"to What Extent Is It Possible To Make Resource Exploitation Sustainable?"

"To what extent is it possible to make resource exploitation sustainable?"

The global population is increasing at 1.1% per annum. It currently stands at 6.9 billion people and with it increasing, so does the increase on resources. This increases in population pressure on resources that then result in reserves of resources declining too. If these resources that are in such high demand are not maintained and managed sustainably, they will run out. Therefore in order for countries' economies, environments and citizens to benefit from these resources, they have to be managed sustainably, although sustainability takes careful management, time and a certain amount of wealth.

It is possible to make resource exploitation sustainable. This can be seen in the MEDC of Finland, Europe. Finland has an increasing birth rate, 1.85 children born/woman in 2008 to 1.86 in 2009, and an increasing life expectancy, of living on average to 74.7 years old in 1986 increasing to 79.8 in 2009. Both of these are increasing the population's pressure on the resources of a country that is ¾ covered by forestry. Finland, occupies the western section on the world's largest forest biome is the boreal coniferous forest and is home to three main species of tree; Scots pine, Norway spruce and silver birch. Forestry as an industry accounts of 8% of the countries annual GDP, this happens predominately through exporting 30% of the wood through paper and pulp. Further forestry employs 200,000 people through the printing and packaging industry in Finland. Therefore the economic importance of this resource has led to Finland making it sustainable. They have done this through careful planning and strategic programmes that suit their population and the demand. Finland's National Forest Programme (NFP) that was set up in 1999 aims to; secure employment and livelihoods of forest workers, to maintain forest habitats and ecosystems and to protect the traditional role of forests whether it is recreation, camping, hiking or hunting. NFP is fundamentally controlled by the Government whereby they have made it a legal requirement to replant after felling. Further the Government provide advice on the timber trade and they also give financial grants to forest owners to, practise sustainable management methods, to maintain forest diversity and the effective management of forests. Some of these management suggestions are cutting the wood using effective short wood methods that minimise the damage to the surrounding trees, where the removal of the felled trees branches allows them to decompose on the soil below and enrich it with nutrients into the cycle resulting in sustainability. Sustainability in Finland has led to, 10.6% of forest areas are protected or have restricted use; trees are only cut in the winter so that machinery does not damage the forest floor as the ice protects it and only Finland's native trees are allowed to be grown. The largest Governmental aim is that the majority of reforestation is through natural succession and not by planting and re-seeding therefore this helps maintain the natural appearance, structure and process of the Finland's forestry eco-systems. Therefore, Finland has managed to make their resource, wood, sustainable. This has been proven by how in the past fourty years, tree growth has exceeded tree cutting by 20-30%.

Furthermore in NIC's it is also possible to make resource exploitation sustainable. Although, China is an interesting example as although it aims to achieve sustainability of wood by 2015, it currently takes wood from other countries such as Papa New Guinea therefore is it truly sustainable? China has the lowest amount of forest land per capita in the world and the natural forest as a resource, is severely deficient, it isn't evenly distributed and consists of poor quality wood. The high population growth and unprecedented economic growth has led to an increase in wood consumption and therefore over logging that has led to several ecological disasters such as soil erosion and flooding that has resulted in huge economic, environmental and social effects. At this stage, China's situation was unsustainable and this led to huge imports of wood from other countries as they were unable to rely on natural forest supplies. This led to the creation of the "National Forest Protection Programme" that was set up in the 1960s, whereby it bans logging in 18 provinces throughout China. It encourages reforestation and the efficient vitalisation of existing forests. It also led, in 1998, to the banning of logging timber. The management of this resource is fundamental to sustainability. Although this initially seems to be a sustainable management method as the Government have targeted to be self-sustainable by 2015, China's demand continually is increasing at a rapid rate, this becomes only a contributing factor to China's sustainability as it's unable to meet China's growing demands.

Although, it is not always possible to make resource exploitation sustainable as is evident with the LEDC of Burkina Faso that is situated in sub-Saharan Africa. The issues in Burkina Faso are; it has an extremely low amount of fuel wood due to the climate, 45% of the population are defined as poor, fossil fuels are too expensive for the country, wood is illegally felled in a country with an increasing urban population. This has all led to consumption being greater than production; therefore the resource of wood in Burkina Faso is unsustainably managed. The dependence of this resource was recognised by the Government which resulted in the substitution of fuel wood for other methods. The Governmental organisation of EDNA focused on controlling on how the rural population illegally felled the wood. They implemented the requirement of a license for the women who were collecting the wood that cost the women money, so that they could keep track on who was felling and how much they were felling at any one time. Although, the license cost to attain which resulted in the women having to collect more wood to cover all of their costs, therefore this method of management was unsustainable. Furthermore, they tried to introduce the substitution of wood for solar cookers introducing the use of renewable energy in a country with a high level of solar due to their global location. Although, EDNA failed to recognise that the issue came from the fast growing urban populations and this solution would only work within the rural population. This method of substitution was not successful in the cities as they are densely packed and sunlight is essential for the solar cooker to be successful and not all of these densely packed areas will have access to this. The attempt at sustainability of a resource, wood, has been unsuccessful in Burkina Faso as their methods chosen come with a great cost for the population which is unaffordable in a country that is still in stage 2 of the demographic transition model. Further investment into the sustainability in the country could lead to the management of the resource successfully.

In conclusion the exploitation of a resource can be managed sustainably but at what cost? Finland is the 53rd richest country in the world (The World Bank 2009), and China is the 2nd on the same pole, whereas, Burkina Faso is 121st on The World Bank scale. Therefore the ability for a country to have sustainability of a resource seems to result on the economic level of the country, as management of resources creates a large cost. Therefore the discussion as to whether only MEDCs and NICs are able to manage their resources sustainably and LEDCs are unable to afford to have sustainability is suitable.