Geoenvironment Management and Sustainability - Sustainable Practices in Geoenvironmental Engineering - page 8

Geoenvironment

Habitat for macro and
microorganisms

Agro ecosystem

Soil as a resource material

Forest ecosystem

Groundwater and aquifers

Urban ecosystem

Coal and hydrocarbon
resources

Physiographic ecosystems

Building materials

Aquatic ecosystems

Minerals

Basis for life support, productivity, and
development

FIGURE 1.3
Some of the major ecosystems, resources, and features of the geoenvironment. Note that the physiographic
ecosystems include, coastal, alpine, desert, arctic ecosystems.

It has been contended that since the beginning of the industrial revolution, “man-
kind's occupation of this planet has been markedly unsustainable” (Glasby, 2002) and
that the concept of sustainable development as deined by in the World Commission on
Environment and Development 1987 Report is a chimera. At the present rate of exploita-
tion of the renewable and nonrenewable resources, sustainable development is a goal that is
not readily achieved so long as depletion of nonrenewable resources occurs and so long
as excessive exploitation of renewable resources outstrips the replenishment rate of these
resources. The term sustainable development is used herein to mean that all the activities asso-
ciated with development in support of human needs and aspirations, must not compromise or reduce
the chances of future generations to exploit the same resource base to obtain similar or greater levels
of yield. Many of these issues will be addressed in the other chapters of this topic from a
geoenvironmental perspective.
Speciically, recognizing that the land environment houses the terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems, and that these are the fundamental components in the engine responsible for
life support, one needs to determine:

• Whether the economic growth and prosperity obtained as a result of all these
activities contribute to the production of beneicial or adverse impacts on the land
environment.
• Whether such impacts improve, increase, reduce, or degrade the functional capa-
bility of the land (terrestrial) and aquatic ecosystems that comprise the land envi-
ronment, i.e., the carrying capacity of the land environment.