It should be noted
that in the case of nutrient rich animal manure dispersal in the fields, the effects of these
nutrients on the environment combine with those of fertilisers, leading to a significant
local threat to sustainability. Therefore indicators such as the one shown in fig. 8 only tell
an incomplete story. However, appropriate use of manure if it can be certified exempt of noxious
components and of cover crops can be effective to maintain and improve soil fertility
and quality. Therefore, indicators such as the one shown in fig. 8 only tell an incomplete
story. The use of pesticides64 can seriously harm the soils biodiversity, impairing its
fertility, with possible serious consequences for the whole ecosystem as soil related food
sources may no longer be available for other species and further to possible damage on
the health of humans and animal species
64
the term pesticides used in this report includes insecticides, herbicides and fungicides as well as other
chemicals, such as hormones, used in agriculture. Page 66
EU-25 Change in fertiliser consumption N, P and K
Data source UN Food and Agriculture Organisation - httpfaostat.fao.orgfaostat
Nitrogenous Fertilizers
Phosphate Fertilizers
Potash Fertilizers
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
s
e
n
n
o
t
n
o
i
l
l
i
M
14,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
0
1961
Fig.
8 Changes in the European fertiliser consumption 1961-2002. Data source FAOStat
o Through inappropriate irrigation practices agriculture can also lead to salination
and or sodication of soils. Overexploitation of aquifers for irrigation purposes has the
potential to lead to land subsidence and to the sometimes irrecoverable65 degradation
of the recharge potential of aquifers
Soils are a non-renewable natural resource, and with water the resource of the
greatest importance for the future sustainable development of the EU and of the
rest of the world. o Water issues related to agriculture are also of great importance, although total water
abstraction for agricultural purposes in the EU decreased from 1997 to 2000 Wieland,
2003 no more recent data available. As already mentioned agriculture can be one the
main sources of surface and groundwater problems. As an example, in France data from the French Water Information Centre Centre
dInformation sur lEau66, agricultural water abstraction represented 11 of the total
water abstraction and 68 of the effective water consumption , since most water used
for irrigation does not reenter rivers or groundwater, due to evaporation and evapo-
transpiration. In 30 years, from 1970 to 2000, in France, the irrigated surface was
multiplied by 3, up to about 1.5 M ha 15,000 km2. 50 of the water used in agricultural
is used for the production of maize, which in turn is an input for the production of meat. Irrigated agriculture can affect the quantitative andor the qualitative status of either
surface andor groundwater bodies, in relation with soil salination sodication problems or
due to the wide range of chemicals used in agriculture. The modification of soil drainage,
needed for agricultural development, impacts on natural habitats with losses of
biodiversity birds, plants and soil functions water recharge and natural depollution. In
addition to subsidence, overexploitation of aquifers may lead to the intrusion of saline
water, especially in coastal areas. 65
66
in case of subsidence happening once the originally water containing pores of an aquifer are emptied. The
resulting ground settlement has the potential of closing the pores, impairing further recharge of the aquifer. httpwww.cieau.comtoutpublsommaireindex_flash.htm, last accessed on 140804
Page 67
Its development, especially in the Mediterranean region is EEA, 2003 is of particular
concern, these countries using much of their water resources for agricultural
purposes fig. 9. According to the European Environmental Agencys findings many
heavily irrigated regions of southern and eastern Europe are characterised by a
lowering of water tables, land degradation and desertification, salinisation and the
destruction or degradation of wetlands and aquifers.
Fig. 9 Freshwater abstraction in different parts of the European Union from Wieland, 2003 Eurostat
o Biodiversity issues are also important the larger fields required by intensive, highly
mechanised agriculture require much larger fields and the removal of obstacles such as
hedges, which are important biotopes for different plants and animals. Hedges also play
a positive role in flood prevention. The Way Forward
Data on EU agriculture and sustainable development is still dispersed, very incomplete. Some data is available from national sources and some EU-wide indicators have been
compiled by the European Environmental Agency67. There is chapter on agriculture in the
Third Assessment of Europes environment EEA, 200368. The current model of a high-yield, resources including capital intensive agriculture,
where subsidies encourage overproduction leading to the collapse of prices, requiring
more subsidies and more intensification of the cultivation breeding techniques is not
sustainable as it inefficiently uses partly non-renewable natural resources. Organic farming, which does not use chemical fertilisers and pesticides, has in general,
but not necessarily, lower yields and promotes better soil cultivation practices is slowly
raising. In 2002 it represented a total of about 4 of all cultivated surface in the EU-15
link httpthemes.eea.eu.intSectors_and_activitiesagricultureindicators
67
68
here
httpreports.eea.eu.intenvironmental_assessment_report_2003_10enkiev_chapt_02_3.pd
f
available
Page 68
EFTA 3 without Switzerland, source EEA, 2004. With more research and knowledge,
organic farming techniques could be further optimised. If effectively implemented, several existing recent EU-regulations and forthcoming
policies regulations may somewhat decouple EU69 agriculture from environmental
impacts
o the recent Common Agricultural Policy CAP is decoupling farm subsidies from the
amounts produced and replacing them by new single farm payments, linked to the
respect of environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards
o the EU Water Framework Directive published in 2000 and the forthcoming Groundwater
daughter directive sets the frame for EU-wide integrated water body management at the
river basin scale and the progressive restoration, where feasible, of polluted waterbodies. The Directive, further to the monitoring requirements it includes, will much improve the
detailed knowledge, at the river basin scale, of the qualitative and quantitative status of
the European surface and groundwater bodies, and the trends of their status. This is a
key for the design and implementation of local agricultural sustainable practices
o REACH, the future European Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and
Restriction of Chemicals is expected to be of importance to improve the pesticides used
in agriculture as more generally to reduce the negative effects of chemicals on the
environment and on human health
o the forthcoming Soils Thematic Strategy, depending on the choices which will be made
by the European Institutions and on the contents of the desirable Soils Framework
Directive could
o
o play a major role in the reinforcement of a competitive, sustainable EU agriculture. o the INSPIRE Directive will provide, with time, a EU-wide harmonised Spatial Data
Infrastructure much improving the comparability of geographic data across Europe,
including in the environmental domain. R 23
It cannot be sufficiently emphasised that soils and water, and their sustainable
management should be amongst priorities for the future strategy. Much remains to be
done to improve and harmonise EU-wide quantitative and qualitative data on water
resources and soils and to develop low-cost monitoring techniques. Many obstacles are
on the way towards this harmonisation, such as differing regulations and cultural
concepts, and to overcome them will take time. Knowledge needs to be based on
sufficiently detailed local data, due to the variability and hence the importance of the local
condition of the environmental components. This is the scale at which the problems
occur and need to be solved. harmonisation of data acquisition and processing interpretation techniques at the EU
would ensure the comparability of data throughout the EU and through time. Consumer demand for sustainable products is growing but in itself not sufficient, as long
as they have to compete with low priced alternatives which have shifted the true costs to
society as a whole. Despite all progress in the regulatory framework a better, more
sustainable agriculture, will only develop if there is regulation and economic incentives by
governments for agricultural products produced in compliance with sustainable
development requirements ethics, a mobilization of the whole supply chain in support of
the same and finally a commitment of individual farmers towards the sustainable use of
the natural resources they require for the production of their goods. Disincentives by
69
This decoupling should be monitored by means of a series of specific indicators. Page 69
States, regions or local authorities, discouraging poor practices, can also play a
determining role.
Some encouraging trends are emerging, with the development of
organic farming and the efforts of some retail stores to support the marketing of these
products. 5.4.5.2 - BUILT-UP AREAS
They are an important user of an important non-renewable resource land, exerting
significant pressures on air, soils and water. Table 7 EU-15 Land use estimates from Eurostat, 2003
About 10 of the EU-15 landmass is used by built-up areas table 770 from EuroStat,
2003c used for a wide range of purposes. Fig. 10 shows that the size of built-up areas
continued to significantly expand over the recent years. Built-up areas are human
dwellings and their ancillary facilities roads administrative, business, commercial and
industrial storage energy production areas. Built-up areas provide numerous essential functions to modern societies, but they also
generate specific, important, environmental impacts and the current trend of more and
more built-up areas may therefore be unsustainable. Land-use planning policies and
practices and the quality of the datasets available in support for land-use planning are
very important for a more sustainable development of built-up areas.
70
To calculate the of built-up areas agricultural, forestry, unused and fishing land uses have been deducted
from the 100 total
Page 70
Fig. 10 Development of built-up areas in selected European Countries
from EuroStat, 2003b
Sealing of soils is one of the important issues as it impairs most of the soils natural
functions and therefore affects soil fertility and the recharge of aquifers. It also impedes
rainwater to penetrate into the soil, increasing the quantity of run-off surface water
occurring in case of strong precipitations and the risk of flooding. Floods, which are
aggravated by poor land-use planning practices, are very costly to society. The worst
flood recorded in the EUs history up to 2001 was in 1994, in Italy. It costed 7 bn . In
August 2002, catastrophic floods in Central Europe created at least 9 bn of damages to
the German economy, as per details in fig.
11 compiled from official sources by a
German NGO. In the US, the yearly costs of floods averages 1.8 bn source European
Commission DG RTD press release, March 1st, 2002 71. R 24
Floods are not, by far, totally unforeseeable catastrophes. Although there is a hazard
element in floods, their occurrence being unknown in advance, probabilities can be
assessed and flood-prone areas are identifiable not forgetting that some floods are
related to overflow of groundwater, which means that hydrogeology has to been taken
into account for the preparation of flood risk models. Example of predictive models are
existing. The use of such models should become standard practice for land-use
planning purposes, in order to stop the development of build up areas in risk prone
areas and in areas where their continuing development would be aggravating generating
risks. Finally, sealing of soils leads to diminishing area of fertile soil, while this area is
necessary for sustainable agriculture and forestry. Alteration of natural drainage the development of built up areas frequently modifies,
and even significantly alters, the natural drainage networks. This can lead to an
impairment of the functioning of these networks and to the accentuation of flood events
and of their disastrous consequences. Collection of rainwater can be problematic in case
71
Available here httpeuropa.eu.intcommresearchpress2002pr0103en.html
Page 71
of storms and extreme rainfall. In such case, the volume of runoff may overwhelm the
existing rainwater collecting infrastructure and the capacity of existing treatment facilities. Estimate of the damages, in bn having resulted from the August 2002 floods in Germany
From Hochwasser special Naturschutzjugend Germany accessed on the Internet
httpwww.hochwasser-special.de
2.5
2
s
n
o
i
l
l
i
B
1.5
1
0.5
0
Private housing
Industry and
commerce
Agriculture
Federal
government
Regions
municipalities
Various
Fig. 11 Costs of a single catastrophic flood the German August 2002 flood
Pollution of water and soils. Rainwater collects many pollutants existing in the air and
the dust of built-up areas and may therefore become contaminated by a wide range of
pollutants. Although in many places rainwater is collected, no proper decontamination of
this type of run-off is implemented in most cases, leading to significant emissions of a
wide range of pollutants to rivers and, indirectly, to groundwater. Fragmentation destruction of habitats the uncurbed and uncontrolled development
of build-up areas is a major cause of the fragmentation of natural habitats necessary for
the development of the flora and fauna. Loss of a vegetal or animal species also
translates in disruption of one or several food chains, which can in turn impact on
agricultural productivity due to the loss of pollinators or the loss of predators which were
naturally controlling certain pests. Fossilization of other resources. It has already been mentioned that the development
of built-up areas impedes other soil uses. It also bars the access to subsurface mineral
resources, an important issue which is discussed in the subsections on
o land-use planning p. 41
o on mining and mineral resources cf p. 84 ff. The Way Forward
Soil sealing related to the development of build-up areas is the cause of diversified
pressures on the environment, as shown above. One of the key issues towards lesser
impacts from built-up areas is better land-use planning, based on quality GIS based 4-D
Page 72
data historical data recording the occurrence of certain natural phenomena such as
floods andor earthquakes is of importance here and on predictive models. R 25
Research and development for the treatment of run-off water from built up areas is
equally needed. This relates to the broader issue of wastewater treatment briefly
discussed below, in the subsection devoted to Energy. 5.4.5.3 - ENERGY
The continued availability of low-cost, clean, energy is another key issue for the
sustainable development of the EU. Energy is indispensable for many functions essential
to the EU economy. Many strategic issues related to energy availability and security of supplies have been
quite recently discussed at the EU level. Import dependency has increased from 40 in
the eighties to currently 50 and is projected to rise up to 70 in the next 20 years if
appropriate measures are not taken. Intervention on the supply side being limited, it is
rapid and significant intervention on the energy demand side which could bring
substantial results72 European Commission, DG Transport and Energy. EU energy
issues are exposed in a recent Green Book73 of the European Commission. Very
recently Van der Linde 2004 published a comprehensive report prepared for the
European Commission on energy supply security and geopolitics74. In the energy sector, as well as in many mineral commodities the Thematic Strategy will
have to address both security of supplies and decoupling issues. The trends in EU energy consumption by the year 2030, which is about the time horizon
of the Thematic Strategy , are available in the World Energy Outlook WEO published
every tear by the International Energy Agency IEA. The figure 12 from the 2002
edition75 has been taken from Van der Linde op. cit.
72
73
74
75
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenergydemandindex_en.htm
Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply, downloadable here
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenergy_transportenlpi_lv_en1.html
Available here httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenergy_transportdoc2004_lv_ciep_report_en.pdf
W
Page 73
Fig. 12 Total primary energy demand in the European Union 2000-2030 World Energy Outlook 2002,
taken from Van der Linde, 2003
This forecast shows that the EU growing energy demand 24 will essentially remain
dependent from fossil fuels, much of it to be imported from outside the EU. Only a
modest relative decoupling between energy use and the use of non-renewable natural
resources is to be expected under this scenario.
The share of renewable energy sources
would increase from 6 to 11. The potential pressures on the environment would
increase, due to added emissions of CO2 and of other possible pollutants from burning
the additional required gas and oil. To reach the production level forecast for 2030, about
500 billions will need to be invested worldwide, mostly by the private sector, to secure
the oil and gas supplies the EU will require, including 40 billion for transport
infrastructures from the European Oil and Gas Innovation Forum and The International
Association of Oil and Gas Producers joint contribution to the multi-stakeholder
consultation. For this to happen an incitative investment climate will need to exist in oil
and gas rich development countries. This is not yet the case in many of them. The EU not also imports energy resources such as oil and gas, it also imports energy
hidden in energy intensive products such as certain chemicals and metals, exerting
significant pressures on the environment of countries located outside of its borders. The main environmental impacts from energy use are well known, and depend on the
type of energy source used. For an overview of energy related indicators see the chapter
2.1. Energy of Europes environment the third assessment EEA, 2003. Some important reduction of environmental pressures related to energy use are already
occurring, but the trends observed in the sector remain of concern
o Efficiency of electricity producing power plants increases, and is likely to further
increase as older plants will be phased out and renewed by plants fitted with recent
advanced technologies. Euracoal, the European Coal Association, in a document on the
coal industry in Europe Euracoal, 200376 highlights that an energy efficiency of 40-45
can be obtained with modern coal combustion technologies, to be compared with the
average 30 of energy efficiency in fossil-fuel electricity plants reported by EEA for the
year 2000
76
Available here httpwww.euracoal.orgvorlagenecci0310.pdf
Page 74
o The energy intensity of Western Europe decreases by about 13 from 1992 to 2002
Gikas, 2003. However the energy intensity of the transport sector remained
unchanged EEA, 2003, the decrease in energy intensity being related to the industrial,
household and services sectors. o Greenhouse gas GHG emissions decreased slightly but the emissions from the
transport sector increased fig. 13 this sector also being the main source of GHG
emissions, before heating. Fig. 13 Terrestrial transport related emissions 1981 1998 From Molitor R., 2001
o SO2 and NOX were strongly reduced over the 1992-1999 period. The way forward
Further decoupling between growth and impacts as well as a reduction of dependence
are achievable through a mix of actions, involving some changes in the behaviour of
energy end-users, better use of energy in waste, development of renewable energies,
and innovation in energy saving techniques such as combustion technologies a domain
were impressive achievements have already be obtained. The items below do not aim at
presenting a comprehensive overview of possible decoupling and reduced dependence
in the energy sector. Changing our behaviour less wasteful use of energy. Fossil energy is needed to
perform essential functions, such as transport and coolingheating, not to be needlessly
wasted. There are many instances where energy could be saved. Transport and the heating
of buildings, two important users of energy, are sectors where significant savings in energy
may be obtained, through further improvements in fuel quality and combustion technologies
but also a shift in individual attitudes. Aerial and terrestrial transport is a sector which will
require considerable attention due to its weight in terms of energy consumption and as a
source of multiple pressures on the environment and on human health through the
development of built-up areas, emissions, noise, accidents in road transportation. Technologies and techniques for resource conservation need to be developed, and
supported by economic disincentives. Page 75
Making better use of existing oil and gas deposits through RTD the oil andor gas
contained in deposits is only partly recovered under current conditions. The World Energy
Council states that today only 35 to 40 of the oil present in discovered fields is
recovered77. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorates target is of 50 of recovery of the
existing fixed stock of oil and 75 for gas. It organises periodical calls for proposals for RTD
in innovative technologies for the improvement of oil and gas recovery rates.
Significative
innovation possibilities exist in domains such as
o the improvement of 3-D geological reservoir modeling, combining geophysics and other
geoscientific data necessary to better understand the detailed spatial distribution of
geological parameters of importance for recovery
o new drilling technologies
o deep-sea infrastructure development
o injection technologies to maintain the reservoir pressure needed to improve recovery
rates. In favourable circumstances, this is a domain where two benefits can be obtained
at once CO2 storage in ageing oil andor gas reservoirs can be used to increase
recovery rates of the remaining oil stock, or to recover additional oil from old, otherwise
abandoned reservoirs May F. et al., 2002. Support RTD in better, more efficient and cleaner, combustion technologies many
uses of energy, especially in energy production and transport involve a combustion process. Impressive gains in efficiency have already been made.
Examples of such efficiency gains
are car engines just compare the performance and emissions of a 15 years old Diesel
engine with a recent turbo-charged direct injection Diesel engine! or coal fired thermal
power plants, where energy efficiency grew from 25-31 for plants constructed during the
period 1950 to 1970 up to 40-45 for recently commissioned plants Euracoal, op. cit.. More active support for the development of renewable energies
o solar energy is an attractive alternative in many regions of Europe, at least for the
production of domestic heat especially warm water. Heating at moderate
temperatures of housing is the prime item on the list of French renewable energy uses
Plan Soleil, ADEME Solar Plan, French Agency for Environment and Energy
Management78. Despite its prospective economic and environmental benefits the
installation of solar water heaters is progressing only slowly. Surprisingly, some Southern
European countries have among the lowest installed capacity in comparison to their
population table 8. This source of affordable, renewable energy should be much more
actively promoted throughout the EU and economic simulations should be made widely
available to potential customers to allow them to rapidly be able to assess the needed
investment and the likely returns. 77
httpwww.worldenergy.orgwec-geispublicationsreportsseroiloil.asp
78 httpwww.ademe.frhtdocspresentationaidefinanciereplansoleilcesi.htmListes20des20matE9riels
20E9ligibles
Page 76
Table 8 - Cumulated surface area thermal solar collector surface area
installed in the European Union in 2001 and 2002 in m2
From European Commission DG Energy and Transport web pages on New and Renewable Energies79
o geothermal energy deserves better attention. Geothermal energy, the heat dissipated
by the Earth is a vast source of flow energy. It can have various expressions
1. High energy geothermy, up to recently it was considered as related only to areas
with recent magmatic activity, such as Iceland, the Larderello and Monte Amiata
fields in Tuscany Italy , which produce over 700 MW of electricity, or geothermal
fields in the Antilles. . This type of resource, produces steam which can be used in
turbines.
More recently, it was realised that steam can also be generated through
artificial water injection, through a deep well, into artificially fractured hot dry rocks
existing at comparatively shallow depth in areas known for their steep geothermal
gradient80, and recovery of the generated high energy geothermal fluid from
surrounding production wells. Such areas are not uncommon throughout Europe
see map in Fig. 14. 125.000 km2 of its surface have a temperature of over 200 C
at a depth of 5,000m. 2. The partial recovery of the heat of a 1 km vertical section over 10 of this surface
could generate 900 Twhyear the European 1995 nuclear energy output over 20
years, with absolutely negligible environmental impacts. A full description of this
highly innovative European Commission supported project, the largest of its kind
worldwide, is available on the Internet www.soultz.net. This project will enter its
production stage towards the end of 2004.
It is expected to produce 25 MW of
electricity at a cost of about 0.08 KW. 79
80
Link httpeuropa.eu.intcommenergyressectorssolar_thermal_heat_en.htm
the average geothermal gradient for the Earth is 25 Ckm, but in specific areas with tectonic
activity, such as the Rhine graben between France and Germany, it is 35 Ckm. Even steeper gradients are
known elsewhere in Europe. Page 77
Fig. 14 Map of temperatures at depth of 5,000 metres
Source www.soultz.net
o medium to low energy geothermy which are even more widespread. Such fluids are
for instance occurring in deep sedimentary basin hosted aquifers. These fluids with
temperatures ranging from 30 to 80 C are essentially useable for heating purposes,
though heating networks, or cooling. The colder fluids can still be used for heating
through innovative heat exchangers. Low energy geothermal resources are already
commercially used for heating cooling purposes, but there is a potential to achieve much
more, especially if sustainability and security of supplies issues are taken into
consideration. Geothermal energy has several important features of particular relevance for the
Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources it is a continuous81
renewable flow energy like solar and wind energy, it generates no emissions
geothermal fluids are reinjected in their original reservoirs and it uses very little
land. RTD in drilling techniques and in heat exchangers could lead to further
innovation and lower the investment in the development of geothermal fields and the
running costs of geothermal plants. o energy from renewable biomass a well known example is the production of biodiesel
from rapeseed, or of ethanol from a variety of crops.
The development of this type of
agricultural production provides a series of noteworthy benefits. Among them are
the substitution of high-value non-renewable resource by a non-renewable
resource
81
discontinuity of the flow is a problem with aeolian energy. Page 78
reduction of emissions almost all emissions related to the use of Diesel82 are
significantly reduced, including particulate matter83
reduction of the EUs energy dependence and of its vulnerability to oil price
shocks
support to a redeployment of some agricultural activities within the framework
of the new Common Agricultural Policy, offering perspectives of continued
employment in rural areas. However, seen from a sustainability perspective there are some important limitations to
the possible contribution of biofuels to Europes energy mix. one is the availability of land. According to a recent study84 the production
potential is of 1.37 t of biodiesel per hectare of rapeseed. As France used
92.8 Mt of crude oil in 200385, it would require in the range of 60 million
hectares of cultivated land to cover the current French crude oil requirements,
to be compared with the about 18 million hectares of available arable land. Moreover, the production of biofuel will compete with the production of food
large biomass transports will be generated when industrial countries start
using biomass on a larger scale, due to the fact that the energy yield per km²
is comparatively low. This could be a significant source of emissions and
externalities
another is that the agricultural model required to produce biofuels has the
same potential effects on soils and water resources, as well as on
biodiversity, than the intensive production of other comparable crops.
These
issues need to be addressed to maximise the benefits of biofuels for the
sustainable use of natural resources. Forests are also an important and underused source of renewable biomass. Today, the
net annual increment in European forests 793 million m³ over bark is 47 higher that
the annual felling 418 million m³ over bark. That means that each second the forest
biomass increases by 25 m3, of which 12 m3 are not used but increase the growing
stock. This is a result of sustainable forest management SFM, as well as sustainable
wood utilisation practices Communication from the European Forestry and Forest based
Industry Associations participating to the stakeholder consultation. In addition to the use
of biomass for the production of biofuels, wood and other material of vegetal origin have
a considerable potential to be part substitutes to the use of non-renewable materials,
especially of construction minerals and some metals steel in building frameworks as
well as sources of chemicals and medicine. Besides their socio-economic function
forests also have a number of very important ecological functions, such as the regulation
of the water cycle flood risk reduction, provision of groundwater recharge areas, the
regulation of the atmosphere for instance, one hectare of oak fixes an average of 22
tonnes of CO2 per year and releases 16 tons of oxygen86, the provision of habitats for
flora and fauna. 82
83
84
85
86
-78 CO2 in he case of use of pure biofuel instead of Diesel, according to a comparative LCA
Sheehan et al., 1998
but other technologies, such as the fuel cell, perform even better. The use of biofuel would still require
catalytic converters to meet the exhaust standards
ADEME et al.
2002 ADEME - French Agency for Environment and Energy Management and
DIREM The Energy and Raw Materials Directorate General of the French Ministry for Economy, Finance
and industry. Available here
httpwww.ademe.frpartenairesagricepublicationsdocuments_francaissynthese_bilans_energetiques_fr.pdf
Data from httpwww.industrie.gouv.frenergiestatistipdfbilan-2003.pdf
Source httpwww.valeur-bois.comvaleur_bois_construction.asp
Page 79
Plants are extremely efficient machines to turn waste CO287, plus other ingredients
from air and soils into a wide-range of needed resources. Of course, plants also require
non-renewable soil nutrients and water which may have to be replenished by the use of
fertilisers and of irrigation. R 26
LCA data, including data on water, soils, nutriments and pesticides requirements of the
main cultivated trees and plants are needed to base informed choices for a future
development strategy aiming at encouraging substitution. Biotechnologies are a very
promising area where research and innovation needs to be further supported as
it could lead to significant breakthroughs on the way to improved sustainability. However, its advantages and disadvantages need to be carefully weighted on the
basis of sustainability criteria. o Making use of waste biological waste and biomass are energy rich and this energy can
be partially recovered, for instance though cogeneration processes, able to generate
heat and electricity from methane. Various plants already exist throughout Europe, and
this technology raises considerable interest inter alia to process the large amount of bio-
waste accumulating from intensive agriculture. The elimination of pollutants remaining in
the final residue needs to be addressed by research, before their possible uses can be
considered. o Safekeeping access to domestic energy resources the EU has coal and other energy
resources deposits that are marginal or infra-economic under prevailing economic and
technological conditions. These should be well identified, with economic scenarios ready
to assess the conditions under which specific parts of these resources could become
economically attractive again. Access to these potentially strategic resources, in case for
instance of an international energy crisis, should be guaranteed by appropriate land-use
planning. Despite higher production costs, EU fossil fuel deposits have the advantage of
offering a safety cushion in case of an international energy crisis, which could be well be
triggered by increasingly tense demography and poverty driven issues and resulting
geopolitical tensions. This would also require to safekeep the skills represented by the
rapidly ageing human resources with mineral resources related knowledge, from
geology, to exploration, engineering and production. Young students are less and less
attracted towards professions related to the mineral resources sector. o Avoiding the price sending the wrong signals except for energy, the exposure of
advanced economies to the cost of raw materials is comparatively limited as value-added
on top of the cost of primary resources is very significative in most economic sectors. Low prices tend to send a wrong message and encourage wasteful resources use and
discourage innovation and alternative economic thinking. Europe is unlike to suffer much
from higher resources prices, if it uses this context to develop and market innovative
resources efficient technologies and equipment. It seems that the global demand
increase for more natural resources, materialised by the current trends in the Chinese
and Indian economies, and the likely higher international resources prices will offer
ample opportunities for marketing such innovations. Seen from a sustainable development perspective, higher resources prices have a
series of significative advantages they discourage wasteful uses, promote recycling,
substitutions, innovation and the development of new and more efficient processes. Therefore they can both serve the purpose of decreasing the use of primary
87
a free of charge sequestration of CO2 in durable goods.
Page 80
resources and reduce the emissions on the environment further to more efficient
resources uses. 5.4.5.4 - MINING
Minerals are essential to life, and this has been acknowledged by humanity for the last 2
millions years, when our far away ancestors discovered the interesting functions pebbles
can deliver. Since this period civilization developed on two pillars agriculturestock taking
on one hand and miningmetallurgy on the other. The oldest known geological map is on
a Egyptian papyrus, describing a gold mining area in Wadi Hammamat. Kept in the
Egyptian museum of Turin Italy, it is dated from the period of Pharaoh Seti I, approx. 1.320 B.C., and shows the interest of man of understanding the subsurface under its
feet. The gold in Egypt and Sudan contributed much to the development of the Egyptian
civilization. The discovery of the copper metallurgy was at the basis of the Bronze Age, a
period of great innovations. It is the silver mines of Laurion in Greece which generated
much of the prosperity and the fame of classical Athens. Mining and agriculture laid the foundations of the Europe and of the material wealth most
of us enjoy. Minerals are as important for the modern world as they were to the
numerous generations before us. The ingenuity of scientists and engineers continuously,
and in accelerating mode, discovers new uses for minerals and the derived metals and
chemicals. The great achievement of the Industrial Revolution was to add ever
increasing value on top of minerals. Value-adding should not be confounded with
dematerialisation. There is no such as a thing as a dematerialised society, and the
concept is erroneous. Our societies are more dependent than ever on the many
functions mined products deliver. Without them we would be without homes, heating and
lighting, cars, health services, GSMs, PCs and networks and a few other amenities we
enjoy. But the importance of mineral resources in these applications is unnoticed by most
people. Mining is a highly diversified, and quite complex industry. To understand its broad issues
and trends it is necessary to introduce some strategic segmentation.
Each segment
involves a differing combination of technologies, size of operations and production,
location of production sites, markets, end uses, and technologies. Some of these
strategic segments are well represented in the EU. Others are totally absent. Some
mining companies are involved in several segments. But this tends to be an exception. In developed countries, or where major mining houses operate in developing countries,
mining much changed over time, and the current poor image of mining needs to be
considerably reassessed by any person with a genuine interest in that sector. While in
the past mining was a smokestack industry, having generated a number of significative
environmental legacies strictly regulated, efficient, modern highly regulated mining
operations generate very limited operations. Finland and Sweden, known for their
particularly stringent environmental standards, are home to some of the worlds most
advanced and innovative mining companies. Energy problems and environmental issues
they had to address led them to develop technologies and equipment they now
successfully market worldwide. Stakeholders participating to work on mining sector issues should make a clear
distinction between images and visions from the past, the management of environmental
legacies inherited from that past and the achievements of the best modern mining
enterprises. Nor should a confusion be made between mining in China, which much
resembles mining in Europe at the end of the XIXth Century small-scale mining in Africa
and modern mining in Europe. These are different issues. Page 81
The segments existing in the EU are construction minerals, industrial minerals and
metallic minerals. In the European Commission terminology these three segments form
the non-energy extractive industry sector. A fourth segment artisanal small-scale
mining is inexistent in the EU, but very important in many developing countries. A more comprehensive introduction to the mining and minerals industry is available for
instance in
o the report on Material Flow and Energy Required for the Production of Selected Mineral
commodities by Kippenberger 2001. It contains much data, including on categories of
environmental impacts and the associated indicators, for following economically very
important mineral commodities coal, chromium, copper, iron and steel, phosphate and
nickel
o the Chapter 3 of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project final report
Breaking New Ground88
o Astride Mining Crowson, 2003. The DG Enterprise webpages89 state that the non-energy extractive industry in Europe
i.e. excluding minerals used for fuel has an annual turnover of approximately
30 billion, and provides direct employment in the EU25 for 260,000 people. Industry
representatives estimate that the indirect employment provided by the industry is up to 4
times this Europe, the descriptions of each segment are taken from the Raw Materials
Supply Group 2004 first ever report on Sustainable Development Indicators for the
European non-energy extractive industry90. Detailed production, import and export
statistics91 are published by various national authorities. The land-use of the EU mining industry, of which the construction minerals sector is by
far the most important sector if the number of exploitations is considered, is very small. All segments included, the EU mining industry uses 0.2 of the EU landmass Eurostat,
2003, to be compared with 41.5 for agriculture. The land used outside the EU borders by the EUs mineral resources imports is quite
small too, although only limited data being available. Kippenberger 2001 reports that in
1994, 80 of the world bauxite92 mining used 15 km² in the year, phosphate mining used
80 km². Martens et al. 2002 published a detailed estimate of the land used of active
copper mining since the beginning of their operations. The figure, 1,500 km2, does not
include land used by now closed mines, part of which have been reclaimed for other
uses. To compare with phosphate and bauxite, in 1998, 37 km² of new land were used
for copper mining. Fatalities and environmental accidents in the EU mines and metals industry are very low,
although not at zero. 5 persons died in 2001 in the metallic and industrial minerals
segments no data for construction minerals, to be compared with thousands in China.
In the EU the last recorded environmental accident was the failure of a tailings
containment dam at Los Frailes in Spain. 88
89
90
Available here httpwww.iied.orgmmsdfinalreportindex.html
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenterprisesteelnon-energy-extractive-industrysd-indicators.htm
Available here
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenterprisesteelnon-energy-extractive-industryfinal-report-wg-sdi.pdf
91
Detailed free of charge statistics can be obtained here
httpwww.bgs.ac.ukmineralsukstatisticseuropehome.html
92
Bauxite is the aluminium ore
Page 82
a - Artisanal Small-scale Mining ASM
Description Artisanal small-scale mining consists of very small operations, involving
almost no mechanised means, with the exception of an occasional pump to remove
groundwater from underground workings. Productivity is very low, technical qualification
of personnel is very low, occupational risks are very high. This poverty driven, mostly
informal, even frequently clandestine, activity is essentially taking place in developing
countries. Small-scale miners are not yet entrepreneurs. They do not operate with a
business plan in mind, or any long-term strategy.
These concentrations also facilitate the transmission of AIDS and other sexually
transmissible diseases. R 27
The way forward this sector urgently needs support, local authorities having very
limited resources to address the issues. The challenge is how to turn small-scale miners
in entrepreneurs, to turn this activity into a component of the formal activity? The
concentration of people in small-scale mining areas is also an opportunity to implement
education and health programs. Support to better exploration more sustainable mining,
processing, and marketing is of great importance as well as access to finance. The
environmental impacts need to be addressed and reduced, with the drastic reduction of
mercury emissions being a top priority. Security of tenure and the right to a mining title
are also issues. Actions should be implemented in bringing together local authorities
national and local, local populations, technical assistance including cross-cultural
mediators and NGOs. 93
Available here httpwww.casmsite.orgDocumentsCASM_Draft_Toolkit_for_Profiling_ASM.pdf
Page 83
For more information about the sector and actions to be implemented see for example
Noetstaller et al.
2004 and the website on communities and small-scale mining
httpwww.casmsite.org. b - Construction minerals
Description
From the report on Sustainable Development Indicators for the European non-energy
extractive industry
The construction minerals sub-sector is by far the largest both in terms of tonnage and
sales revenue. It consists predominantly of small and medium sized enterprises SMEs
with over 20,000 sites supplying local and regional markets with materials such as sand
and gravel and crushed rock aggregates for construction and railway ballast and
armourstone for flood and coastal defence. Gypsum is used primarily in buildings where,
for example, plasterboard is used for interior lining. Crude gypsum is also used in the
production of cement. The construction minerals sub-sector also provides the raw
material used in the manufacture of other vital construction products such as ready-
mixed concrete, asphalt, lime and cement. There are also a number of multinational
quarrying companies, which supply more distant markets. Substantial amounts of sand
and gravel are also extracted from the seabed. In general, the widespread distribution of
sand and gravel, and hard rock resources, and the relatively low price of the product,
means that transport costs significantly influence the distance to markets. EU production
in this sub-sector is responsible for meeting over 20 of global demand.
Many companies operating is this segment are SMEs. Mining is essentially by open-pit
methods such as dredging or quarrying. There is very limited beneficiation except for
simple operations such as granulometric classification and cleaning involved, and no
metallurgy. In the case of the cement industry more complex operations are involved
after mining for the production of clinker. So far the Sustainable Development Indicators
developed by the EU Raw Materials Supply Group could not be populated with data on
this segment, due to its strong fragmentation in many small enterprises except for the
cement industry which provides quality datasets. Trends for the future the EU mining and minerals industry contribution from the
mining industry forecasts a continuous growth of demand, and of production, up to 2030
no forecast after that date. For instance
o the EU-25 cement production is expected to grow from 267 Mt 2002 to 320 Mt 2020. The aggregate production necessary for the manufacture of concrete would grow from a
current figure of 1.9 billion tonnes to 2.3 billion tonnes
o the EU-25 calcined lime and magnesian lime dolime production is expected to grow
from Mt 25 Mt 2002 to 32 Mt 202094 respectively requiring the quarrying of 50 Mt
2002 and 64 Mt 2020 of primary material certain specific qualities of limestone and
dolomitic limestone. In addition 125 Mt of material are mined for the production of non-
calcined materials. This amount is likely to reach 150 Mt in 202095. Key issues The total current production of aggregate of the EU-15 is estimated at
about 2.5 bn tonnesyear, making it the single biggest material flow, and by far, entering
the EU economy Moll et al., 2003, table a
94
It should be noted that a minor part of this production belongs to the industrial minerals segment. 95 All data shown under this bullet are from the European Lime Association EULA. Page 84
The environmental impacts of gaining raw materials for the construction sector are very
localised, and essentially only of a temporary nature. They are limited to dust, noise,
habitat disturbance and visual impacts. These are all reduced to a minimum under
current legislation and these effects disappear at the end of the exploitation. Very local
changes of landscape may remain a lake may exist where there were meadows, or
conspicuous tailing heaps may mimic hills in an area previously perfectly flat96. Under
current EU legislation the extraction sites are rehabilitated, and quite a few even became
valuable natural reserves wetlands, floristic and faunal reserves some being protected
under Natura 2000.
Depending on the original habitat character this can be a loss as
well as an improvement for biodiversity. Significant emissions are related to the downstream cement industry, but decoupling is
already developing since the seventies. Box 7 is an illustration of how the cement industry can contribute to sustainable
development objectives. Research, innovation, voluntary initiatives and agreements and
stakeholder dialogue all form the basis of past and future achievements. Box 7 Case history Decoupling at work in the mining industry 97
The European Cement Industry Association, CEMBUREAU reports the following
Since the 70s the energy required to produce cement clinker has fallen by about 30 in
Europe. In 2003 the cement industry in the European Union produced about 194 million tonnes of
cement and emitted about 0.75 tonne of CO2 per tonne of cement via direct emissions
fuel combustion and raw material de-carbonation and 0.05 tonne of CO2 per tonne of
cement via indirect emissions use of electricity from fuel based power plants. Direct and
indirect emissions of CO2 together amounted to about 0.8 tonne of CO2 per tonne of
cement. There are three measures by which the cement industry may save direct CO2 emissions
in the immediate future
o Improvement of energy efficiency a maximum of 2 is still feasible,
o Reduction of clinkercement ratio introduction of useful industrial by-products,
o Increase in the use of waste as alternative fuel national initiatives, adequate national
implementation of certain directives regarding specific waste. The cement industry contributes to about 3 of the total anthropogenic emissions of
CO2 in the European Union.. 96 As such they have very little impact on sustainability. These landscape changes may even become
opportunities some of the lakes are turned into recreational areas and some tailing heaps, lime those of the
former coal mining in Northern France and Belgium become historical landmarks, recreational areas and zones
of particular floristic and faunistic value, actively promoted by local environmental associations see for
instance httpchaine.des.terrils.free.fr or httpwww.terrils.be
CEMBUREAU contribution and website www.cembureau.be
97
Page 85
In addition, it is important to underline the very important role the cement industry plays
in the use of by-products that otherwise would be considered as waste. Cement
production kilns have the capacity to use substitute fuels such as worn out tires, with no
remaining residues the tires heavy metal content is integrated in the clinkers crystalline
structure , animal meals a very useful contribution to the management of the mad cow
crisis and chlorine free plastics. This has two significant environmental advantages the
reduction of the use of non-renewable energy resources and the reduction of some of
the environmental pressures generated by other sectors.
Calleja et al. 2004 mention
that the use of the substitute fuels is already 12 in the EU cement industry as high as
50 in Belgium. Access to land access to land is a key issue for all the mining sector. However, this
becomes increasingly difficult in most of the EU for at least three, frequently
complementary reasons
o inadequate land-use planning. Planners need to have access to and use detailed
geological data with information, inter alia, about the location of mineral deposits. Forward planning for minerals ought to be an integral part of the land-use planning
system Nielsen, 2004. Failures in planning have the potential to generate lasting
conflicts and, in the case of minerals, negative environmental consequences. Planning
needs to balance the benefits of sterilising a local resource for environmental reasons
against the total impacts resulting from having the resource coming from further away
o environmental regulations which may impede the access to land. They can
occasionally generate additional environmental impacts, rather then reducing them,
through the shift of activities further away from zones of strong demand. o the Not In My BackYard NIMBY syndrome. Many of us wish to enjoy the numerous
functions minerals do provide, but not the possible inconveniences of the close
neighbouhood of a quarry. The only way to circumvent this obstacle and to prevent
conflicts and other deadlocks is, on the basis of land-use planning, to prevent the
development of housing in the vicinity of activities generating particular nuisances or
hazards This should apply not only to mining, but to all industrial activities likely to
generate significant nuisances or hazards.
Although recycling of rubble from dismantled buildings as well as of other by-products
such as slags from municipal waste incineration or fly ash from coal fired power plants
can provide substitutes for some of the uses of construction minerals, the possibilities
are already used close to their maximum in several European Countries Van der
Meulen, 2003, see footnote page 41. Eco-design, i.e. the use of design concepts which
would allow for the easy dismantling and recovery of the materials from buildings at their
end of life should be promoted, as it would with time increase the amount of recyclable
materials. Wood and other vegetal products can also be valuable, less energy intensive, substitutes
of some minerals based construction materials, and greater support should be provided
to investigate the possibilities of their use and engage into their promotion, taking criteria
for sustainable forest management practices into account. In the absence of decisive action, in the more populated areas of the EU the exploitation
of construction minerals will shift further away from populated areas, sometimes as far as
the sea sea-bed sediments98 or to other countries, from where they will be imported,
consequently increasing related pressures from transport, or on coastal zones. 98
Page 86
Innovation research and development plays a major role in all three segments of the
EU mining industry. It is innovation and the capacity of the industry to translate it into
action which made it possible for the industry to satisfy the unprecedented growth of the
demand for minerals recorded during the 20th century for an overview of the US use of
minerals during the 20th century see Matos et al., 1998 99. Innovation played, and still
has to play a huge role in exploration, mining, beneficiation, metallurgy, and
environmental management of the mining sector. With the support of the European Commission 5th EU RTD Framework Program, the
European Mining Industry, academia, research centres and some sectoral institutions,
set up NESMI, the thematic network on mining and mineral processing research and
innovation for dissemination and up-to-date knowledge and RTD activities. This network
is working at defining a common RTD strategy for the EU mining industry, assessing in
detail the need for further RTD and innovation needed, inter alia, to decouple resource
gaining from negative environmental impacts. The forthcoming Thematic Strategy should be closely linked with the equally forthcoming
FP7 RTD Programme and the EU Development Policy. Resources related RTD, and
related dissemination is a key to progress on the way to decoupling. Transport The practical consequences are longer transport routes, increased emissions
and externalities. On the basis of Eurostat statistics for 2001100, the road transport of
crude and manufactured minerals and construction materials excluding solid mineral
fuels, petroleum products, ores and metal waste as well as fertilisers represented about
4.8 billion tonnes !, or 44 of all tonnage transported by road Molitor et al. 2004. Expressed in tons-kilometer its share decreases to 18, due to the comparatively short
transport distances of these materials.
in talc. Processing of the minerals before sale can be
simple mainly crushing, grinding and classifying but may also be more sophisticated for
some mineral types e.g. mineral sorting using flotation, laser optics, magnetic
separation, or calcination. 99
100
Available here httppubs.usgs.govannrevar-23-107aerdocnew.pdf
Eurostat 2003. Accessible here
httpeuropa.eu.intcommeurostatPublicdatashopprint-productEN?catalogueEurostatproductKS-DA-04-
001-___-N-ENmodedownload
Page 87
Key issues sustainable development indicators for the EU industrial minerals were
published for the first time in 2004, populated with 2001 data Raw Materials Supply
Group, 2004101. They include an important series of economic, environmental and social
indicators about the sector. Time series should be developed on the basis of yearly updates, to show trends inter alia
towards decoupling, and where particular efforts are needed. Imposing the provision of
similar data to suppliers of minerals and metals to Europe, to document how the minerals
and metals we use are produced, would significantly contribute to spread Sustainable
Development ethics and promote transparency. Access to land and innovation are important driving forces for the future of this segment,
as well as for the two other segments. d Metallic minerals
Description
From the report on Sustainable Development Indicators for the European non-energy
extractive industry
The EU metal mining sub-sector is composed of around 250 enterprises, which includes
some major multinational mining companies which have their headquarters in the EU. European companies compete in a global market and most metallic ores are imported to
supply the European metallic industry. EU metal mining accounts for only 3 of world
production. The metals mining sub-sector is located in many of the EU-15 countries, and
in particular in some of the more Northern and Southern countries, such as Sweden,
Finland, Greece, Spain and Portugal. New mines continue to be developed, and provide
employment and economic growth in regions which have difficulties attracting other
forms of investment. As metals and their ores and concentrates are traded on
international markets, European metal mines face strong competition from large-scale,
high-grade overseas operations capable of producing metal ores and concentrates under
low cost conditions. The industry has made large efforts to reduce overall cost levels
through rationalisations and increasing capital intensity. It should be added that the metallic mining industry is highly diversified since the
technologies used to mine, beneficiate and produce metal differ considerably from one
metal to the other. extraordinarily. The markets are also very different from one metal to
the other. The technologies involved are generally quite complex, as mining does not
deliver a marketable product, but only ore. This will have to be beneficiated and the
resulting concentrate undergo a metallurgical and, in many cases, a refining process
before the resulting metal can be marketed. The adhesion to the EU of ten new Member States did not substantially modify the high
dependence picture given in above description. The adhesion of Poland adds 6 of the
world copper reserves to the existing estimated 2-3 of the EU-15 USGS data. This does not significantly alter our dependence.
Calleja et al. 2004 provide additional information on the EU cement, iron and steel, non
ferrous metals copper, lead-zinc and aluminium industries, with particular focus on
101
Available here
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenterprisesteelnon-energy-extractive-industryfinal-report-wg-sdi.pdf
Page 88
environmental technologies, the barriers hindering their dissemination and the practical
measures to be considered to benefit from these technologies. Projections for steel, aluminium and some other commodities are given in a detailed
report from Phylipsen and al. 2002 of the Institute for Prospective Technologies
Studies. Key issues dependence on imports is a prominent issue, especially in a world where
the demand for minerals, essentially beyond the control of EU policy making, is likely to
grow strongly e.g. developments in China and India. Competition for resources may
create tensions in supplies and drive prices upwards.
This in turn would encourage the
use of substitutes and a more efficient use of these resources. R 28
The way forward as repeatedly mentioned throughout the report, growth and the
reduction of impacts can be achieved within the EU through
o a mix of better production tehnologies, for instance for better recovery of the metal
content of the ores, more efficient less wasteful ? use of resources and for the use of
substitues
o a better awareness of policy makers at the EU and national level of geoscientific and
minerals mining related issues
o support to the harmonised102 acquisition of geoscientific and environmental data
o an EU-wide mineral resources intelligence capacity, comparable to the one existing at
the United States Geological Survey USGS103 , is needed to provide intelligence and
quality statistics to the EU institutions, the national governments, the industry and the
general public on mineral resource production and trade, the industry, markets and their
trends. o further support to research and innovation. Under the FP6 RTD program. EU mineral
resources research will be focused on biotechnologies in relation with better recovery of
metals from ores. The needs for further EU-wide research and innovation are in the
process of being identified by the European mining, academia, research and sectoral
institutions participating to FP5 NESMI RTD Project see p. 87. Recommendations for
innovation and research are also included in the JRC IPTS report of Calleja 2004
o Cooperation with developing countries should also be fostered, for instance through
support for twinning of EU geological surveys and environmental agencies
with their developing world counterparts
technical support to capacity building and institutional strengthening as well to
the acquisition to resources related baseline information geoscientific and
environmental data
better access to EU training and best practices to professionals and students
from these countries
specific support for the small-scale mining sector, within the EU strategy for
the fight against poverty. 102
103
at EU-25 level, and even preferably the global level. This should be considered as a component of the
Global Earth Observation System of Systems GEOSS.
This project brings together 33 nations plus the
European Commission toward the development of a comprehensive, coordinated and sustained Earth
Observation System to collect and disseminate improved data, information, and models to stakeholders and
decision makers. More information here httpearthobservations.org
See the USGS website here httpminerals.usgs.govminerals
Page 89
5.4.6 - Data, Indicators and knowledge issues
COM2003572 states At present there is no generally accepted single indicator of the
environmental impact of resource use, so pressure indicators like energy use or
generation of waste especially of CO2 have sometimes been used as proxies. However, the relationship between pressure and environmental impact is not always
linear and considerable research needs to be done to improve our understanding of this
subject. The strategy will contribute to this. This statement reflects the current limited
detailed knowledge of the pressures and of the resulting impacts on EUs and global
environmental components. It also shows the complexity of the issue. A single,
aggregate indicator cannot be the appropriate and robust way for measuring all the
diversity of environmental impacts. To act properly local natural conditions need to be known see p. 45 ff.
for more details,
pressures and the resulting impacts must be assessed and verifiably monitored. However, due to
o differing national policies
o monitoring priorities, practices and technologies
o institutional set ups
o to shifts in data acquisition techniques
o budgetary constraints
o lack of political interest at national andor regional local levels
EU level thematic environmental data coverage is still insufficiently developed to provide
a solid base for the harmonised assessment of pressures and impacts of resources
gaining activities, but progress will come from regulatory initiatives such as INSPIRE104,
which will progressively build a harmonised spatial data infrastructure for the EU. and
development of appropriate tools for further improvements which are needed. Data on pressures is scattered, inhomogeneous acquired using different acquisition
technologies, incomplete, with differing coverage densities. There are numerous
sensible ownership and confidentiality issues. Even metadata, describing existing data
sets and their location only partially exists. Among the few EU-wide meta-databases of
relevance to the sustainable management of natural resources are the GEIXS and EU-
SEASED metadatabases105. GEIXS is the European Geoscience Meta data Catalogue, one of the research projects
of the ESPRIT Program, a component of the 4th EU RTD FWP. Implemented from 1997
to 1999 in response to a specific Council Conclusion. It provides access to a
harmonised EU-15 geoscience metadata catalogue and to a multilingual thesaurus by
means of a geographic navigation interface and an alphanumeric query system. EU-SEASED is a single EU-15 Norway meta-database with three components
accessible from the same geographical navigation and alphanumeric query system
o EUROCORE is the searchable meta-database of seabed samples from the ocean basins
held at European Institutions, Universities and Marine Stations
o EUMARSIN is the marine sediment meta-database of the Geological Surveys of the EU-
15 countries and Norway
o EUROSEISMIC is the meta-database of offshore seismic profiles. 104
The draft INSPIRE Directive can be downloaded here
httpinspire.jrc.itproposalCOM_2004_0516_F_EN_ACTE.pdf
105
Accessible via the EuroGeoSurveys website www.eurogeosurveys.org
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In addition, the European Commission, via Eurostat and the European Environmental
Agency, supports the development of databases and indicators to document and monitor
pressures on the environment and related impacts. Some of these initiatives serve to
prepare the drafting of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural
Resources, as highlighted below. 5.4.6.1 - STUDIES IN PREPARATION OF THE DRAFTING OF THE
THEMATIC STRATEGY ON THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF
NATURAL RESOURCES
To support the preparation of its future Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of
Natural Resources, the European Commission launched a series of studies, some of
which were still in the process of being prepared at the time of writing this report. One of these studies titled Zero Study resource use in the European Union106, prepared
by the European Topic Centre on Waste and Material Flows ETC-WMF was to provide
an estimate of materials and waste streams in the Community, including imports and
exports using the method of material flow accounting. One of the conclusions of this
study is the limited knowledge on the cause-effect linkages and the unfeasibility of
overcoming this information-gap in the mid to long-term lead to the precautionary
rationale that a strategy aiming at the reduction of the resource flow volumes will also
prevent environmental impacts. Accordingly, a final scientific assessment of the material
flow volumes does not seem feasible yet and requires further analyses and research. It highlights the limitations of the existing available data, information and knowledge. The
development and implementation of harmonised methodologies for data acquisition and
processing require significant resources, including time. Therefore, the development of
robust science-based knowledge and its translation into institutions, policies and
regulations are likely to lag behind the speed of technological innovation and the real-
time rhythm of markets. However, this should be no excuse to not progress in the
development of EU-wide harmonised data acquisition and processing, as well as in the
development of the derived information and knowledge needed to reduce incertitude.
Much can be done to improve the existing data, information and knowledge Whatever
the incertitude, decisions should be based on the best available multidisciplinary
scientific knowledge. The European Topic Centre on Waste and Material Flows ETC-WMF
It is one of the Topic Centres established in support of the European Environmental
Agency EEA. It recently published a first ever study107 Moll et al., 2003, together with a
freely downloadable database, attempting at analyzing resources108 and waste flows
throughout the EU-25 economies, including imports and exports. This study was published in direct support of the preparation of the Towards a Thematic
Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. Its analysis is based on the
Material Flows Analysis MFA methodology and on derived indicators developed by
Eurostat Eurostat, 2001. 106
107
108
This study can be downloaded here httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenvironmentnatresindex.htm
This study can be downloaded here httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenvironmentnatresindex.htm
The word materials is used by the ETC-WMF instead of resources. The term resources is preferred
here. Page 91
Prepared by the European Topic Centre on Waste and Material Flows ETC-WMF it was
to provide an estimate of materials and waste streams in the Community, including
imports and exports using the method of material flow accounting. One of the
conclusions of this study is the limited knowledge on the cause-effect linkages and the
unfeasibility of overcoming this information-gap in the mid to long-term lead to the
precautionary rationale that a strategy aiming at the reduction of the resource flow
volumes will also prevent environmental impacts. Accordingly, a final scientific
assessment of the material flow volumes does not seem feasible yet and requires further
analyses and research. It highlights the limitations of the existing available data, information and knowledge. The
development and implementation of harmonised methodologies for data acquisition and
processing require significant resources, including time. Therefore, the development of
robust science-based knowledge and its translation into institutions, policies and
regulations are likely to lag behind the speed of technological innovation and the real-
time rhythm of markets. However, this should be no excuse to not progress in the
development of EU-wide harmonised data acquisition and processing, as well as in the
development of the derived information and knowledge needed to reduce incertitude.
Much can be done to improve the existing data, information and knowledge Whatever
the incertitude, decisions should be based on the best available multidisciplinary
scientific knowledge. The approach used by EUROSTAT and by the ETC-WMF is valuable for a series of
reasons
it treats the European Union as a specific system, with its metabolism made of inputs
and outputs, imports and exports, net addition to stocks. In comparison with more
conventional production, imports exports statistics it aims at identifying hidden flows
of waste related to the various resource streams entering the economy
it not only looks at the European Union as a whole, but it details the material flows at
the level of each member state of the EU-25
it also attempts at separating hidden flows related to the resources gaining use within
the EU 25, from the hidden flows related to imports of resources into the EU. R 29
MFA is a powerful tool from which valuable sustainability indicators could be derived if
further refinements in definition and meaning of some important indicators can be
achieved and if the data necessary to calculate the values of the relevant indicators can
be obtained. One of the important indicators used in MFA is hidden flows. In its methodological
guide on material flow analysis EUROSTAT 2001 defines the hidden flow indicator, as
the movements of the unused materials associated with the extraction of raw materials
i.e., for use, both nationally and abroad. Hidden flows are defined, in line with most
of the current practices, as a synonym for unused extraction. Unused domestic
extraction may therefore be called domestic hidden flows. The indirect flows of unused
extraction abroad associated to imports may be called foreign hidden flows associated
to imports. Unused materials are defined as follows
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- unused extraction from mining and quarrying miningquarrying extraction wastes
such as overburden, interburden and parting materials
- unused extraction from biomass harvest discarded by-catch, wood harvesting losses
i.e. timber felled but left in the forests, other harvesting wastes
- soil and rock excavation and dredged materials materials extracted during
construction and dredging activities
It is assumed that parting materials are the tailings resulting from ore beneficiation andor
metallurgy as well as the slags resulting from metallurgy. Despite its attempt to reflect
environmental pressures nor the hidden flows, nor the derived ecological rucksack
indicators do tell anything about the nature, the location, the size, the intensity and the
duration of the pressures, nor the vulnerability of the local environmental components, which
are what needs to be known to plan and implement decoupling actions. Therefore they
cannot be used as a proxy for environmental pressures, and even less for environmental
impacts. More detailed knowledge is necessary to serve as a basis to plan and implement
appropriate actions, which are needed in support of developing countries Schütz et al.
2004. 1 kilogram of a waste cannot be compared with a kilogram of another waste, as
already mentioned page 31. For instance, waste resulting from the exploitation of
construction materials is mostly chemically inert material, causing only temporary visual
impacts. Such waste can be easily reclaimed at the end of mining operations for other
uses109, and should then no longer be considered as waste. In contrast, waste from
copper mining, beneficiation and metallurgy may contain significant amounts of residual
copper and other heavy metals, some with high ecotoxic potential arsenic, mercury,
lead, selenium, tantalum our among the metals which can be present in some ores
depending on the local geological settings. Waste from these activities, if not properly
managed, may release into the environment significant amounts of heavy metals, for a
long period of time decades or more, with possible significant impacts on the
environment and on human health. The hidden flows indicator would need to take into account several other parameters of
importance if it is to serve as a proxy to assess pressures on the environment, for
decision-taking related to resource management. Some of these parameters are
o the land used, and the social and environmental value of that land
o the duration of the land-use, before the land becomes available for other uses
o the water used, and the social and environmental value of that water
o the impacts related to the inputs used in the production process
o the impacts related to transport during the production process
o the impacts related to the emissions related to the actual production process including
where applicable the three stages mining, beneficiation and metallurgy
Nor does it include information about the, sometimes vital, functions provided by the use of
these resources.
Economic and social impacts are not measured in the MFA approach, but
they would be necessary to develop the holistic sustainable development indicator system
needed to monitor the effectiveness of the future Thematic Strategy. There are several other points which have an impact on material flow analysis and the
conclusions that can been drawn from MFA work
109
Many old gravel pits are turned into wetlands for biodiversity conservation purposes. Some old
quarries became natural reserves of great floristic and faunal interest with the development of protected
terrestrial orchids. Page 93
o current minerals production and trade statistics only measure apparent
consumption of minerals and metals, not the real consumption. As explained on
page 54, the minerals and metals included in imported or exported manufactured goods
are not recorded in the corresponding material flows. This is of possible serious concern,
due to increasing delocalisation outside the EU of the EU resource and manufacturing
industries and due to growing imports of non-EU goods. The real EU resource use is
likely to be increasingly underestimated, as the imports of resources into the EU included
in manufactured goods are not recorded. Nor the resulting dependence, nor the hidden
flows related to the real resources imports, both as primary materials and as
manufactured goods are recorded and monitored. Hence the available statistics may
show a decreasing intensity of use of certain resources by the EU, while the reality may
be exactly opposite. o quality and inconsistency problems in official statistics, especially in developing
countries. One example is Mali. According to the UNCTAD Handbook of World Mineral
Trade Statistics 1995-2000 Mali did not export any minerals or metals, while according to
the IMF IMF 2004 Mali selected issues and statistical appendix Mali exported 28.3
tons of gold, a figure well in line with the Mali gold production 28.7 tons recorded in the
Raw Materials Data database, one of the internationally most reputed commercial
mineral productions database. The current MFA definitions also need further clarification, with a need to develop a
broad agreement on terms. Dataset a on which the study of Mollal. is based does, uses
the heading metals where ores would apparently be more appropriate. This has
significant consequences on the calculation of the related hidden flows. For example, in table
4.4.of the study, domestically produced metals show surprisingly low associated hidden
flows 1 ton of domestic gold is shown as generating 0.1 t of hidden flows, while 1 ton of
imported gold generates nearly 600,000 tons of hidden flows. This discrepancy indicates
that the figures in dataset a probably relate to gold ore in the case of domestic production,
and to gold metal in the case of imports. R 30
The development of a standardised terminology and multilingual thesauri such as the one
developed for the GEIXS project, shared by statisticians and experts from the different
economic sectors, will be essential for further MFA and LCA work. The original quantitative and qualitative status of local environmental components
needs to be known, in order to effectively assess the nature and magnitude of
environmental impacts. This is no easy task due to the frequent lack of pre-existing data on
the quantitative and qualitative status of biodiversity, water bodies surface and groundwater
or soils, but it is necessary to plan for possibly needed adapted mitigation or remediation
measures. The necessary baseline studies can require considerable effort and imply high
costs, especially where no previous knowledge is available from public sources. This is
cause of concern, especially in the case of developing countries.
The boundaries of the system need also to be specified. As explained on p. 50, the
gaining of resources from nature may require several successive workflows, linked by
transport. Each generates hidden flows. These successive steps are necessary to turn
the raw material into a resource for economic uses. ,
Despite the existing limitations, the Zero Study includes some valuable
recommendations Box 8 for the future Thematic Strategy. Page 94
Box 8 Conclusions from Zero Study Resource Use in European Countries
Moll et will 2003
Three generic management rules for the sustainable use and management of
renewable and non-renewable natural resources are presented and discussed which
have been formulated by several political institutions based on scientific literature
o The use of renewable resources should not exceed their renewal andor regeneration
rates. o The use of non-renewable resources should not exceed the rate at which substitutes are
developed should be limited to levels at which they can either be replaced by physically
or functionally equivalent renewable resources or at which consumption can be offset by
increasing the productivity of renewable or nonrenewable resources. o Outputs of substances to the environment pollution should not exceed the assimilative
capacity of environmental media absorption capacities. However, the application of these general rules to the real material flow system of the EU
leading to some priorities for a future policy is still very difficult due to limited
knowledge and information on the causal linkages between single raw materials, their
subsequent life cycle and the related environmental impacts. Only for the case of energy
carriers have first findings of this cause-effect chain been elaborated on a sophisticated
level of detail i.e. CO2 emissions arising from combustion of fossil energy carriers. The limited knowledge on the cause-effect linkages and the unfeasibility of overcoming
this information-gap in the mid to long-term lead to the precautionary rationale that a
strategy aiming at the reduction of the resource flow volumes will also prevent
environmental impacts. Accordingly, a final scientific assessment of the material flow
volumes does not seem feasible yet and requires further analyses and research. This study well underlines the growing dependence of the EU on resource imports, and it
stresses, despite above reservations, the corresponding shift of environmental burdens
to countries outside the EU. This stresses the importance of identifying and addressing
the factors which make the EU less attractive than other regions for investment in the
development of its own resources. It also stresses the need of support for natural
resources management within the EU Development Policy110.
Although environment and
natural resources management are important components of this policy, soils and non-
energy mineral resources are ignored111 despite the significant role they play and will
continue to play in the future. A sustainable-use audit comparable to the study of Moll et al. 2003, but for fauna and
flora in the regions of Europe is badly needed. A recent assessment of use of wild
resources in the UK gave a value of some 7 Billion Euros IUCN-UK Defra. 2003. Similar assessments across the 25 EU States could provide valuable data on socio-
economic drivers, and impacts of other resource users, that will affect our ability to
continue such uses of biodiversity, with their ensuing incentives for conservation. Dematerialisation, not just a matter of weight
110
111
COM2000212,
downloadable
here
httpeuropa.eu.inteur-
lexencomcnc2000com2000_0212en01.pdf
See for instance the list of sectoral development policies in SCADPLUS the EU Institutions portal
giving access to European legislation
Page 95
The University of Leiden Van der Voet et al., 2003 developed a methodology building
on the MFA methodology by adding conclusions drawn from LCA data, to identify those
materials and resources whose exploration and use have the biggest environmental
impacts. The concept is very interesting, as it builds a bridge between MFA data and life cycle
analysis LCA data. Its purpose is to prioritise materials, identifying those who create the
biggest environmental impacts and which therefore should be the priority focus of
decoupling or dematerialisation policies. The study used the EcoInvent LCA
database112, developed by Frischknecht and the Swiss Federal Technical High School at
Zurich ETH-Z, published in1996. This database is maintained and updated by the
Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories.
Developed for the Dutch economy, the methodology seeks to identify the 20 priority
materials not only resources that cause the most impacts in the Netherlands, to serve
as a basis to develop a national materials rather than dematerialisation policy. 12 impact categories were established
o acidification
o depletion of abiotic resources
o eutrophication
o final solid waste production
o freshwater ecotoxicity
o global warming
o human toxicity
o land-use competition land surface used up
o marine ecotoxicity
o ozone layer depletion
o radiation
o terrestrial ecotoxicity
However, it does not address other important aspects such as
o depletion of water resources
o degradation of water quality surface and groundwater
o soil erosion
o soil compaction
o soil sealing
o loss of biodiversity
The MFA data suffers from the same constraints as those detailed above. As the LCA
database is a commercial database it could not be accessed while writing this report. Only metadata was accessible. Although the method is a valuable attempt to compare production stage impacts related
to resources and manufactured goods such as PVC and pesticides named materials in
the study, it has some important limitations
o it focuses only to the resources gaining phase, not on the use phase
o it does not integrate the economic, environmental and social benefits related to the use
of specific resources
112
httpwww.ecoinvent.chen
Page 96
o it can provide only average values which may distract from the great variety of individual
local situations, owing to the differing technologies used for resources gaining and their
transformation as well as to the widely differing local environmental conditions. The use
of such average values can lead to wrong decisions. Scientific knowledge of local
conditions is needed as a basis of local conditions
There are also questions as to some of the data used, which warrants further discussion. Some of these points are discussed below. Data
There are questions as to the validity of some of the data used in the study and about
the uses which can be made of this data as a solid basis for policy making. The
statements below are not a thorough critical review of all the report but the few chosen
examples point to the need for much more multidisciplinary work before policy-making,
with its potential economic, environmental and social impacts, can be based on such
data and derived information. The examples are related to barite, platinum group metals
palladium, platinum and rhodium as well as to sand and gravel. Barite Ba SO4, spelled barite, the Dutch name of the mineral, in many places of the
report is listed as one of the top twenty materials shown as being ecotoxic for the
aquatic and the marine environment inter alia fig 6.4, tables 71, 7.2, 7.4, table 2 in
appendix 2. Its marine ecotoxicity is rated 3 times higher than phenol and 150 times
higher than pesticides. This points at some errors in the data used, as this chemical
species has a very low solubility and no ecotoxicity see for instance the 54 pages report
on barite and the environment from the Canadian Alberta Environment Authority,
2004113. The US Environmental Protection Agency EPA, 1991 considers as well barite
as non-toxic. Barite is a very stable chemical species under current conditions. It is even
routinely used in medicine to prepare X-Ray photograms of the digestive tract. It is
difficult to understand how barite can have any significant marine ecotoxicity, since it is
produced from onshore mines, from mostly high-grade ores grades in the range of 30
BaSO4 are not uncommon. Most commercial barite is produced by open-pit mining and simple gravimetric
concentration, on the basis of an entirely physical process. Only in the case of chemical-
grade barite flotation is used to produce the very high-grade barite concentrate required
as an input to the production of diverse barium salts. Ecotoxicity could be related to the
flotation reagents used to produce commercial grade barite. However in modern well-
managed mines these products are not released in the environment and therefore
aquatic ecotoxicity appears highly unlikely. Barite, compared to other minerals, is
comparatively soft and quite brittle. Although no data was available to the author at the
time of writing, the energy required to produce barite is quite low when compared to the
production of metals, such as copper, from much lower grade, complex and harder ores. Therefore the indirect impacts which could be generated by the inputs necessary to
produce barite are likely to be rather low in comparison to the potential impacts related to
the production of some other minerals and metals. Most of the barite is used in off-shore oil drilling is very stable and the potentially toxic
barium metal it contains is not bioavailable. Barite may contain very small quantities of
heavy metals, essentially as sulphides and sulpho-arsenides. These heavy metals can
be arsenic, lead, mercury, silver. However, in many countries the content in heavy metals
of drilling muds is regulated. Moreover, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the very
small quantity of heavy metals possibly associated to some barite muds appears
questionable, especially, due to the only weakly oxidising conditions in deeper parts of
113
available here www3.gov.ab.caenvprotenfpublicationsbariteGuideline.pdf
Page 97
the sea, resulting in only very slow and weakly leaching of the possibly associated heavy
metals, and the high dilution of any possible leachate the marine ecotoxicity of barite
appears doubtful.
Moreover,
depletion of these particular resources is a really far prospect since these high unit value
metals are not dispersed into nature with the limited effect of the above mentioned
losses from catalytic exhausts. They either build up physical stocks jewellery, virtually
available for recycling, or are intensively recycled in 1998, in the US platinum old scrap
recycling efficiency was estimated at 76 percent Hillard, 2001. Any statement on
depletion of resources needs to consider the existence and size of physical stocks
available and their potential for later recycling. It also remains unclear why in the selection of the top-20 of priority material based on
their environmental impacts, weighted equally fig. 15 taken from the report, zinc
generates twice as much impacts which impacts, on what ? as pesticides which of the
many chemical species involved, some with proven very high eco-toxicity?. Sand and gravel in the calculation of the top-twenty of materials based on their
environmental impacts, weighted equally, sand is shown to generate about twice as
much impacts as copper and about four times the impact of gravel. The report
unfortunately does not provide a definition of the terms sand and gravel, except that it
specifies that the gravel is for concrete production. That does not clarify the point, as
concrete can be made from natural gravel rock fragments rounded as a consequence of
their natural transportation from their source to their point of deposition andor from
crushed rock angular fragments of rock obtained further to mechanical crushing,
requiring sensible amounts of energy. In nature, sand and gravel are just two distinct
granulometric classes of the same resource, gained from near surface alluvial deposits.
The separation of sand from gravel implies very simple granulometric sorting and no
significant difference of impacts results from their respective production. Therefore the 1
to 4 factor shown in the report see fig. 15 below would then more or less relate to the
different tonnages used. But the word gravel used in the report may also partly designate crushed rock, whose
production requires much more energy than the production of gravel from alluvial
deposits. The Netherlands use very large quantities of fine sand for land reclamation and
protection structures against floods. In 2000 Van der Meulen et al., 2003 the total
demand for sand of the Dutch economy was about 110 Mt, while the demand for gravel
of alluvial origin was 19 Mt about two-thirds of which are imported and that of crushed
rock about 10 Mt 100 imported. n the Netherlands, gravel and crushed rock are
essentially imported, with significant impacts due to transport related energy
consumption and related emissions and the high transported tonnage. the impacts of the
production of crushed stone have to be added to the impacts of transport. However, due
114
Page 98
to the lack of clear definitions, it is difficult to understand what the figures in the report
actually reflect. Focus on the resources gaining phase
The combination of MFA LCA focuses only on environmental impacts at the stage of
resources gaining115 phase. Owing to the complexity of the downstream part of a
resources life cycle, when the resource is integrated into a product, the social and
economic impacts of given resource products couples are not considered. However, this
would be indispensable to draw valid conclusions about the impacts of a given resource
use, which must be considered over its entire life-cycle, before valid conclusions can be
drawn. As an example, platinum generates significant impacts during its production stage
mining beneficiation of the ore metallurgy. A study published in 2003 by the UK
Department of Transport AEA Technology, 2003 on platinum and hydrogen for fuel
cells vehicles, shows that current technologies require 2 oz. of platinum per fuel cell,
corresponding i.a to approx. 1,300 kg of CO2 emitted into the air. Looking only at the
production stage of platinum shows one of the significant environmental impacts
highlighted by Van der Voet. However, if the LCA also integrated the important
downstream use of platinum in fuel cells, it would show that it is possible to achieve a
net CO2 reduction of approx. 23,450 kg CO2 would be obtained during the 12 year
average lifetime of a car by using hydrogen fuel cell technology rather than diesel fuel. Another platinum related example is the use of platinum in car exhaust catalysts. Here
platinum based catalysis allows to turn the noxious CO and NOx content of exhaust
gases into CO2 and nitrogen, a significant advantage for health and the environment. However the discovery of high platinum contents in road dust raises the question of
possible health impacts of the platinum particles included in the dust. The determination
of bioaccessibility and of the real bioavailability of platinum is a matter of research. Recently, Wella Herr et al., 2003, showed that there is no relation between exposure to
car traffic and internal platinum exposure. 115
See the definition of the term page 30.
Page 99
Fig. 15 - Top-twenty of materials based on their environmental impacts, weighted equally from Van der
Voet et al., 2003
R 31
From this limited analysis of the report arises the recommendation that a
multidisciplinary peer review of its data and conclusions, involving inter alia
economists, geologists and mining engineers, should be undertaken before
considering its use for natural resources management policy decisions that may
have significant economic and social consequences. For the same reason such
studies require the inclusion of very clear definitions of the terms used and of the
boundaries of the system referred to. Such studies also require that real
consumption data of metals and minerals especially are are available, while
unfortunately only apparent consumption data is available. The meaning of
apparent consumption and the limitations related to this data are explained pp.
54 and 94. The future strategy should assure that a stable multidisciplinary capacity and funding for
such activity be available to further develop this methodology, to replace the current
scattered and uncoordinated poorly supported efforts related to the lack of continued
funding of all the necessary activities to build, maintain and revise quality statistics and
data and develop coordinated multidisciplinary competences at the EU-level. The current
situation is not in favour of capacity development in areas which are very complex and
require the best professional expertise. One concern with most of the existing LCA databases is the feasibility and the cost of
Page 100
o acquisition of the variety of data required, knowing that some data may be
confidential for industrial or commercial reasons, data from non-EU countries may be
difficult to acquire or almost inexistent in the case of developing countries
o quality and relevance control LCA data needs to be validated by qualified experts
before use for LCA analysis. The sources of LCA data also need to be documented for
later easy reference
o maintenance and update of the LCA databases databases need to be periodically
updated to integrate new processes and data
o interoperability of the databases, to facilitate integration of LCA data from various
sources andor integration of LCA data with other information layers. In addition it should be noted that LCA data provides information about the pressures on
the environment related to specific processes. It does not tell what the impacts will be. These, depend on local environmental factors, which need to be carefully identified
during the Environmental Impact Assessment EIA of each project where significant
environmental impacts may arise. LCA data will be very helpful in highlighting the
aspects of a given project which require particular attention and caution during the EIA. Only following such an assessment and an evaluation of the possible corrective and
mitigating measures can authorities take a decision for implementing such measures in
the light of sustainable development. There are several public commercial LCA data sources116 available internationally. The
first step to facilitate the use of LCA data would be to establish a metadata catalogue of
the existing information sources.
R 32
The development of public, peer reviewed, freely accessible, LCA data would be a great
support to research and to all stakeholders concerned with natural resources
management and sustainable development. Other sectoral studies, such as the material flow and energy requirement analysis
published by Kippenberger 2001 for 8 different major117 minerals and metals. It
encompasses the mining, beneficiation and metallurgy118 of a series of minerals and
metals of particular importance due to the large tonnages produced aluminium
including alumina and bauxite, coal, chrome, iron, copper, manganese, nickel and
phosphate. This large study covers over 60 of the global mineral industry, taking into
account the diversity of the ores and of the mining, beneficiation and metallurgical
techniques. Each substance is the subject of a specific publication119, with a summarising
volume120.
Such studies are useful to identify the possible problems with a given mineral
metal and process, and serve to identify causes of concern, possible process
improvements and to compare different technological choices. 116
117
118
119
120
One of the portals to LCA data is httpwww.pre.nllinkslca_links.htm
in terms of tonnages produced yearly
Where appropraite
in German
downloadable for free from www.bgr.deaktthemashortnewsKippenberger_SH13.pdf
Page 101
R 33
Box 9 - Recommendations for further MFA and LCA studies
The methodology
To provide a full understanding of economic, environmental and social impacts of
resource gaining and use studies should cover the full life-cycle, from cradle to grave,
of specific resources products couples. Datasets need to include economic as well
as social data, to allow fully informed choices. Terminology needs to be developed and harmonised, through multidisciplinary work
associating statisticians, industrialists, environmentalists, lawyers and other
professionals to specify the meaning and usage of technical terms such as ore,
metal, depletion of resources, waste
A qualitative and quantitative assessment of the local environmental components is
required to assess the importance of potential impacts and to avoid unconsidered
application of the precautionary principle. For instance the value and vulnerabilities of
given portions of land need to be assessed as well as the value and vulnerability of
given water bodies or ecosystems. MFA and LCA studies need to associate specialists from the various concerned
disciplines to raise their value and to validate their conclusions. This in turn requires
that the necessary resources are allocated. The data
To provide a valid impact assessment for the purpose of the EUs Thematic strategy
on the sustainable use of natural resources not only comprehensive LCA data on all
the resources, but also mass flow data, attempting to measure real consumption, are
needed. Detailed environmental data, including the 3rd dimension of the environment
subsurface and geology and the 4th dimension the dynamics of natural phenomena
and of man-made pressures and impacts is needed as well. Due to the relevance of MFA and LCA data for the sustainable management of
natural resources, scientific capacities at the EU level should be coordinated and
integrated, with a stable funding. The resulting work and databases should be public,
with limitations where commercial and industrial interests need to be protected. For many resources as well as for the environment these data are not consistently
available throughout Europe and for some resources, as well as for the environment,
they would have to be worldwide in order to allow for a scientifically based
assessment. The way forward
The use of LCA databases needs considerable sectoral expertise and peer reviewing, to
validate the data before it can serve downstream decision taking. Otherwise there is a
significant risk for decision makers with insufficient sectoral background to be
Page 102
overwhelmed by a huge number of data without having the possibility to assess the
validity andor the meaning of specific data. Stable financing of MFA LCA activities is needed. In the absence of the necessary
resources for their periodical update, LCA databases are static, and some data may
become obsolete due to technology shifts.
Such a system should be developed bottom-up, starting at the local level where the
impacting activity occurs, with later integration of data and indicators at the regional,
national and global scale. The first European Commission work to develop such a
resources related SDI has been undertaken by DG Enterprise for the EU non-energy
extractive industry see p. 37. Similar agricultural or mining techniques may have widely differing impacts due to the
local environmental conditions and vulnerabilities hydro-climatological conditions,
topography, climate, existence of valuable biotopes, sensitivity of soils to sealing andor
erosion, vulnerability of groundwater resources . To turn such complex data sets into
usable information and knowledge requires high-level multi-disciplinary research
capacities and expertise, which so far are scattered throughout the EU and relatively
uncoordinated. R 34
Finally, the development of quality EU-wide georeferenced harmonised datasets
describing the environmental components, the pressures and the impacts is an essential
basis support for political judgement, in line with Article 174 of the Treaty of Nice
establishing the European Communities. The availability of quality data and of the
derived information and knowledge will significantly increase the quality of the political
decision taking and significantly contribute to the strategys decoupling objective. 5.4.7 - Resources for data acquisition and
indicators
development
Are the resources currently allocated by the EU institutions to the development of public
MFA and LCA databases in line with the scopes of such an undertaking? Today, no EU organisation is in charge of comprehensive121 MFA and LCA databases. In
addition to numerous national organisations and research institutes several European
Commission research organisations are active in environment-related research, data
acquisition, indicator development, knowledge development and dissemination. These
are the
o Institute for Prospective Technological Studies122 IPTS, located in Seville, Spain. It is
one of the research centers part of the EU Joint Research Centre
o Institute for Environment and Sustainability123 IES located in Ispra, Italy, also one of the
research centers part of the EU Joint Research Centre
121
122
123
including the four dimensions of sustainable development economy, environment, government and society
Website www.jrc.eswelcome.html
Website www. ies.jrc.cec.eu.int
Page 103
o European Environmental Agency124 EEA located in Copenhagen, Denmark and its
related organisations
o the European Environment Information and Observation Network125 Eionet, established
by the EEA founding regulation as national organisations and experts network dealing
with environmental informational services
o the European Topic Centres ETC. These currently are five consortia of institutions
across EEA member countries contracted by the EEA for four years periods to deal with
a specific environmental topic and contracted by EEA to perform specific activities as
defined in the EEA work program. The five European Topic Centres currently working
with EEA and the national EIONET partners are
ETC on water126
ETC on terrestrial environment127
ETC on waste and material flows128
ETC on air and climate change129
ETC on nature and biodiversity130
The Topic Centre on Waste and Materials Flows ETC-WMF will be succeeded
in 2005 by the ETC on Resources and Waste Management
EuroStat
Member States statistical offices and environmental agencies ministries
Member states institutions such as agronomic institutes, water authorities and
geological surveys, which all provide essential resources related data and
information. R 35
Although they altogether represent a considerable human and scientific resource, the
coordination of resources and efforts remains loose and there is a risk of duplication of
efforts, at least in some sectors.
A better coordination of these capacities would be an
important step forward towards much needed harmonised data acquisition, analytical and
data interpretation processing procedures. To put things in perspective, in Fiscal Year 2002, the United States Geological Survey had a
budget of 16.4 M and a workforce of 180 persons Committee to review the U.S. Geological
Survey Mineral Resources Program, 2003 just for the gathering of data and intelligence on
one group of resources minerals and metals. On behalf of the US government and industry
it monitors domestic and international minerals and markets productions, resources,
reserves, trade and markets. In addition,.
this activity is a permanent mission entrusted to
the USGS. Several major EU-level initiatives and regulatory developments will contribute to make more
and better environmental data available in the coming years see Timeline p. o The EU Water Framework Directive Systematic quantitative and qualitative monitoring
of surface and groundwater will have to be operational in 2006 art. 8, providing
harmonised quantitative and qualitative data on the EU water bodies, an important
component of a possible future SDI system. 124
125
126
127
128
129
130
Website www.eea.eu.int
Website www.eionet.eu.int
Website httpwater.eionet.eu.int
Website httpterrestrial.eionet.eu.int
Website httpwaste.eionet.eu.int
Website httpair-climate.eionet.eu.int
Website httpterrestrial.eionet.eu.int
Page 104
o The EU Groundwater Directive and the EU draft Directive on Surface waters will
provide for additional monitoring. o The European Commission INSPIRE initiative131, which led to a recent draft
Directive132 will provide a conceptual, harmonised, EU-wide infrastructure for spatial
geographic information. This initiative will, with time, make it possible133 thanks to EU-
wide thematic metadata catalogues to identify and access existing geographic
information, including environmental data. It will make it technically possible to combine
geographic information coming from the most diverse national sources. However, EU-
wide harmonised thematic metadata catalogues may not become available before 2015. o The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, a joint European Space
Agency ESA initiative134, is complementary to INSPIRE. It is the EU component of the
Global Earth Observation System of Systems GEOSS135, a broad international initiative. GMES develops a comprehensive space and ground based Earth Observation System,
using existing components and developing new ones. Its focus is global. o If the Soils Thematic Strategy currently being drafted by the European Commission
results in a Soils Directive, and in the design and implementation of an European wide
soil monitoring scheme, than harmonised detailed data and information on soils will
become available, however not before possibly 10 years
o The Directive on the management of waste from the extractive industry will provide
additional statistical information about old and new sites. o The planned European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register E-PRTR will
introduce a completely new reporting system across the whole of Europe. o The EUs New Chemicals Policy and the forthcoming REACH Directive will provide
additional data on production and uses of resources used by the chemical industry
o The Ambient Air Quality Directive and its daughter directives as well as the Clean Air
for Europe Thematic Strategy will provide additional information over the coming years. In addition, most of the EUs product related directives have major monitoring requirements
which will provide information as well. All these capacities and forthcoming developments, if coordinated, harmonised and
integrated into interoperable databases will much contribute to improve access to
environmental data and provide an essential basis in support of the Thematic Strategy. The next challenge is how to organise these data flows, and turn them into usable
information. The use of environmental data for predictive modeling is still in its infancy, with
most existing models disparate in data sources and approaches. Moreover, the delivery of
decision support based on such modelling has scarcely begun. User-friendly delivery, for
example in the context of computer-aided planning with multilingual thesauri, to entail a
harmonised use of the terminology analogous to grammar-checking will be necessary for
optimising sustainable use of many biotic resources at the level of local communities and
individual users. 5.4.8 - Absolute decoupling a realistic objective within the EU? In the Chapter V Sustainable Development of its 2002 European Competitiveness report
the European Commission European Commission, 2002136 shows that over the last 20
131
132
133
134
135
136
Website httpwww.ec-gis.orginspire
The draft Directive has been submitted to the Council and the Parliament on July 23rd 2004 COM 2004
516
If the user has the adequate access rights
Website httpwww.gmes.info
www.earthobservations.org
Downloadable from
Page 105
years a significative decoupling occurred between a growing industrial production and
diverse emissions within the EU, causing pressures on various components of the
environment.
For several of the indicators depicted by figs. 16 to 21, taken from this report
absolute decoupling happened, showing the results of the joint efforts from industries and
the regulatory authorities to improve the efficiency of resources use and to curb emissions. On the other hand, during the same period emissions from transport increased significantly,
offsetting the substantial gains from the energy and manufacturing industries. The overall sustainability performance of the EU economy cannot be properly assessed
without the monitoring of a wider series of parameters describing the status of the various
environmental components and life supporting systems. For most of the environmental impacts, an absolute and quite substantial decrease of the
impact is necessary, as stated in many EU environmental policy areas. This is impossible
when impacts cannot be decoupled from economic growth in absolute terms. What are the impacts and what are the main objectives for lowering them? Some priority
objectives are defined in the 6th EAP
o over the long-term, reduction global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 70 as
compared to 1990
o halting desertification and loss of biodiversity both in the EU and on a global scale
o to reduce the level of pollution in a way that it does not give rise to harmful effects on
human health and the environment
o ensure that the consumption of renewable and non renewable resources does not
exceed the carrying capacity of the environment. The 6th EAP long term objectives require quite substantial absolute impact reductions.
In
translating these objectives into specific targets and actions for specific resources, good
indicators and data are needed that relate to these objectives. 5.4.9 - A growing dependence on imports impacts and security of
supplies
In the Material Flow Analysis of the resources used by the EU, Moll et al. 2003 highlighted
the growing imports of resources from countries beyond the EU-25 borders. Here is an
excerpt from the studys summary There is a significant shift in resource requirements from
domestic sources towards the use of imports and thus a shift in environmental burden of
resource use to other regions. Therefore, resource use is increasingly becoming a matter of
international burden sharing. EUs resource requirements are increasingly met through
imports, particularly metals and industrial minerals. The indirect hidden flows associated
with imports are showing an increasing trend. Similar trends apply to most Accession
Countries. The European Union is increasingly dependent on imports of natural resources especially
energy and minerals from outside its borders fig. 22 and table 9, not unfrequently from
countries representing a significant geopolitical risk, while the EU is increasingly based on
principles such as just-in-time, zero stock. Many are critical to the functioning of its
economy, as they are necessary inputs for vital functions such as food fisheries products,
agriculture phosphate for fertilisers, energy generation energy minerals and
hydrocarbons, the development of its infrastructure, various metals, or essential industrial
httpeuropa.eu.intcommenterpriseenvironmentindex_homeemantool_indic_prodrel_vapprmantools_indicators.htm
Page 106
processes minerals and metals. There also is a dependence from certain agricultural
products such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, soybeans as well as on imports of fish. According to Eurostats Fisheries Yearbook 2003 Eurostat, 2003 fisheries products imports
into the EU-15 grew by 36 from 1993 to 2002, up to 9.13 Mt. At the same time the EU-15
trade balance worsened by 33, down to 3.65 Mt. Much more help to help exporting countries is needed to gradually increase social
and environmental standards for their agricultural production, as soil degradation and
loss of biodiversity continues at an alarming rate while demand for agricultural
products is rising with growing population and welfare . There is an urgent need to
help developing countries to create and maintain the conditions, including the
institutional capacities and the governance, needed to make a sustainable use of their
natural assets soils, biomass, mineral and energetic resources, the very basis for
any sustainable development.
In many cases the business environment and the
infrastructure need to be much improved in order to attract private investment while
further development the human, technological and material capacities of public
institutions to regulate and promote this investment. Conditionalities for support shall
include the need for transparency of public finance as well as the application of EITI
and the Equator principle see p. 58 and similar initiatives to fight corruption. While
remarkable efforts are developed in some sectors water, with the European Union
Water Initiative, the current EU Development Policy completely ignores certain
sectors such as the mineral resources sector, despite its considerable importance
and potential for many developing countries. The question is what are the sustainable benefits for the populations in developing countries
of the use of their domestic resources for export to Europe? The reply obviously varies from
place to place, but much remains to be done, through the EU development policy, to link
resources production in developing countries with sustainable benefits for these countries. Page 107
Fig. 16 Eco-efficiency of EU
Manufacturing Industry
acidifying gasses Index1980
100
Fig. 17 Eco-efficiency of EU
Manufacturing Industry ozone
precursors Index1980 100
Fig. 18 Eco-efficiency of EU
Manufacturing Industry
emissions of individual
greenhouse gases Index1980
100
Page 108
Fig. 19 Eco-efficiency of EU
Manufacturing Industry
emissions of ozone depleting
chemicals Index1980 100
Fig. 20 Eco-efficiency of EU
Manufacturing Industry minerals
consumption index Index1980
100
Fig. 21 Eco-efficiency of EU
Manufacturing Industry energy
inputs Index1980 100
Page 109
Although the data is quite old137, table 9 highlights the high dependence of the EU from
mostly metallic minerals imports, many of them produced in developing countries. In addition
to the trade statistics produced by Eurostat, trade and production statistics for EU minerals
and metals are produced by some Geological Surveys. Very detailed 1997-2002 EU-25
Mineral Statistics can be downloaded for free from the British Geological Survey138
Chapman et al., 2004, including data for construction materials and industrial minerals. Table 10, taken from this report presents another, more recent, view of the EU dependence
on many metallic minerals and on metals imports. This dependence from imports of metallic
minerals and metals is unlikely to revert in any foreseeable future, due to the increasing
difficulty to engage into mining activities within the EU, which require access to land, in most
parts of Europe. Modern mineral exploration in the EU has only been performed in some
areas, while large stretches of potentially promising ground have not so far been surveyed
using an efficient combination of remote-sensed satellite data, airborne geophysics,
geological mapping, geochemical and alluvial prospecting. In this respect, it should be noted
that many regions of Europe have not been explored using recent modern technologies,
combining high resolution geophysics, multi-element geochemistry, high resolution hyper-
spectral satellite data and modern geological concepts. Many EU governments have other
priorities in periods of budgetary constraints and apparent abundance of commodities on the
global markets. In the non-metallic industrials the situation is more contrasted while the EU is heavily reliant
on imports of some minerals phosphate, in average it is much less dependent on imports
of non-metallic minerals. Finally it has ample resources and reserves of construction
materials although these are increasingly difficult to access due to growing competition for
land in an increasingly affluent Europe. The emergence of China and India as new very important net consumers of minerals and
metals i.e. their consumption uses their national production plus significant imports
translates in an increase of minerals and metals prices and an important reduction of stocks
at the London Metal Exchange LME, the world largest exchange for publicly traded metals. From the beginning of January 2004 to the beginning of September 2004 the metal stocks
inventoried by the LME varied as follows139
o aluminium about -50
o copper about -75
o lead about 70
o nickel about 50
o tin about 60
o zinc nearly unchanged. The launch of production at new mines may to improve this situation, but no significant
change is expected soon. The availability of minerals and metals in the future will depend on
two essential factors
o the size of the demand coming from emerging countries, and their mineral resources policies
including their investment policy in developing countries
137
138
139
to the contrary of the US Government, the European Commission does not regularly publish any EU
minerals and metals production and trade statistics. The last edition of the European Minerals Yearbook,
commissioned by DG Enterprise, was published in 1997, on the basis of 1992-1995 data European
Commission, 1997. The yearbook is no longer accessible via the Internet it was in the past. Downloable from httpwww.mineralsuk.comfree_downloads.htmlEMS after prior free registration
Derived from LME data www.lme.com
Page 110
o the willingness and the capacity of private operators from the already developed countries to
invest in the development of new mining facilities, especially in geopolitically sensitive
developing countries. These are likely to have significant impacts on the EU economy.
The example given in fig. 22, derived from Chapman, 2004, shows that at least for some minerals the dependence is
rising. The enlargement of the EU is unlikely to significantly reverse this trend. Selected apparent EU mineral consumption 1982-2002
Examples of increasing EU dependance on imports
From the British Geological Survey Contribution
4,500,000
4,000,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
Baryte
Fluorspar
Coal
Ferrochrome
Barytes from net imports t
Barytes from domestic production t
Fluorspar from net imports t
Fluorspar from domestic production t
Coal from net imports kt
Coal from domestic production kt
Ferrochrome from net imports t
Ferrochrome from domestic production t
1982
2002
Fig.
Fig. 23 shows the location of the reserves141 of a series of economically important minerals,
broken down according to the Gross National Income group to which the reserves hosting
countries belong. The GNI groups are those defined by the World Bank142
o low income countries red bars in fig. 23 have a per capita GNI of less than 755 year143
o lower middle-income countries pink bars have a per capita GNI between 756 and 2,995
year
o upper middle-income countries light green bars have a per capita GNI between 2,996 and
9,265 year
o high income countries dark green bars have a per capita GNI equal or above 9,266 year. It clearly shows that the reserves of a majority of the 28 listed mineral resources are located
in low income or lower middle-income countries. It should be emphasised that these
reserves have a strategic value for the further economic development and balance of the
world, but that many of these poor countries face pressing short-term issues which make it
almost impossible for them to conceive long-term development strategies. This in turn
makes it very difficult to allocate the resources needed to build and maintain the governance
and institutional capacities, and to develop the enabling conditions whereby they would
become attractive for private investment and could hope to benefit from the wealth
generated by the gaining of their natural resources. Many of these countries are locked in a
poverty trap, with subsequent stability and geopolitical consequences at stake. 141 Again beware of the meaning of the word reserve it is a dynamic figure, while the figure 13 is a static image.
Reserves may increase over time as new deposits are found over time in regions so far underexplored, or due to
breakthroughs in exploration technologies. 142
Definitions of GNI groups can be found in the following World Bank webpages
httpwww.worldbank.orgdepwebenglishmodulesglossary.htmllow-income. Threshold values were taken
from the World Bank Development indicators on CD-ROM. 143
Page 112
Minerals for the future breakdown by income group of the countries hosting the known reserves
Data Source USGS - Mineral commodity summaries 2004
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
B
a
r
y
t
e
B
a
u
x
i
t
e
A
n
t
i
m
o
n
y
C
h
r
o
m
u
m
i
C
o
b
a
l
t
C
o
p
p
e
r
i
D
a
m
o
n
d
F
e
o
r
e
l
F
u
o
r
i
t
e
G
o
d
l
L
e
a
d
L
i
t
i
h
u
m
i
N
c
k
e
l
M
e
r
c
u
r
y
M
a
n
g
a
n
e
s
e
l
M
o
y
b
d
e
n
u
m
i
N
o
b
u
m
i
P
e
a
t
P
e
r
l
i
t
e
P
h
o
s
p
h
a
e
t
P
a
l
t
i
n
o
d
s
i
P
o
t
a
s
h
R
a
r
e
e
a
r
t
h
T
n
i
S
i
l
v
e
r
i
Z
n
c
T
u
n
g
s
t
e
n
V
a
n
a
d
u
m
i
Fig. 23 Location of known reserves of 28 economically important mineral resources, broken down per
income group of the hosting countries
Data from USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2004 and World Bank Development Indicators 2002
Access to natural resources is indispensable to economic development. R 37
The development of these capacities and conditions need long-term support from outside. This is where the European Union, through its grant-based international development aid
programs, especially the European Development Fund, could provide support, possibly in
close relation with other important actors such as the European Investment Bank andor the
World Bank. One of the ways could be to support long-term twinning between EU
geoscientific mining environmental institutions and their developing world counterparts, to
allow institutional strengthening and capacity building in geosciences, mining and
environmental management, development of enabling investment frameworks, acquisition
and dissemination of geoscientific data, support to developing countries small-scale mining
and SMEs development. Table 11 shows some of the characteristics of the main mineral exporting countries in Africa. This table, which could be extended to China and India, whose roles on the mineral markets
are rapidly growing, clearly shows that many of the countries producing the minerals we
need are suffering from extreme poverty and related problems such as AIDS and, quite
frequently, rampant corruption. These are important sources of instability. To address these issues is for the EU a security problem, requiring long-term strategies and
dedication. Transparency can be fostered including by deterring potential corrupters from
the North, governance can be build through capacity building and institutional
strengthening. However neither geosciences nor mineral resources related issues are given
attention in the current EU Development Policy COM2000212. However, the EU security
of supplies and the EU security overall would greatly benefit from helping these countries
Page 113
to create a sustainable level playfield to attract the private sector investments to necessary
to unleash Africas and other developing countries dormant potential, while ensuring that
the conditions are put in place for local populations to really benefit from their potential and
that the environment is preserved. The result is that theses issues, although of high importance for the development of many
countries and for the long-term supplies of the world, including the EU, are not considered in
the implementation of the 9th European Development Fund.
Rep. Guinea
Table 11 Some characteristics of Africas mineral exporting countries
Data sources mineral exports Weber-Fahr 2002 AIDS UNAids 2003 Corruption Perception Index
Transparency International 2003 Income categories, Indebtness, Eligibility for the HIPC initiative World Bank
World Development Indicators 2003
Page 115
6 -
INPUTS FOR THE FUTURE THEMATIC STRATEGY ON THE
SUSTAINABLE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES
6.1 - Existing EU policy, regulatory and instruments framework relevant
to sustainable natural resources management
is not
to attempt
this section
The purpose of
a comprehensive
analysis of all the regulatory framework, resolutions, declarations, initiatives and EU
instruments which impact on the way resources are extracted and used by the EU-economy
including the resources imported from outside the EU, but to simply list table 12 policies,
directives, regulations and International Agreements which have an impact on resources
gaining use within and outside the EU. This list is incomplete, its purpose being to highlight
the size and diversity of existing E or forthcoming F EU texts which have an impact on the
specific activity. It clearly shows the importance and the complexity of the policy and
regulatory framework applicable to the resources gaining industries. The European
Commission EUR-LEX website144 is available for a more comprehensive overview of the
existing EU legal database. In addition to these policies, regulations and instruments, the European Commission has at
its disposal several scientific and technical bodies involved in environment related research,
knowledge development and dissemination. These organisations are listed on page 103. A comprehensive database would be required as a component of the Thematic Strategy, to
serve as a basis for the policy assessment and integration activities. So far, as underlined in
COM2003572, the diversity of existing EU policies, regulations and instruments has some
very contradictory effects on the sustainable use of natural resources, and there is a need
for the assessment and integration of all these elements using a sustainable development
analytical framework. This is a highly complex undertaking, and informed, science-based,
political judgement will be needed. R 38
The review of the effects of current EU policies should be done during the first 2 to 3 years
of implementation of the Thematic Strategy, as a basis for the formulation of
recommendations for policy regulatory integration measures. It should then be periodically
updated, possibly every five years, to integrate new developments, data, information and
knowledge. A review of the current EU Sustainable Development Strategy has been recently
launched by the European Commission145. Table 12, below, lists some of the important EU-level policies, directives, regulations and
instruments with significant impact on the sustainable development of the EU and of its
impacts on the global sustainable development of the Earth. 144
httpeuropa.eu.inteur-lexenindex.html
145 The readers of this report should note that the European Commission recently engaged a review of the EU
Sustainable Development Strategy.
A public consultation has been launched to which you can individually
participate up to October 31st, 2004. The online consultation is accessible here
httpeuropa.eu.intyourvoiceformsdispatch.jsp?form329langEN
Page 116
Instrument
Additional to
a Directive
Status
E
Related environmental issues
Water, agriculture
Convention
E
Halieutic resources, marine biodiversity,
coastal zones
Text
No
Decision
24552001EC of the
European Parliament
and of the Council of 20
2001
November
establishing the list of
priority substances in
the field of water policy
and amending Directive
200060EC
the
Annex V
Convention
the
Protection of the Marine
Environment
the
North-East Atlantic on
the protection and
the
conservation of
ecosystems
and
biological diversity of the
maritime area
Bern convention
to
for
of
Convention
Biological Diversity
on
BIRDS Directive
79409EEC
Directive
Council
87217EEC of
19
March 1987 on the
prevention
and
of
reduction
environmental pollution
by asbestos
Council
Directive
88347EEC of 16 June
1988 amending Annex II
to Directive 86280EEC
on limit values and
quality objectives for
discharges of certain
dangerous substances
included in List I of the
to Directive
Annex
76464EEC
International
convention
International
convention
E
E
Convention on Trade in
Endangered Species
International
convention
E
E
E
Directive
Directive
Limits use of wild species resources. Principles for conservation of biological
diversity and sustainable use with full
consideration of ecological, social and
economic issues, recent Kuala Lumpur
COP included substantial revision for
conservation through sustainable use.
Regulates trans-boundary movements of
animal and plant species and derivatives,
now applies sustainable use principles. All extractive activities
Impacts on mineral industry and air
quality
Directive
E
Water, soils
Page 117
Directive
Council
91271EEC of 21 May
1991 concerning urban
waste-water treatment
Directive
Council
12
91676EEC of
1991
December
the
concerning
waters
protection of
against pollution caused
by
from
nitrates
agricultural sources
Directive
Council
24
9661EC of
1996
September
concerning
Integrated
Pollution Prevention and
Control IPPC
Directive
Council
9883EC
3
of
November 1998 on the
quality of water intended
for human consumption
Council Directive on
ambient air quality. Directive 200014EC of
the
European
Parliament and of the
Council of 8 May 2000
on the approximation of
the laws of the Member
States relating to the
noise emission in the
by
environment
equipment
use
outdoors
for
Directive 200060EC of
the
European
Parliament and of the
Council of 23 October
2000 establishing a
framework
for
Community action in the
field of water policy
Directive 200249EC
the
relating
and
assessment
management
of
Environmental noise
to
Directive
Directive
E
E
Water, soils
Water, Agriculture
Directive
E
Impacts on all resources gaining use
activities
Directive
E
Directive
Directive
E
E
Water supply for human consumption
The Directive has an incidence on
resources gaining use activities which
may impact drinking water quality
All resources gaining use activities
All noise generating resources gaining
use activities
Directive
E
Water resources and from there all
resources gaining use activities implying
water as an input or output
Directive
E
All noise generating resources gaining use
activities
Page 118
Directive 200259EC of
the
European
Parliament and of the
Council of 27 June 2002
a
establishing
Community vessel traffic
monitoring
and
information system and
Council
repealing
Directive 9375EEC
Directive 200330EC of
the
European
Parliament and of the
Council of 8 May 2003
on the promotion of the
use of biofuels or other
for
renewable
transport²
Directive 200335EC of
the
European
Parliament and of the
Council of 26 May 2003
providing
for public
participation in respect
of the drawing up of
certain plans and
programmes relating to
the environment
fuels
Directive 20034EC of
the
European
Parliament and of the
Council of 28 January
2003 on public access
to environmental inform
Directive 200387EC -
greenhouse
gas
allowance
emission
trading. Directive on
the
management of waste
the extractive
from
industries - COM2003
319
Directive 200435EC on
environmental liability
Environmental
Assessment
200142
Forthcoming
Groundwater Directive
Impact
Directive
Directive
E
Halieutic resources, coastal zones,
seawater, resources trade
Directive
E
Positive impacts in the use phase of
biofuels,
but possible large-scale
intensive agriculture related impacts on
habitats, soils and water in the resource
gaining phase. Directive
E
Public participation
in permitting
procedures at national levels under
legislation on environmental impact
assessment and integrated pollution
prevention and control
Directive
E
Access of public to environmental
information impacts on all resources
gaining use activities
Directive
Directive
Directive
Directive
Directive
E
P
E
E
G
GHG generating resources gaining use
activities mining
industry,
transport
metals
Mining activities
Environmental liability
Mining, oil and gas production
Groundwater resources and from there
all resources gaining use activities with
an impact on groundwater quantity
andor quality
All onshore and offshore resources
gaining use activities
Page 119
Habitat Directive 9243
Directive
E
INSPIRE
Infrastructure for spatial
information in Europe
Directive
F
Directive
Directive
E
E
Instruments
E
Instruments
E
NATURA 2000 Directive
9243
The
Directive. Seveso
II
GMES Global
for
Monitoring
and
Environment
Security
and
Research
Technological
Framework
Programmes DG
Research
Basel convention
6th
European
Action
Environmental
its
Programme and
seven
Thematic
Strategies see page
22
Environmental
Technologies Action
Plan ETAP.-
COM
200438
Common Agricultural
Policy
Common
Policy
Fisheries
REACH Regulation
International
convention
Policy
Policy
Policy and
financial
instruments
Policy and
financial
instruments
Regulation
E
E
E
E
E
P
organise and homogenise
Will
Geographic Information throughout the
EU, with a beneficial impact on natural
resource management and natural
hazards prevention
All extractive activities
technologies. academia and
Mining, oil and gas industry some
installations are falling within the scope
of this directive
A joint ESA European Commission
instrument to develop and promote
space and ground based earth
observation
Finances
projects on environmental monitoring
within the EU and globally
The Framework Programmes now FP6
have been of high relevance to improve
resources related knowledge and
management capacities via the JRCs
research
andor
institutes. They have a great importance
for the development of new methods and
technologies such as analytical
techniques, Earth Observation and
technologies,
monitoring
modelling
pollution prevention
technologies,
abatement
the
development
databases and
environment related GIS. FPs have a
high impact on all resources gaining use
activities within the EU much less so on
these activities in developing countries
Regulates transboundary movements of
hazardous waste. Impacts on mining and
metallurgy
All resources gaining use activities
technologies,
of
Innovation, with possible impacts on
many resources gaining use activities
Agriculture, and from there on air,
biodiversity, soils and water. Strong
incidence on agriculture outside the EU.
Halieutic resources, marine biodiversity,
coastal zones
All extractive industries using chemicals
as inputs, or generating products which
may fall under the regulation. Will impact
on air, biodiversity, soils and water
Page 120
Regulation EC No
7822003 of
the
European Parliament
and of the Council of 14
the
2003 on
April
prohibition of organotin
compounds on ships
Regulation EC No
the
7822003 of
European Parliament
and of the Council of 14
April
the
2003 on
prohibition of organotin
compounds on ships
Cotonou Agreement
Aarhus Convention
Sustainable
Development Indicator
Framework for the Non-
Extractive
energy
Industries
DG
Enterprise
Regulation
E
Breeding, water
Regulation
E
Halieutic resources, coastal zones,
seawater, resources trade
Treaty
Financial
Instrument
UN
Convention
Voluntary
Initiative
E
E
E
The Cotonou Agreement regulates the
cooperation between the EU and 77
countries from Africa, the Caribbean and
the Pacific. Impacts on production of
resources in these countries and on
trade with Europe
Right for every citizen to access to
environmental information
Encourages voluntary reporting of
sustainable performance by the EU non-
energy mineral industry
Table 12 Non-exhaustive list of EU regulations, policies, agreements, and instruments having an impact on
natural resources management
6.1.1 - Does this framework address the issues? R 39
R 40
If fully implemented, the existing and planned policy and regulatory framework would be
significantly contribute to the progressive decoupling of resources gaining use activities
related environmental impacts within the EU. The identification of the obstacles to the
application of the existing policy and regulatory framework, and the removal of these
obstacles should be given first priority in the future Thematic strategy. The issue of the impacts of the imports of resources in developing countries, and the goods
derived there from, as well as the issue of security of supplies are distinct from the above
issue. Altogether, these issues will need to be tackled by the Thematic Strategy on the
Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. Furthermore it has to be mentioned that the Strategy and any kind of resources related
European legislation will have great difficulties in forcing non-EU states to act in compliance
with the aims of the strategy.
Progress here will be slow, but can be achieved through a mix
of support and conditionalities. The existing EU environment related regulatory framework is challenged by limitations in its
effective implementation by the Member States, as it can be seen from COM2003669 from
Page 121
which fig. 24 is taken , which reports on the monitoring of the application of community law at
the end of 2002. The difficulties in the implementation of existing environmental regulations
are likely to partly be caused by the legal and technical complexity, and the possibly
ambiguity, of existing regulations.
They may also be caused by limitations of the human,
financial and technical resources necessary available both at the level of companies and of
the regulatory authorities to effectively implement the regulations. Fig. 24 Distribution of complaints received by the European Commission, per sector source European
Commission, COM2003669
Box 10 is an excerpt of COM2003669, describing the situation on Dec. 31st, 2002. Box 10 Excerpt from COM2003669 Enforcement of the EU Environment
regulatory framework The situation on 31122002
The last five years have seen a growing difficulty in the timely and correct implementation
as well as proper practical application of EC environmental legislation. This is reflected in the
growing number of complaints received and infringement cases opened by the Commission
every year. As in the earlier years, in 2002 the environment sector covered over one third of
all infringement cases investigated by the Commission. The Commission brought 65 cases
against Member States before the Court of Justice and issued 137 reasoned opinions on the
basis of Article 226 of the EC Treaty. The number of new complaints, which mainly refer to presumed instances of bad application
of EC environmental law, remains at the high level experienced after 1996 when the
Commission adopted the Communication Implementing EC environmental law93. In 2002,
555 new complaints alleging breach of Community environmental law were lodged with the
Commission. A considerable number of these complaints give also rise to written questions
and petitions in the European Parliament. Page 122
This clearly underlines the need for effective implementation of the existing regulatory
framework. should be given top priority before any change of existing regulatory frameworks
or drafting new ones. There are also gaps with respect to targets and instruments for
resource efficiency which should be filled at the same time and be integrated in
environmental policy as well as other policy areas, such as Research and Development Aid. The lack of proper regulations in other policy areas hamper resource efficiency as well as
the existence of environmentally harmful subsidies. This situation needs to be addressed.
Calleja et al. 2004 described the many obstacles restraining the ownership by business
and end-users of the already available innovative environment-friendly technologies and
good practices. Work to lower these obstacles, and to monitor progress, should be
considered as a top priority of the future Thematic Strategy. 6.2 - What needs to be done? Recommendations. In this section you will find recommendations, organised in 5 categories, following the outline
of the questionnaire and meetings of WG1. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the
author, nor reflect a consensus among the stakeholders, whose interests may be conflicting
on certain concepts andor on certain points. The boxes below include a combination and
elaboration from the stakeholders inputs in papers and in meetings, and attempt at reflecting
the diversity of opinions and recommendations. Therefore some might contradict each other
or overlap, and some relevant aspects might still be missing. This approach leaves the
Commission the benefit of the diversity of views shown in this section, in the summary of the
individual written contributions included in Appendix 4, as well as in the detailed individual
contributions which were posted on the NAT RES website. It should be noted that no majority consensus emerged in the working group about a ation of
the resources to be flagged as of particular concern for the formulation of the future Towards
a Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. 6.2.1 - What are the priority resources that need to be targeted in a
strategy for the sustainable use of resources? Page 123
Box 11 - SYNTHESIS OF THE STAKEHOLDER RECOMMENDATIONS
PRIORITY RESOURCES
1. Prudent and efficient use should be applied to all natural resources and materials,
and no resource should be exempt from a resource policy. If priorities are to be
set, they should be focused on where the use and management of resources has
the greatest environmental impact. 2. Careful analysis to assess the impacts of the use of natural resources is needed
before resources or materials are selected as priorities in view of achieving
decoupling, and objectives are set. In the first phase of the resources strategy
implementation, knowledge about the different natural resources used, of the
resulting pressures on the environmental components, and of their localization, as
well as of the resulting impacts on sustainable development needs to be deepened
in order to define measurable targets for the reduction of the use of resources of
particular concern. 3. The strategy should identify priority resources and set measurable and deliverable
objectives for three categories
Resources which are crucial as life-support systems for our planet. Resources and materials which are crucial as the basis for our economies. Resources use and materials which cause the biggest negative
environmental and social impacts. 4. Crucial life-support resources are seas, soil, biodiversity, minerals, natural
habitats, forest, natural surface and underground waters, climateatmosphere. Most of these are not renewable on a human timescale. When properly managed,
they act as essential foundations of our societies, providing food and renewable
materials, absorbing and recycling the waste and emissions. and performing other
vital functions. Their quantity and quality should be safeguarded. Good
management can even increase their quantity, performance and quality.
5. There is general concern about the economic, social and environmental effects of
growing trend of resources imports from outside the EU. This can for example be
applied to agricultural products, energy sources as well as to metals and minerals
indispensable for high tech applications. Absence or shortage of the resource in
the EU, lower costs in other parts of the world, but also differences in legislation or
market distortions, political decisions at EU level or in an international context can
cause these trends. Security of supply should be an issue, whilst at the same time
considering not just the sustainable development of Europe, but of the world. This
complex subject requires further careful and considered discussion. Security of
supply issues need to be balanced against economic, environmental and social
issues. A comprehensive analysis of economic, social, strategic, environmental
and geopolitical risks and trends for crucial resources is recommended. This might
lead to the objective of a larger degree of self-sufficiency for the EU for critical
resources. 6. Equity is also an issue by importing resources from outside the EU we are often
leaving our pollution and waste outside the EU. This needs to be addressed by
measures which mitigate the negative impacts of our resource use outside the EU. Page 124
7. A comprehensive analysis of economic, social, strategic, environmental and
geopolitical risks and trends for the different natural resources is recommended. This
might lead to the objective of a larger degree of self-sufficiency for the EU for crucial
resources. 8. Resources related institutions, such as Geological Surveys and higher education
institutions specialised in natural resources management, face budgetary difficulties
while the demend for knowledge in resources development and sustainable
management increases. The increasingly complex demand from society and public
authorities at all levels, from municipalities to the European institutions is frequently
under-financed. The average age of European experts is rapidly growing, and there
are difficulties to recruit young graduates. As a result there is a risk of loss of
expertise at a momentwhere resources issues may become more and more critical
for the EU competitiveness.
9. The strategy needs to broadly analyse the flow of materials through the EU economy
according to their biggest environmental impacts and their socio-economic relevance,
independent of where these impacts occur. As OECD ministers recently agreed,
data collection on mass flows needs to be improved to this end. Mass flow data in
itself are insufficient for ranking impacts. Life Cycle Assessment information
combined with mass flows can provide a wealth of information on impacts, although
continuous data improvement should take place. The impact depletion of
biodiversity as well as social impacts should be included. Furthermore, owing to the
complexity of the downstream part of a resources life cycle, when the resource is
integrated into a product, the impacts of given resource products couples must be
considered in order to draw valid conclusions about the impacts of a given resource
use and this before any generation of options for policy can be done. Next to the
environmental impact, any policy should deal with the social and economical impact
and this in an equal way. 10. The further development and continuous updating of methodologies and data to
define the environmental impacts and flows of resources is important, but should not
become too prominent in defining priority resources and actions as this takes a lot of
time and money. 11. The further development and continuous updating of methodologies and data to
define the environmental impacts and flows of resources are crucial to get a solid and
efficient policy on the sustainable use of resources in place. 12. The weighting of the various impacts is always a political decision, which should be
based on scientific reliable solid data. Important impacts that need to be included in
any case climateenergy use, land use, impacts on air, soils, water, natural habitats,
human eco-toxicity. 13. The definition of priority resources will never be final and undisputed, and will have to
be regularly reviewed, as natural resources use and their impacts are changing as a
result of developments in the environment, global economy, technology, science
and policy. 14. The strategy must be based on the concept of environmental limits. More work is
needed to identify these.
15. Consistency of the resources strategy with other EU policies and regulations is
needed. Page 125
6.2.2 - What are the opportunities and potentials in quantitative terms -
for lowering the impacts of resource use? Box 12 - SYNTHESIS OF THE STAKEHOLDER RECOMMENDATIONS
OPPORTUNITIES AND POTENTIALS
1. In general, impacts of present resource use are already putting too high a burden
on the environment, inside and outside the EU. Lowering these impacts in absolute
terms while the economy is growing is an additional challenge. In the common
scientific literature this challenge is defined as absolute decoupling and the
Commission should acknowledge this as the general objective. 2. The overall aim of decoupling economic growth from the impacts of resource
use is widely supported, but there is no agreement amongst stakeholders on what
this means in quantitative terms. In the first phase of the resources strategy,
careful analysis of all priority natural resources has to result in setting priorities and
evaluating feasible targets and applying measurable sustainable ecological, social
and economical targets for impact reduction. 3. Stakeholders involved in the various specific sectors often see options for
lowering impacts, but are reluctant to define for their own sector in quantitative
terms the potential for lowering resources use andor their impacts. The
Commission should continue the dialogue with the economic sectors agriculture,
energy, forestry, mining, transport, water supply collecting knowledge and
expertise from all sectors concerned, but also build upon its own independent
peer-reviewed studies. 4. Already defined long term objectives relating to environmental impact can be a
basis for specific objectives related to the impacts of resource use for example the
aims for four priority issues as mentioned in the 6thEAP
a likely global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 70 as compared
to 1990
halting desertification and loss of biodiversity both in the EU and on a
global scale
the level of pollution does not give rise to harmful effects on human health
and the environment
ensure that the consumption of renewable and non renewable resources
does not exceed the carrying capacity of the environment
5. At the United Nations General Assembly Special Session UNGASS, New York,
1997, five years after Rio, the European Union called for a study on the increase
in resource productivity by a factor four over the next two to three decades. In this
context, the resolution of UNGASS defines the aim to increase resource
productivity by a factor four to ten. Following this commitment, the EU should explore innovative, social and
economically viable options to contribute to achieving worldwide global factor four
to reduce impacts of resource use by half while global welfare doubles in the next
two decades. . Page 126
6. The strategy must specifically address the impacts of the EUs resource use on the
poorer communities within Europe and the world. 7. The opportunities are not merely in reducing adverse impacts, but also in seeking
scope for benefits. This is especially true in the case of renewable resources,
including the exploitable components of biodiversity, as recognised in the Convention on
Biological Diversity Article 11. Uses of renewable resources provide important
incentives to maintain and in some cases improve those resources, Extractive industries
can provide benefits by creating new habitats. Page 127
6.2.3 - How can the goal of effective decoupling be achieved, having the
EU enjoying economic growth while significantly reducing the
negative impacts related to resource consumption? Box 13 - SYNTHESIS OF THE STAKEHOLDER RECOMMENDATIONS
EFFECTIVE DECOUPLING
1. The Strategy must integrate the three pillars of sustainable development and social
and economic aspects must be considered in equal rank with environmental impacts
2. Sustainable natural resource use and a continuation of decoupling is needed. In
general, better management of resources is an important tool for decoupling. More
rational management of land, of waste, of industrial processes, a prudent and
efficient use of resources -, including a reduction or responsible application of
several waste products and residues -, need to be promoted and facilitated. 3. For biotic resources, such as forests, agricultural land, but also for natural areas
that deliver certain product and services, sustainable management practices need to
be promoted to guarantee or even increase quality andor quantity of their yields. Appropriate investments need to be facilitated, not just in the technology but also in
the logistics. Obligatory for some stakeholders or voluntary for some other
stakeholders certification and labelling can play an important role.
4. To address global inequalities in resource use, the strategy should aim to reduce
resource use within the EU in real terms. 5. Decouple adverse impacts, not use. 6. Profitability and good value for sustainable managed resources and derived
products need to be secured. Economic incentives should be considered, such as
getting the prices right, without seeing resources gaining activities increasingly
transferred outside the EU to States with lower social and environmental standards. The same is true for their use. It is important to get the prices right and this via for
instance internalisation of external costs. Remove harmful production subsidies that
encourage inefficiencies in resource and energy management and are incompatible
with sustainable development. 7. For resources with large impacts, the best combination of options for better
management, substitution, use reduction, reuse, recycling andsubstitution need to
be explored and promoted. 8. Make sure that decoupling policy will be encouraged worldwide with global
economic growth and the upcoming economies of for example China and India
global decoupling needs to be strongly promoted. High consuming countries have a
bigger challenge to lower their impacts, related to per capita levels. Make a clear
connection between development cooperation and more sustainable resource use,
including more equal access to resources by people in developing countries. 9. A stable, predictable political, regulatory and fiscal framework is needed.
Decoupling is an unsatisfactory concept for renewable resources that can benefit
from use. International Conventions affecting biodiversity e.g. CBD, CITES now
encourage maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity motivated by use e.g. Addis Ababa principles of CBD. With skilful planning, use of non-renewable
resources can be used to improve environments. Page 129
6.2.4 - What practical actions, policies and instruments are needed to
achieve these goals and to monitor progress, in the short-term 2
years, medium-term 5 years or within the long-term 25 years
time frame set for the strategy? What are the likely costs and
benefits of these actions? BOX 14 - SYNTHESIS OF THE STAKEHOLDER RECOMMENDATIONS
PRACTICAL ACTIONS, POLICIES, INSTRUMENTS
1. The effective implementation in all EU Member States of all the relevant existing EU
policies and regulations such as on climate change and energy efficiency, waste
prevention, hazardous substances, integrated product policy need to be given high
priority before making any change of existing regulatory frameworks or drafting new
ones. Existing policies and regulations need to be urgently and properly
implemented, and their results monitored and evaluated in relation to the resources
strategy. 2. Specific sub-strategies for different resources need to be developed. To this end,
establish working groups and multi-stakeholder meetings for various categories of
resources and materials, on the basis of homogeneity for impacts and scarcity. These multi-stakeholder meetings should be periodically repeated, identifying needs
for specific actions. 3. The Thematic Strategy should launch a stakeholder process to develop indicators to
assess the global impact on sustainable development of the EUs resource use. Stakeholders should include some representatives of community groups from
developing countries that export resources to the EU. In tackling this issue, it will be
important to engage stakeholders from developing countries that supply resources
for EU markets, including some representatives of local communities concerned
with resources gaining activities.
4. Promote and invest in and reward good eco design for the end user, including eco-
efficiency, recycling, maintenance and upgrading. 5. Influence consumer demand for green products and processes through different
processes, including the use of ecolabels and other information tools. 6. Put eco-taxes on resource and waste intensive products and processes. Reward
good practices, e.g. through tax discounts and prizes. 7. Apply quality standards for sustainable management with obligatory labelling to
resources and their products. For example certification of wood should guarantee
that it comes from legally and sustainable managed forests, according to
international standards. 8. Support education, training and research on sustainable resource management. 9. Identify and remove all perverse incentives, whether operational, regulatory or fiscal,
whereby the EU or individual states unwittingly encourage uses of resources that is
unsustainable or prevent uses that encourage conservation. Page 130
10. Use financial incentives tax credits and disincentives taxes, levies to promote
substitution, recycling, resources efficient uses. 11. Internalise external costs. Remove harmful production subsidies that encourage
inefficiencies in resource management. 12. Once resource and waste intensive products and processes with high environmental
impacts are identified, eco-taxes and other policy responses should be considered. Actively communicate on good practices, and reward good performance. 13. Favour technological innovation, ensuring that key energy efficiency and resource
preservation opportunities are seized e.g. renewables, improved efficiency of
existing resources. 14. Start innovation programmes for factor 4 technologies and national processes, based
on a functional approach fulfilling human needs food, housing, access and quality
of life. 15. Develop exploitation of local resources in the EU. Prevent the shift of impacts to non-
EU countries by better access to EU resources. 16. The strategy should identify policy measures that will recognise and begin the
repayment of the EUs ecological debt e.g. low-cost transfer of resource efficiency
technology and capacity building as outlined in the Johannesburg Implementation
Plan. 17. Promote further dialogue between European authorities, business and NGOs.
18. Specific suggestions relating to the mining and hydrocarbons industry
include mining and mineral resources and geology in development aid policy,
fostering capacity building for sustainable management of these
do not curtail mining in the EU by legislation
industry and government agencies to devise innovative ways to explore for
new reserves and extend production life of existing resources
an investment of 500 billion dollar over 20-30 years is a necessity to meet
anticipated EU demand for gas and gas only in OECD Europe. Moreover, it
cannot be predicted at this stage whether these will be only private-sector
investments. Included in the figure are exploration development,
transmission and storage, LNG, and distribution.
The figure was first
developed by OGP and later confirmed by the IEA World Energy Investment
Outlook, 2003 Insights, IEA, page 187
adopt a standard Reporting Code to define resources and reserves for
investors
Page 131
19. Specific suggestions for the forest and wood sector are
facilitate access to EU forest resources, as not all available yield is
harvested. which a renewable and sustainably managed resource. Wood
mobilisation is key to secure its availability. educate consumers on the advantages of wood and forest products based
and forest products carbon storages, substitutes for other non-renewable
and less environmentally friendly products and as such guide consumers
behaviour. extend the life of wood products by improved processes and by raising the
consumer awareness on recycling
increased recycling of used paper and wood products
promote wood in the construction industry
Increase the potentially available amount of wood and biomass by
afforestation of agricultural land, reforestation, short rotation forestry and
agricultural energy crops becoming available for other functions
develop carbon credits for biofuel crops as and when science permits
afforestation of agricultural land becoming available for other functions
respect and recognise the carbon cyclestrengthen competitiveness of the EU
forestry and forest-based industries
look at policies that are overlapping, counterproductive or contradictory and
make them consistent as well as fill in some definitions e.g. the one for
secondary raw material. 20. Specific suggestions for the fisheries sector are
give subsidies for other occupations for fishing communities
make science based decisions
implement effective controls
abolish all subsidies that cause or encourage overfishing
reduce barriers to imports
develop labelling for sustainably managed fisheries and their products
protect varieties, species, biotopes in aquatic habitats
implement the ecosystem management approach
recognise the existence of other fishstock users than commercial fishermen
treat non-commercial fishermen on an equal foot with commercial fishermen
recognise that society for some species in some areas benefits more from
recreational fishing than from traditional commercial fishing for food
have in mind that biodiversity concerning fish not only refers to many
species but also all year classes represented
more research is needed into developing more selective fishing gear types
interpret and enforce the precautionary principle more strictly than hitherto
to the benefit of the environment
21. Specific suggestions on conservation and biodiversity are
encourage the use of resources that benefit conservation
develop knowledge tools software to optimise income, quality of life and
biodiversity
abolish EU subsidies that cause overgrazing in the Mediterranean
make EU agricultural policy sustainable, aim at quality instead of quantity
protect varieties, species, biotopes in semi-natural areas, linked to
agriculture
Page 132
22. Specific suggestions on construction are
make a link to the urban environment strategy, making sustainable
construction a priority. promote wood in the construction industry
ecolabelling on buildings is EPD
develop reporting on construction materials such as sand, gravel,
aggregates
fiscal incentives disincentives could foster recycling, but building material
prices will increase. 23.
Specific suggestions on spatial planning are
apply integrated 3-D GIS land-use planning for balancing competing
interests, including nature and mineral resources demand
3-D spatial planning procedures are required to safeguard future minerals
supply and new deposits
24. Specific suggestions for water are
water supply risks in the EU are linked to climate change, in quantitative as
well in qualitative pollution sense. polluter pays principle should be applied
internalisation of costs in water prices. 6.2.5 - How should knowledge gathering and availability of data be
improved and guaranteed? R 41
6.2.5.1 - RESEARCH
Support for multi-disciplinary resources related RTD should be a prominent component of
the Thematic Strategy
o to homogeneise and further develop the data acquisition methods146, the processing,
interpretation and representation techniques at the EU level, in line with INSPIREs
guiding principles
o to generate the data, the information and the knowledge necessary to understand and
manage the sustainability impacts of the EUs resources use. The efforts of the various
parties in EU and national resources data acquisition, interpretation and dissemination at
EU and national level
remain scattered and loosely coordinated, leading to
inconsistencies in terminologies and data series, to data quality problems and to data
gaps. These issues then translate into poor information and knowledge about resources
related impacts and in difficulties of optimally addressing these impacts. This knowledge
basis is not only of importance to monitor current production trends and related issues,
but also as a basis to benchmark the impacts of developments in the future resources
uses
146
including where applicable sampling, remote sensing, metrology, telemetry, analytical techniques
Page 133
o to further develop integrated Earth observation and data acquisition systems, such as
probes and sensors, ground and space borne both to dynamically monitor the European
and global environment and to assist in locating the resources needed by the global
economy. Data collection by means of sensors and probes needs to be complemented
by field observation where and as necessary. The 4th dimension time, i.e. the dynamics
of environmental changes must be taken into consideration to assess the evolution of
impacts over time, this requiring their careful monitoring over time. There shall be a
strong linkage between the Thematic Strategy and the Global Earth Observations
Project147 which needs to be focused on all resources air, biodiversity, energy, minerals,
soils, water, natural factors natural hazards and resources related issues agriculture,
climate, ecosystems, health, transport
o to develop the 4D four dimensional understanding of impacts current land-use
planning, an important instrument in support of sustainable development and of the
reduction of impacts needs to integrate
o the 3rd dimension the subsurface as the location of essential natural resources soils,
water, minerals, subsurface space, geothermal energy which are at the same time
essential to human development and in need of conservation
o the 4th dimension time, to understand the complex dynamics of natural phenomena and
environmental dynamics. Land-use planning should integrate GIS technology and be 3D i.e. include subsurface
data on geology, resources and risks to integrate the localisation of key resources for
the future water, minerals, and to safekeep them from other uses the reserves which
will be needed for future economic developments. It is stressed that minerals reserves
are immovable assets, reflecting the subsurface geology, and should be considered as
particularly valuable natural endowment in planning policies and work. Poor planning
would only result in the sterilisation of resources and transport of minerals over longer
transportation routes, causing under current conditions significant emissions and
externalities e.g. health and road maintenance costs
o to further develop knowledge on the impacts of resources gaining and use on the
different components of the environment. Life-cycle databases need to be developed to
document the sustainability impacts of significant single couples of resources products
from cradle to grave. As far as the exiting assessment methods seem to be not
satisfying, suitable assessment methods have to be developed. Life-cycle evaluation
therefore has to pay regard also to such criteria as the real whole life-timetime of use
and the recyclability of materials andor products. If much attention has been given to gases with greenhouse effect potential GHG, other
environmental impacts need to be assessed as well, such as the impacts on soil surface
and functions, on surface water and groundwater quantities and qualities, on biodiversity,
falls
on
the probability of
risks flooding,
landslides,
natural
rock
o to develop integrated predictive modelling of environmental response to use of
resources, including social and economic data.
Standardised modelling needs to be
encouraged by creating a suitable system framework for integration of data and data-
processing that supports direct delivery of results for research and professional planning,
but also in ways that are easily applied by local communities and land-managers through
context-adaptive decision support. Development aims should be not only predictions for
enhancing sustainability in use of biotic resources, and reduced impacts from use of
147
On July 31st, 2003, 33 nations plus the European Commission committed to move towards the development
of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth Observation System. Page 134
other resources, but also the optimisation of socio-economic models for motivating
communities and individuals to use all resources responsibly
o to develop better resources gaining technologies, using less inputs and generating
less waste including emissions, such as fine particulate matter, NOx, SOx, VOC, heavy
metals. The development and use of eco-design, based on LCA data, should be further
encouraged to address environmental issues at the very beginning of a products life-
cycle rather than having to manage end of pipe pollution
o to improve a more efficient use of the resources, for instance through more efficient
and cleaner combustion technologies, or by the development of biotechnologies in
mining, for a better simultaneous recovery of metals from ores and a reduction of waste
o to develop the use of renewable substitutes for the current use of non-renewable
resources
o to turn the current waste flows into resources through the development and
implementation of waste minimization valorisation and recycling technologies. The reduction of the volumes of waste needing to be safely disposed of and the need for
more primary resources would be direct consequences of a waste reduction policy. A
waste minimisation policy will reduce the volumes of waste needing to be safely disposed
of and also the need for more primary resources. However not all resources are
recyclable. Some resources are consumed during their use phase energy resources or
dispersed in an irrecoverable manner e.g. phosphate in fertiliser. Other resources,
such as certain metals e.g chromium, manganese, nickel are used in alloys from which
they are very difficult to recover. Some materials, such as concrete, metals and alloys
lose some of their key physical andor chemical properties as a consequence of recycling
can be recycled only into materials with downgraded properties
o to enhance the remediation and decontamination technologies, in order to reduce
remediation costs through innovative techniques and address the wide range of natural
conditions and contaminants existing at polluted sites
o to develop transitions to sustainable production and consumption patterns, based
on functions and needs such as food, shelter, access, which could represent a
quantum leap efficiency improvement in the order of a factor 4, factor 10 or beyond. This would involve a multi sectoral and multidisciplinary systems-approach, including
global perspectives and challenges and be in line with the EU commitments made at the
WSSD on framework programmes for sustainable production and consumption patters
o to develop statistics and indicators to track sustainability impacts of resource use,
to be used for measuring progress against policy objectives. Research and innovation are essential keys to meet the Thematic Strategys decoupling
objective. It is needed to focus on the right issues, to avoid indiscriminate and potentially costly
applications of the precautionary principle, to develop cost-effective techniques, to maintain and
develop know-how and expertise. It is also a source of creation of competitive technologies,
services and products marketable on the global markets, and therefore one of the potential
sources of more and better jobs called for by the Lisbon agenda.
Stakeholders involvement, including civil society and where appropriate stakeholders from
outside the EU especially from developing countries, need to be actively involved in order to
ensure that the research is relevant to the real world. A recent report on the promotion of environmental technologies from the EC Joint Research
Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Calleja et al, 2004, JRC-IPTS
Page 135
includes much analysis and recommendations about innovation in support of several
important resources related economic sectors, along with an analysis of these sectors and of
the obstacles to be overcome to see already existing energy andor resources efficient
technologies spread throughout these sectors. It is recommended that this study be duly
considered for the drafting of the Thematic Strategy. In providing more energy efficient and less polluting technologies, RTD is an essential key, along
with the development of individual, private and public governance, to satisfy the worlds need for
natural resources without endangering the life supporting systems. 6.2.6 - How should knowledge gathering and availability of data be
improved and guaranteed? BOX 15 - SYNTHESIS OF THE STAKEHOLDER RECOMMENDATIONS
KNOWLEDGE GATHERING AND DATA
1. Create a European centre for monitoring resource use and impacts, status, quality
and quantity of resources and reserves, production, consumption, trade, market
trend analysis and forecasting. This centre could ensure that uniform definitions and
EU harmonised data are being used for resource databases and policies in
applications such as EPD, MFA and LCA. It should help fill a range of data gaps
which have been mentioned in the stakeholder process, such as on secondary raw
materials, real consumption, SMEs, localised data, etc. It should make an EU wide
assessment of resource use and recycling and conservation potentials, as well as of
costs-benefits analysis of prevention and mitigation of impacts. It should include
social and economic impacts of resource use worldwide and analyse sector
interdependencies. It should monitor and analyse the potential effects of
technology, economy or policy induced shifts in resource use. It should provide
decision support and early warning for government and industry. Alternative proposal
The various industrial activities have already bodies in the Commission that deal
with them either whole Directorates or specialised consultation bodies and
therefore the proposals made here and in the final strategy should be forwarded to
these bodies for follow-up. In order to do so, these bodies might need to allocate additional funds and staff, but
there would be a huge benefit in using existing structures, if necessary with a
reinforcement of DG Environment staff. What is needed is not a new agency or research institute The Commission has
already the two agencies in Ispra and Seville who can assist, and it has the topic
centres on soil and waste and a huge network on water issues. The member States
have the Geological Surveys which already perform some of the work described
here. They just need to be strengthened. What is then missing is a good coordinating function. This could be provided in the
form of a roundtable.
Page 136
2. The knowledge base for LCA and mass flow accounting needs to be improved and
made widely accessible, also for users outside of Europe. For example, hidden flows
and likely impacts should be better documented at member state level. Dynamic LCA
modelling for exploration and use of resources should be developed. Develop LCA
data for the impact of biotic depletion. 3. Develop suitable assessment methods, define and assess sustainability indicators for
each category of resourcecommodity, including marketing potentials and
perspectives, and monitor progress. Make a clear distinction between biotic and
abiotic resources. 4. Foster research in low impact exploitation techniques, in impact reducing
technologies, in energy efficient technology and usage, in efficient recovery
techniques as well as fulfilling functions and services in different ways, with different
resources, with the least impact. 5. Develop dynamic models to forecast emissions and waste from physical stocks, as
for example in Van der Voet et al 2002. 6. Make a stocktaking of how existing legislation affects all resources, followed by an
analysis of gaps and scope for further action.
7. Study the effectiveness of eco-taxation for resources economic studies and study
the consequences for the European industry. 8. Monitor the measures taken and evaluate their effectiveness. Page 137
CONCLUSIONS
7 -
This chapter consists of two sections
the first section presents the results of an inquiry among the members of the Working
Group 1 about the recommendations flagged in the Draft Final Report available here for
download
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenvironmentnatrespdfprefinal_report_wg1.pdf.is based
on the questionnaire which was sent to all the Supply of Resources Working Group
members further to the September 14th, 2004 Advisory Forum. The second section gives elements of a possible time-line for the development and
implementation of the strategy. 7.1 - Opinions of the stakeholders on the recommendations proposed in
the Draft Final Report. o the draft summary recommendations from the Chair which have been significantly
edited in the Executive Summary of this report
o the Chairs recommendation flagged with yellow boxes throughout this report
recommendations statements starting with the letter R followed by a number
o the oral and written recommendations and statements made by the stakeholders having
participated to the two Working Group meetings, recommendations and statements
listed in the boxes 11 to 15 of this report. It should be noted that the structure of this questionnaire is derived, with some modification
in the sequence of the recommendations, from the structure and sequence of
recommendations of the Draft Final Report. 24 stakeholders timely submitted replies to this questionnaire, 1 having submitted its reply
past the deadline his replies are not counted here but were transmitted to the Commission. The received replies amount to about half of the participants to the Working Group 1. The
replies were counted and the results of this counting is shown below. The of respondents
supporting, disagreeing or being neutral to each of the recommendations is detailed below. Where the opinions where in majority I agree, this is highlighted in green. Where the
opinions are in majority I disagree, this is highlighted in red. Where the majority had no
opinion on the recommendation this is highlighted in blue.Ties are highlighted in yellow. Many responding stakeholders provided comments to their choices.
These are not shown
here, but they were delivered to the European Commission, as all individual filled in
questionnaires have been transferred. While reading below recommendations it is mportant to refer to their context, which is the
text of the Draft Final Report, circulated on August 26th, and available here for download
httpwww.europa.eu.intcommenvironmentnatrespdfprefinal_report_wg1.pdf
The recommendations on which over 60 of the stakeholders disagreed are
progressive internalisation of the externalities
an EU Natural Resources Framework Directive NRFD should be considered as a basis
for a sustainable natural resources policy
the detail of the points which should be covered by such a Framework Directive
put eco-taxes on resource and waste intensive products and processes. Page 138
A wide consensus over 60 of I agree opinions exists in support of 46 recommendations,
with a majority of I agree opinions on 56 recommendations, taking into account the many
no opinion replies and the cases where some stakeholders did not provide their opininion
on certain recommendations. The received replies cannot be considered as fully representative of the opinions of all
possible European stakeholders to the future Strategy but they provide some interesting
trends, despite the bias of the responding population, with an overrepresentation of the
minerals metals industries.
REPLIES TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE ON RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDED IN THE
DRAFT FINANL REPORT
1
The implementation of following actions, already enshrined in EU policies, are
recommended as they would significantly contribute to the decoupling objective
o Effective implementation by all Member States of the existing resources and or
environment related EU policies and regulations. Together with their implementation,
their effectiveness should be monitored and evaluated
o
o Application of the polluter pays principle, as enshrined in art. 174 of the Treaty and
in the recent Directive on Environmental Liability 200435CE
O Agree 92 O Disagree 8 O No opinionneutral
0
2
Progressive integration of externalities in the resources prices, including the
externalities generated by the inputs needed for their production and by
resources related transport. O Agree
33 O Disagree 63 O No opinionneutral
4
3 A clear linkage should be established between the WSSD Implementation
Plan, the international European commission supported Global Earth
Observation programme, the EU Global Management for Environment and
Security Programme, the INSPIRE Directive Infrastucture for Spatial
Information in Europe, the programming of FP7 and the Thematic Strategy on
the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources . These are all elements of a same
quest for Sustainable Development.
Their seamless integration is of essence. O Agree 50 O Disagree 29 O No opinionneutral
21
4
In addition to the European Space Agency, producing harmonised, high-quality
space data all over the EU, and the rest of the world, there is a need for a
complementary set of Ground Agencies, such as a European Geological
Page 139
Agency, with a stable funding to coordinate and support the national and
regional institutions in charge of
o the coordination of the production by Member States andor regional institutions of the
necessary quality controlled, harmonised, interoperable datasets required for the EU
Monitoring of the Environment including natural hazards
o to provide information and knowledge to the EU institutions,
o turning the data into information and knowledge
o to provide support to the EU Cooperation Policy
Such EU Agencyies shall play an essential role in the development of guidelines, quality
control, data harmonisation and interoperability procedures, the development of Internet
based harmonised geographic information datasets. It shall provide to the EU secure access
to the information and knowledge required as a basis for EU policy making. O Agree 33 O Disagree 54 O No opinionneutral 13
5
Support to the sustainable use of natural resources, including in the
developing countries, should be considered as a thematic priority of the
forthcoming 7th Research Framework Programme FP7. If we want to increase
resource efficiency then we have to increase and sustain our research
ambitions. O Agree
92 O Disagree 8 O No opinionneutral
0
6 A EU Natural Resources Framework Directive NRFD should be considered as
a basis for a sustainable natural resources policy. This could be a major
objective for the Inception Phase of the future Thematic Strategy. Based on the
principles of knowledge gathering, policy assessment and integration exposed in the
COM2003572 Towards a Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural
Resources it should provide a stable, foreseeable overarching framework,
simplifying and harmonising the various existing resources related EU-policies and
regulations. Some important components of this Framework Directive already exist,
such as the Water Framework directive, the recent Environmental Liability Directive
or the draft INSPIRE Directive. Some others are in the making. O Agree
29 O Disagree 67 O No opinionneutral 4
The preparation of the NRFD is a major undertaking, with significant implications for
the future of the EU, which will require time and significant multi-stakeholder inputs. Great attention should be paid to the applicability of this future Framework Directive, and to
the need to see Sustainable Development as a growth factor for the EU economy, not as an
unbearable burden, especially for SMEs and individuals. Based on the subsidiarity principle,
the Framework directive should concentrate on coordination and harmonisation of actions as
well as on the programming of existing EU instruments such as the Research Framework
Programme and the EU development aid programmes such as ALA, EDF, MEDA, TACIS. The stable funding of these activities is of essence. It should address the following points
o resources statistics and intelligence
o development of public Material Flow Analysis MFA and Life Cycle Analysis LCA
databases
Page 140
o development of Sustainable Development Indicators, to monitor decoupling
o security of supplies
o land-use planning mineral planning
o international development cooperation
o monitoring of imports for compliance with SD criteria
o ensure that GEOSS GMES will effectively cover all societal benefit areas including
natural phenomena, mineral resources, soils and that these programs will effectively
integrate the best available data sources whether from space, airborne, ground and
subsurface sources
o ensure that stable, coordinated, funded institutional expertise is available and maintained
to turn data into into information and knowledge
o support data acquisition, processing, dissemination harmonisation and the
interoperability of the thematic datasets, especially of the georeferenced thematic data
o support research to develop new data acquisition techniques from all sources in
innovative resources gaining, efficient use of resources, eco-efficient production
technologies and minimisation of waste through the prevention of waste andor its
transformation into an usable by-product in ecotoxicology
o support the active dissemination of innovation
O Agree
25 O Disagree 63 O No opinionneutral 13
In the longer term following issues will also need to be addressed
o Assess the feasibility of an application of fair-trade principles on resources imports from
low-income countries, to finance a ring-fenced development aid instrument in support of
capacity building and institutional strengthening information and knowledge
development environmental data acquisition148, support actions to populations
concerned by resources production activities. o The ring-fencing is a necessity to protect the instrument from the numerous pressing
short-term issues faced by developing countries and against short-term political
agendas. o fight against corruption, due to its eminently disruptive effects, diametrically opposed to
sustainable development ethics. O Agree
38 O Disagree 38 O No opinionneutral
25
Chapter 1
No recommendations
Chapter 2
No recommendations
Chapter 3 - A Timeline for the implementation of the strategy
R01 - A timeline should be integrated in the future Strategy to be prepared by the
Commission, linking the Resources Strategy to other relevant initiatives, policies and
regulations.
It would be very to have an overview at a glance of forthcoming key events. O Agree 96
O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
0
148
On all components of the environment, including the subsurface geology, geothermal energy,
mineral resources, natural hazards, soils using the best relevant techniques satellite and airborne
sensors, ground surveys, subsurface direct and indirect observations
Page 141
No answer 4
Chapter 4 Introduction
R02 - Much relevant material and data is already available that should serve as a starting
point to formulate specific policies and actions in support of sustainable use natural
resources use. A thorough literature and data review compilation by a multidisciplinary and
multilingual team, for relevance and quality, including of some non-EU literature, would
certainly be helpful to more precisely set the priorities and engage future actions.
This is a
considerable work, possibly to be organised by resources categories air, land, minerals,
soils. It is recommended to engage such work during the inception phase of the future
Thematic Strategy see Timeline p. 1. O Agree
67 O Disagree 21 O No opinionneutral 8
No answer 4
R03 - The Strategy, through the assessment and the integration of the many, sometimes
redundant, overlapping andor contradictory, existing EU policies, programmes, directives
and regulations impacting on natural resources use see table 12 below, should have
among its priorities to provide a clear, logic, understandable and applicable framework for
the future, based on Sustainable Development principles. O Agree
96 O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
0
No answer 4
Chapter 5
No recommendations
Chapter 6
No recommendations
Chapter 7 Working Group 1 Activities
R04 - Particular care should be taken to not develop policies and regulations promoting
delocalisation of resources gaining activities to countries where lower environmental and
social standards would distract from progressing towards global sustainable development
objectives. O Agree
88 O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
4
No answer 8
R05 - There is a need to significantly enhance the coordination and integration of European
research capacities related to Sustainable Development, bringing together, with a stable
financing, the knowledge gathering and delivery capacities necessary to address the
identified knowledge gaps. O Agree
96 O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
0
No answer 4
Page 142
Tentative time-line for the implementation of EU
resources related strategies, policies, directives
R06 - Although much research has been done at the level of EU Member States and at the
level of the European Commission, especially on soils, water and their interface , the
integration of research results into policy making and daily practice remains an issue to be
improved.
How can data and findings from research appropriately be used as a basis for
policy making and assessment and integration in support of the future Thematic Strategy? O Agree
83 O Disagree 4 O No opinionneutral
8
No answer 4
Chapter 8 Conceptual Framework
R07 - The ecological rucksack, hidden flow and total material requirement indicators
used by some Material Flow Analysis experts, such as Moll et al. 2001, cannot yet be used
as proxies for possible environmental impacts. A precise understanding
o of the nature of the waste and of all other emissions, including those related to the inputs
needed fo production purposes, as well as of the local regional environmental
conditions
o of the bonding of the toxic substances to waste particles such as minerals and the
probability, or not, of later desorption release in the environment of the toxic substance
s
is needed before any scientifically based statement on an ecological footprint can be issued.
In case some potentially toxic substance would be present in the waste, it also needs to be
known if it is bioaccessible bioavailable. O Agree
92 O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
0
No answer 8
R08 The future Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources should
concentrate on defining overall objectives, setting priorities, and providing guiding principles
to be applied to such the different natural resources. Specific subsets of the Thematic
Strategy will then need to be developed to specifically address the issues related to specific
resources such as biodiversity, energy, minerals, soils, and water. Examples of such specific
subsets, addressing water related issues within the EU are the recent Water Framework
directive, or the forthcoming Soils and Clean Air for Europe Thematic Strategies. O Agree
58 O Disagree 33 O No opinionneutral 4
No answer 4
Chapter 9 One strategy but differing policies and instruments adapted to the diversity of
the natural resources
R09 - The future Thematic Strategy should consider individual key economic sectors
rather than two separate resources gaining and resources use blocks. The separation
between resource gaining and resource use is contrary to the fact that the positive and
negative impacts should be assessed throughout the complete life cycle of given resources
products couples. O Agree 79
O Disagree 4
O No opinionneutral
13
Page 143
R10 - A sustainable development indicators system, documenting the impacts of the
production and use of natural resources, populated with the necessary data, is an
indispensable dashboard instrument to monitor the effects of the implementation of the
future Thematic Strategy and the progress towards decoupling. O Agree
79 O Disagree 13 O No opinionneutral 0
No answer 8
R11 see also R17, R37, R20, R28, R37 - The Thematic Strategy ought to address the
security of supplies issues in the mineral resources sector, as well as the support that should
be given to developing countries to develop and manage their mineral resources sector in a
more sustainable way. O Agree
63 O Disagree 13 O No opinionneutral 21
No answer 8
R12- A detailed, GIS-based inventory, of either available or extractable mineral reserves
throughout the EU is a necessity to serve as a basis for policy making and planning purpose
at EU, national, regional and local levels. O Agree
67 O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
25
No answer 4
R13 - Within the group of renewable biotic resources, substitution of the use of threatened
species, or species which can not be sustainably grown due to local constraints, should be
promoted. O Agree
29 O Disagree 21 O No opinionneutral 42
No answer 8
R14 - The risk of irreversible environmental damage being dependent on a number of local
factors, detailed GIS-based knowledge of the components of the local environment is a
necessity. O Agree
46 O Disagree 13 O No opinionneutral 33
No answer 8
R15 - Local environmental factors and their linkages need to be well investigated,
documented and understood if economically optimal impact prevention strategies are to be
designed and implemented. Ignoring local conditions may lead to unnecessary expenditure
in environmental protection or to high cost to mitigate or remediate the effects of the
impacts. The data describing these conditions forms an essential component of sensible
land-use planning. Although this investigation work, and the resulting knowledge, is to be
performed locally, under the responsibility of local, regional andor national authorities there
is much scope to develop European Union wide data acquisition, analytical and data
processing procedures and common thesauri of technical terms involved. The European
Commission has an important role to play, well in line with the INSPIRE directive project and
Page 144
the GMES program to set the overarching guiding norms and to make this harmonisation
possible. O Agree
63 O Disagree 4 O No opinionneutral
29
No answer 4
R16 - Following drivers need to be considered at the EU and global scale while defining the
Strategy demographic trends, poverty, knowledge awareness, consumer behaviour,
innovation, risk taking, profit
O Agree
83 O Disagree 0 O No opinionneutral
13
No answer 4
R17 - A component of the future Thematic Strategy should be to support developing
countries in fostering more sustainable resources gaining activities. O Agree
67 O Disagree 17 O No opinionneutral 13
No answer 4
R18 - The Thematic Strategy will have to assess how to influence on Consumers choices
and on supply chains to promote behaviours and practices in line with sustainable
development ethics. O Agree
83 O Disagree 4 O No opinionneutral
8
No answer 4
R19 Verifiable voluntary initiatives should be encouraged. The recommendations included
in a relatively recent EU commissioned report DG Enterprise on voluntary initiatives in the
EU non-energy extractive industry and of their linkages with Sustainable Development
should be considered for the drafting of the future Thematic Stratey Prevot et al. 2000. O Agree
88 O Disagree 8 O No opinionneutral
0
No answer 8
R20a The Thematic Strategy shall consider how to reward the global impact of the good
industry performers may and improve the performance of the poorer ones. performers.
O Agree
67 O Disagree 13 O No opinionneutral 8
No answer 13
R20b More international action is required to support the development of
governance capacities in the developing world. Page 145
O Agree
46 O Disagree 17 O No opinionneutral 25
No answer 17
R21 Comparable to R02
O Agree
21 O Disagree 13 O No opinionneutral 17
No answer 50
R22 - Application of manure from intensive farming andor sewage sludge as a remedy
should be banned unless the safety of each individual batch can be proven, since it can
cause worrying problems of contamination of soils and water with a wide range of heavy
metals and chemicals, including endocrinian disruptors. O Agree
25 O Disagree 33 O No opinionneutral 33
No answer 8
R23 - It cannot be sufficiently emphasised that soils and water, and their sustainable
management should be amongst priorities for the future strategy. Much remains to be done
to improve and harmonise EU-wide quantitative and qualitative knowledge on water
resources and soils and to develop low-cost monitoring techniques. Many obstacles are on
the way towards this harmonisation, such as differing regulations and cultural concepts, and
to overcome them will take time. Knowledge needs to be based on sufficiently detailed local
data, due to the variability and hence the importance of the local condition of the
environmental components.