The need for global coordination in sustainable development

V. Jegatheesan

a,*, J.L. Liowb, L. Shu a, S.H. Kim c, C. Visvanathan d

a

School of Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia

b

School of Aerospace, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, UNSW at ADFA, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

c

Civil Engineering Department, Kyungnam University, Wolyoung-dong, Masan 631-701, Republic of Korea

d

Environmental Engineering Program, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Available online 20 December 2008

Keywords:

Eco-industrial parks

Fossil fuels

Greenhouse gases

Manufacturing indust

Minerals

Natural resources

Recovery

Sustainable management

Cement industry

a b s t r a c t

Natural resources are being depleted at faster rates than ever; this highlights the need for global audits

and actions to reverse the depletion. Coordinated efforts by various organizations are essential to

quantify reserves and demands in such audits in order to enable the development and implementation of

strategies for sustainable recovery, usage, and recycling of natural resources. This paper discusses such

audits in several industries and puts forward analytical and technical methods and policies for

sustainable recovery, usage and recycling of resources in those industries. Scenario analysis can help to

provide better future directions for industries whilst eco-industrial parks could improve the efficiency of

usage of available resources and waste products through synergies among different industries on

a regional basis. Sustainable manufacturing within industries such as micromachining, cement and

leather could further reduce consumption of natural resources. New technologies in mineral recovery

could help to recover valuable minerals present in concentrates generated by various processes such as

reverse osmosis of sea water, chemical processing of minerals, and domestic and industrial wastewater

treatments. These areas are discussed in this special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production. It is

imperative that the efforts by various organizations toward sustainable management of natural resources

should compliment each other to minimize duplication; furthermore policy makers should play greater

roles in developing and implementing policies and procedures to support such sustainable development

oriented approaches simultaneously throughout the world in a coordinated and proactive manner for the

short and long term future.

2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Naturally occurring materials that are valuable in their relatively

unmodified form are called natural resources. Mining, petroleum

extracts, fishing, hunting and forests are considered natural

resources as they primarily require extraction and purification

before being used. Natural resources could be subdivided into

renewable and non-renewable. Living resources are renewable as

they could restock themselves when used in a sustainable manner.

However, if they are consumed at a rate that is greater than the rate

of replacement, then their net availability will diminish. Soil is

a relatively non-renewable resource as it takes a very long time to

be replaced compared to the current rate of utilization in many

regions.

This special issue deals with the concerns that are posed by the

following topic – ‘‘

resources: scientific, technological, political, economic and ethical

approaches for sustainable management

especially the Journal of Cleaner Production, dedicated to disseminate

the knowledge generated by the scientific community to all

stakeholders around the globe who are involved, in one way or the

other, in utilizing natural resources. Understanding the material

flow of natural resources can help societies manage the resources

as well as contribute to reducing the negative impacts upon the

environment. Supportive information on such dynamics is included

in excellent summaries of several mineral commodities which

are available from the United States Geological Survey (USGS)

website

In this special issue, we have identified several issues, in

different geographic areas to explore and to contribute to possible

solutions that could help societies to make progress toward more

sustainable development around the world. Thereby, we hope to

plant seeds in stakeholders’ minds that may help them to make

progress toward more sustainable management of natural

resources. We strongly urge decision makers to develop and

implement proactive, integrated policies and strategies for helping

societies to manage all resources in more sustainable ways. Eight

different areas are explored in this special issue in terms of scenario

Present and anticipated demands for natural’’. There are many journals,[1].

*

Corresponding author. Tel.: þ61 7 4781 4871; fax: þ61 7 4781 6788.

E-mail address:

jega.jegatheesan@jcu.edu.au (V. Jegatheesan).

Contents lists available at

ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

0959-6526/$ – see front matter

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.11.016

Journal of Cleaner Production 17 (2009) 637–6432008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.