‘nature’ can be debated endlessly, but for our present purposes it is simply the physical environment or the non-human world around us, including the land, sea and air and their plants and animals. ‘Useful’ here relates to the production of material benefits, such as food and electricity, while ‘valuable’ refers to human perceptions of an aesthetic or other non-material kind that may exist whether or not ‘useful’ products are derived. In the words of Holmes Rolston, ‘valuable’ means ‘able to produce valued experiences’ (1988:272). He then goes on to list no fewer than 14 different types of value associated with nature, ranging from economic and life-support value to religious and character-building value. Alternatively and rather more prosaically, environmental resources can be defined as those parts of nature that can provide the goods and services sought by humans – including services such as opportunities for recreation, the appreciation of scenic beauty, or the disposal of wastes.

Three main groups of environmental resources can be recognized:

• One consists of raw materials and energy sources used by humans, usually as inputs into the economic system. These have traditionally been regarded as natural resources. Obvious examples include mineral ores, coal and oil.

• Another group comprises parts of the environment that can provide services rather than material goods – for example in outdoor recreation and appreciation of wildlife and scenery.

• Thirdly, the natural environment provides the essential life-support system for humans, including oxygen to breathe and water to drink as well as material goods such as food. It also provides the sump into which the waste products of the economic system and human life in general are put.

Resource management aims to provide goods and services, and to maintain essential life-support systems. It is a means towards an end, or a group of ends. The underlying objective is utility, which can take the form of production of materials such as food and wood, or less tangible forms such as pleasure or happiness. The goal may be survival, profit or capital accumulation, or the enjoyment of scenery or recreation. Resource management is concerned with the physical or biological functioning of part of the environment (for example a forest), but also with the allocation of resource products, within the frameworks of particular legal and cultural settings. It therefore has three different dimensions. These were labelled by Firey (1960) as ecological, economic and ethnological (i.e. social or cultural). If an environmental resource is to be used, its use must be physically possible, economically viable and culturally acceptable.

Plate 1.1 Fertile lowlands with deep soils, gentle slopes and favourable climates have for many centuries been highly valued as resources for producing food. Uplands and mountainous areas, on the other hand, were until comparatively recently usually perceived negatively, as harsher environments in which food and other physical requirements were difficult to produce. By the end of the eighteenth century, however, more positive perceptions were being established. By this time, the scenic beauty of mountains was increasingly appreciated and tourism was beginning to develop. While the physical environment of such areas did not change appreciably, human appraisal did, and what had previously not been regarded as a valuable or useful part of the environment was now perceived as a resource. (a) Arable farmland in fertile lowland near Aberdeen, Scotland. (Source: J. Livingston)

Plate 1.1 (b) Wester Ross in the north-west Highlands of Scotland. (Source: J. Livingston)

Each of these dimensions is complex, and it is therefore not surprising that many texts on resource management concentrate on one or other of them. In practice, however, environmental resources have to be managed with regard to all three dimensions: the physical management of the resource has to take place within particular economic and cultural climates. Conversely, the management of an environmental resource in order to satisfy particular economic or social goals may have effects on the physical or biological nature of the resource.

Many of the problems encountered in resource management stem from conflicts that develop between different goals. For example, a quest for more food may lead to the intensification of agriculture. This in turn can lead to landscape change and a loss of scenic beauty as hedges and trees are removed, and also to the increased contamination of rivers through accelerated soil erosion, fertilizers and pesticide residues.

Resource definitions – material or functional?

‘Resources’ itself is a most elusive term, as Table 1.1 suggests. It is noticeable that there are different types or groups of meanings. On the one hand, resources may be ‘stock that can be drawn on’: environmental resources might include ‘stocks’ of coal or iron deposits, for example. On the other hand, there are several human-centred definitions, such as ‘means of supplying a want’ and ‘skill in devising expedients’. These definitions imply or presuppose that a person is involved, and that resources are not simply ‘stocks’.

Table 1.1 Selected dictionary meanings of ‘resource’ and ‘resources’

1.	‘means of supplying a want; stock that can be drawn on; country’s collective means for support and defence; expedient device; skill in devising expedients, practical ingenuity, quick wit’
2.	‘available means; something to which one has recourse in difficulty; capability or skill in meeting a situation’
3.	‘source or possibility of help; an expedient means of support’
4.	‘source or possibility of help; cleverness in finding a way round difficulties’
5.	‘that to which one resorts, or on which one depends, for supply or support; funds, wealth, riches, available means’

Sources:

1. Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1964.

2. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 1971.

3. Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, 1977.

4. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 1978.

5. Collins New English Dictionary, 1956.

These contrasting interpretations characterize the enormous body of writing that has been produced on natural or environmental resources. Some commentators regard resources as stocks of substances or materials found in nature or the environment, while others take a more human-centred view and see them as the result of human appraisal. The practical significance of this difference in viewpoint could scarcely be more profound. If environmental resources are simply stocks of substances found in nature, then they are inevitably fixed and limited in quantity. Limits to resource use must inevitably exist. If, on the other hand, resources reflect human appraisal, then the conclusion is quite different. In this case, their limits are not imposed by the nonhuman environment, but rather by human ingenuity in perceiving usefulness or value.

One of the most outstanding contributions to the theory of resources is that of Erich Zimmerman, who was an economics professor in the University of Texas. His classic World Resources and Industries was first published in 1933, and a revised edition followed in 1951. It sought essentially to work out a new synthesis between economics and geography, and in particular to develop a new view and new understanding of natural resources. Zimmerman clearly takes the ‘appraisal’ or functional view of resources: in his words ‘“resource” does not refer to a thing or a substance but to a function which a thing or a substance may perform’ (1951: 7) (italics added). More simply. ‘Resources are not, they become’ (p. 15). By this he means that no part of nature has intrinsic physical or chemical properties that make it a resource, but any part can become a resource when people perceive it as having utility or value. Resources are defined by humans, rather than by nature. In this sense, therefore, the term natural resource is not meaningful: no environmental material is a natural resource because of its intrinsic properties, and any material can become a natural resource.

Since the significance of this tension between the material and perceptual view of resources is so fundamental, it is worth exploring further by means of specific examples. One case that exemplifies the perceptual view is that of snow on the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland. During the 1960s this ‘environmental resource’ began to be utilized for skiing and as the basis of a winter tourist industry. The amount and composition of the snow did not alter significantly at that time, but the human perception of it did. What was previously not perceived as a ‘useful or valuable part of nature’ now became an environmental resource supporting an economic activity. To paraphrase Zimmerman, the snow was not previously a resource, but it now became one. Not everyone, however, regarded the snow as a resource, or as a useful or valuable part of the environment. Sheep farmers in the same area doubtlessly continued to view it negatively, as it caused them problems. In other words, the perception of the snow not only changed through time, but also differed between individuals and groups. It would seem that the ‘material’ view of resources, as stocks of substances, is untenable in this case.

A further and broader example of contrasts in perceptions between groups of people is quoted by Davidson (1990) in relation to the tropical rain forest in South-East Asia. Many Javanese people consider the forest to be a threat rather than a resource, because it harbours wild animals and pests which damage their homes and crops, and because they regard it as the domain of evil spirits. When they resettle in other parts of Indonesia, they seek to clear the forest back from their homes and cropland. Zimmerman uses the term ‘resistance’ to describe such negatively perceived parts of the environment. On the other hand many government officials and planners see the expanses of Imperata grassland that have replaced the forest there and in other parts of South-East Asia as waste, representing environmental degradation and a lost resource. Local people, however, may regard the grassland as far more valuable than the forest, offering a source of roof thatch, fodder for livestock and habitat, and hunting ground for edible wildlife. To them, the grassland may be more useful and valuable than closed forest. Again, it would seem that only the perceptual concept of environmental resources is tenable in this example.

Both Cairngorm snow and South-East Asian forest are environmental resources that are meaningful in perceptual rather than material terms. This does not necessarily indicate that ‘material’ definitions are meaningless. Only certain amounts of snow and certain areas of forest and grassland exist: for any particular perceptual definition of environmental resources, material definitions in terms of hectares, tonnes, cubic metres or barrels may apply. The two definitions to some extent complement rather than compete with each other. The material definition is meaningful if related to particular perceptual definitions. On its own, the material definition leads to what Zimmerman (1951:7) regards as the ‘false impression of resources as something static, [and] fixed, whereas actually they are as dynamic as civilization itself’. Equally, the perceptual definition on its own has limited meaning unless complemented by statements or measurements of defined environmental phenomena.

Creation and destruction of resources

Creation

The example of snow in the Cairngorms illustrates one way in which environmental resources can be created. At some point in time, a component of the environment that was previously not viewed as useful or valuable is perceived to be a resource. This change may follow from broad cultural or societal trends, related for example to affluence, free time or attitudes to nature. It may also stem from more sudden and abrupt changes in technology, allowing natural materials that previously seemed to have no great utility from the human viewpoint to become very useful. One example is the discovery in the nineteenth century of the process of vulcanization of rubber, whereby its durability and flexibility are increased. This led to the natural product of rubber being used in a whole variety of new applications, and in particular for the tyres of bicycles. Demand for rubber increased enormously. Rubber trees were now perceived positively, and valued as environmental resources. Another example is the afforestation of peatlands in Scotland. Until recent decades, they were regarded as unsuitable for commercial timber growing. Over the last 30 years, however, silvicultural techniques have been devised that permit acceptable timber growth rates to be achieved. What were previously negative areas for timber growing became positive areas.

Some environmental resources are suddenly and abruptly perceived as such, for example when a technological advance allows previously unusable materials to be utilized. More generally, the recognition of resources is a slower and more gradual process, involving a series of stages.

• Initially some resource potential is recognized, but the technical difficulty or cost of utilization means tha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Introductory concepts
• Chapter 2 The political economy of environmental resources
• Chapter 3 Environmental resources in space and time
• Chapter 4 The land resource: food production
• Chapter 5 The land resource: forests
• Chapter 6 The land resource: biodiversity, protected areas and environmental conservation
• Chapter 7 Energy resources
• Chapter 8 Mineral resources
• Chapter 9 Water resources
• Chapter 10 Ocean resources
• Chapter 11 Environmental wealth and limits to growth
• Chapter 12 Transition to sustainability?
• References
• Index