Towards the Sustainable Use of Mineral Resources: A European Geological Surveys Perspective

Despite, and because of, all the technological progress, mankind is as much as ever dependent on the steady availability of a wide range of natural resources such as air, biological resources, energy, land, minerals, and soils. The enormous and accelerating growth in the demand for these resources recorded during the 20th century is likely to further accelerate during the 21st, driven by continued demographic growth, new technologies and the desire of many as yet underdeveloped, but sometimes highly populated, countries such as Brazil, China, India and others to access the same standards of living as developed countries. Competition for resources was always a powerful driver of both conflicts and of damage to our fragile, life‐supporting environment. In a sustainable development context, humanity needs a well‐distributed economic growth while avoiding negative environmental and social impacts. Intra‐generational and inter‐generational equity are requisites, as well as the careful management of the global ...