Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1.5
Growth of worldwide resource extraction under current 'Business as usual'. (Friend of
the Earth Europe/SERI
2009
)
Fig. 1.6
Shares of global resource extraction by world region. (SERI/WU Vienna
2014
)
consumption per unit of GDP (Fig.
1.7
), Africa is the continent with the highest
resource intensity, with African countries consuming almost 7 kg of domestic re-
sources per dollar of GDP produced; compared with a global average of ~ 1.5 kg/
GDP$ (FOE
2009
) due to the dominance of resource-intensive mining in African
economies.
Future Demand Trends
Two further key factors make Africa increasingly impor-
tant in determining whether global sustainability is achievable: population growth
and projected economic growth rates. IMF (
2013
) projections show that while GDP