Abstract
Nature is the ultimate source of both life and livelihood. All that we consume or produce originates from it, is transformed, and eventually returns to it in the form of waste. Natural resources—from land to water, plants, animals, minerals, even the heat of the sun or the tide of the ocean—are not only simply essential to our survival and to the smooth functioning of our economic activities, but they are also closely interconnected with each other to form systems and cycles the balance of which is crucial and yet extremely fragile. In the last two centuries, population growth combined with the progressive worldwide diffusion of industrialization have placed immense strain on the planet’s natural systems and overall “carrying capacity”. The modern human-nature nexus is explored in this chapter, from a diverse range of perspectives covering issues like: the increasingly pressing climate change challenge; the adoption and implementation of global environmental regimes such as the Paris Agreement; the risky development implications arising from the heavy dependency of many Global South economies on the export of natural resources.
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Notes
- 1.
The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is, however, indirectly affected by human activities: the progressive and general warming of the planet’s climate in fact leads to increased evaporation from water bodies as well as land, which in turn raises the levels of atmospheric moisture.
- 2.
Intended here as share of radiating force by LLGHGs (WMO 2021).
- 3.
Around half a metric ton of carbon dioxide for each metric ton of cement produced (World Bank 2020).
- 4.
A 21-year span that is considered a reasonable surrogate for pre-industrial conditions (1880–1900) (NOAA 2022a).
- 5.
Assessment Reports are the most comprehensive publications by the IPCC. The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)—which follows the 2014 Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), is due to be completed by the year 2022.
- 6.
From average 2.1% per year between 2000 and 2009 to 1.3% per year between 2010 and 2019 (IPCC 2022a).
- 7.
Reaching and ratifying an international agreement are two different processes, as one happens on the international stage while the other crucially follows at domestic level, allowing single countries to actually turn the agreements into binding, enforceable law.
- 8.
Comprising of 29 articles (UN 2015).
- 9.
This term is used, in this context, in a broad sense that transcends the more technical and specific “Dutch disease” definition, which indicates economies where resource exports typically cause a rise in the value of the currency, thus making other potential exports uncompetitive. For this and more on natural resource governance and its relationship with poverty and development, see Paul Collier’s The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, and The Plundered Planet: Why We Must - and How We Can—Manage Nature for Global Prosperity (Collier 2007, 2011).
- 10.
With some exceptions, such as, for example, Liberia, Peru, and Ghana.
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Monaco, E. (2023). The Environment. In: Global Trends Compendium. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9163-9_5
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