Resource Demand Growth and Sustainability Due to Increased World Consumption

Abstract

Abstract:The paper aims at continuing the discussion on sustainability and attempts to forecast the impossibility of the expanding consumption worldwide due to the planet's limited resources. As the population of China, India and other developing countries continue to increase, they would also require more natural and financial resources to sustain their growth. We coarsely estimate the volumes of these resources (energy, food, freshwater) and the gross domestic product (GDP) that would need to be achieved to bring the population of India and China to the current levels of consumption in the United States. We also provide estimations for potentially needed immediate growth of the world resource consumption to meet this equality requirement. Given the tight historical correlation between GDP and energy consumption, the needed increase of GDP per capita in the developing world to the levels of the U.S. would deplete explored fossil fuel reserves in less than two decades. These estimates predict that the world economy would need to find a development model where growth would be achieved without heavy dependence on fossil fuels.

Analyzing Forces to the Financial Contribution of Local Governments to Sustainable Development

“…Therefore, although previous studies have pointed out that the population growth could increase the demand for services [54][55][56], and thus, it could provoke an increase in public borrowing and spending [57] and debt [6], we could affirm that this variable do not affect the financial sustainability and, therefore, the capacity of the local governments to the contribution to the sustainable development. Therefore, the effect of the increase in population on financial sustainability could depend on its influence on national taxes (that local governments participate) and on the local taxes, which depend on the shopping behavior of citizens, such as property tax or tax on motor vehicles.…”

“…Previous studies have highlighted that the population structure, especially population growth, dependent population and immigrant population, could affect the economic wealth of Local Governments. In this sense, population growth increases new demands of resources and services [54][55][56] that involve an increase in expenditures but do not always involve an increase in public revenues, since the increase of the tax collection does not depend only on the population growth, but also on the financial capacity of the population and of the economic activity. Indeed, the uneven population growth between regions affects differently in the regional needs of providing services such as water services, garbage collection, energy, food, healthcare or education [55], influencing the regional economic development.…”

Charcoal as an Energy Resource: Global Trade, Production and Socioeconomic Practices Observed in Uganda

“…Similarly, our research has shown that, as more of Nwoya's private farmers pursue growing food crops, such as cassava, they cut other trees, including Albizia glaberrima ("Nongo", Lowveld Albizia), to deter wildlife (e.g., monkeys) that come from the neighboring Murchison Falls National Park reserve because they are considered pests on their farmlands. Indeed, charcoal production is often a secondary reason for deforestation, especially when land is cleared for farming [1,37]. In their study of Mozambique, however, Sedano et al [25] suggested that deforestation for the purpose of charcoal production can exceed land clearing for agriculture.…”

“…All over the world, demand for energy has exacerbated human dependence on natural resources [1]. According to the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), more than 50% of wood from forests worldwide is used for energy production [2].…”

The Influence of Socio-Demographic Factors on Financial Sustainability of Public Services: A Comparative Analysis in Regional Governments and Local Governments

“…Specifically, there has been a growing worry about the sway of the demographic structure on public finances by International Organizations [3,4]. In fact, the UE has pointed out the significance of the current demographics changes for social policy, especially in the future [36], due to the uneven population growth between regions affects differently in the regional needs of providing services [37,38]. Therefore, the analysis of the socio-demographic factors has become essential to find out their effect on financial sustainability [4,36,39].…”