http://altlanticinternationalpartnership.net/2011/05/atlantic-international-partnership-headlinesworld-must-curb-resource-use-china-a-test-case-u-n/Resource use totals about 47 to 59 billion tonnes a year — according to the study which lumps everything together by weight from oil and gold ore to sand or cement used in construction. Without restrictions, that could leap to 140 billion by 2050.
“Decoupling makes sense on all the economic, social and environmental dials,” Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) which produced the 174-page report, said in a statement.
“Decoupling is not about stopping growth. It’s about doing more with less. Global resource consumption is exploding. It’s not a trend that is in any way sustainable,” added Ernst von Weizsacker, co-chair of the UNEP resource panel.
“China is, in many ways, the test case for the global economy,” the report said of the most populous nation with 1.3 billion citizens of almost 7 billion worldwide. Beijing in 2007 set a goal of becoming an “ecological civilization.”
Each of the world’s citizens consumes about eight to 10 tonnes per year of the materials on average, with people in rich nations using double the average and those in poor African nations far less. China’s use is around average.
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