Figure 1-2-18 Proven Reserves and Annual Production Amounts (Left Axis, Logarithmic Indication) and Ratio of Reserves to Production (Right Axis) of the World's Main Underground Resources

Major item	Rare metals	Fossil fuels
Item	Iron ore	Copper ore	Zinc ore	Lead	Tin	Silver	Gold	Titanium	Manganese	Chrome	Nickel	Cobalt	Niobium	Tungsten	Molybdenum	Tantalum	Indium (*2)	Natural gas	Oil	Coal
Ratio of reserves to production(%)	70	35	18	20	18	19	20	128	56	15	50	106	47	48	44	95	18	63	46	119
Proven(mineral)reserves	160,000	540	200	79,000	5,600	400,000	47,000	730,000	540,000	350	71,000	6,600	2,900	2,800	8,700	110,000	11,000	187,490	1,333	826,000
Production	2,300	15.8	11	3,900	307	21,400	2,350	5,720	9,600	23	1,430	62	62	58	200	1,160	600	2,990	29	6,940
Unit	1 million tons	1 million tons	1 million tons	1 thousand tons	1 thousand tons	Tons	Tons	1 thousand tons	1 thousand tons	1 million tons	1 thousand tons	1 thousand tons	1 thousand tons	1 thousand tons	1 thousand tons	Tons	Tons	1 billion mi	1 billion barrels	1 million tons
Notes	Oxide	Oxide	Oxide	Net	Oxide	Net	Net	Oxide	Oxide	Net	Net	Net	Net	Net	Net	Net	Net

(*1) The value for ratio of reserves to production is the amount of proven (mineral) reserves divided by the 2009 amount of production. The number of mineable years changes in relation to the confirmed reserves and the amount of production.

(*2) Only for indium, the proven (mineral) reserve is the 2007 value.

Source: Created by the Ministry of the Environment, based on information from the U.S. Geological Survey "Mineral Commodity Summaries 2010"

ore production in the world since 2001. There are concerns about the effects of the environmental impact caused by the decline in the quality of copper ore (Figure 1-2-21).

## (5) Economic Development and the Environmental Impact

Thus far we have looked at individual human activities and the associated impacts placed on the environment. Lastly, in order to discuss a comprehensive relationship between human economic and social activities and their environmental impact, we now look at how economic development is related to the ecological footprint and the amount of $ CO_{2} $ emissions.

In order for us to achieve sustainable development, it is important to decouple economic growth from the environmental impact, both of which have increased in parallel thus far. In other words, it is important to achieve decoupling, that is, to ensure that the rate of increase of environmental impact is lower than the rate of economic growth, and that economic growth does not cause environmental impacts.

There is a correlation between growth of the world's GDP and growth of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. As GDP increases, carbon dioxide emissions also increase (Figure 1-2-22). GDP growth and increase of carbon dioxide emissions indicates that relative decoupling is progressing, but absolute decoupling may not be.

There is also a correlation between GDP and the values for ecological footprint that the WWF released in 2010 for approximately 140 countries in the world. Countries that have a high per-person GDP also have a high ecological footprint value (Figure 1-2-23). The ecological footprint is an indicator for comparison of people's amount of consumption of resources and nature's production capacity. It uses values indicated by converting the land area necessary for reproducing resources and purifying emissions, and it suggests that the world's economic growth still continues to cause impacts on nature's capacity to reproduce.