Mankind has long enjoyed the abundant food, arable land, water, energy, metals and minerals provided by planet Earth. We have come a long way from the primitive biobased economy in which mankind depended on the crops, prey, water, timber and tools that Earth's ecosystems handed to us. We learned to mine metals and minerals, developed new means and processes to apply them and gradually worked our way into the present minerals-based economy. The industrial revolution enabled a large jump in terms of quality of life, but it also marked a steep rise in the exploitation of metals, minerals and fossil fuels. Also, it became clear during the 20th century that our need for food, feed and fuel has profound effects on forests, land use, fish stocks and biodiversity.

The main challenge in managing natural resources for our future is to enable prosperity for everyone without crossing planetary boundaries. The world's population, which is expected to grow from 7 billion in 2012 to 9 billion by 2050, will experience the limits to growth if we continue to consume and produce at the same rate as we do today. And, as we witness in the rising number of conflicts over food, water, land and minerals, resource scarcity is not a problem in some vague future, but something we have to deal with right now. However, many questions remain to be answered. What do we really know about (constraints on) the use of natural resources and the related risks of over-exploiting scarce and vulnerable supplies? What new opportunities may arise for business and how can we identify and make use of them? And what can governments and international bodies such as the United Nations do to create the necessary economic and societal conditions for realising greater prosperity for more people with less resource extraction?

This last chapter will not present the final answers to these and related questions. It will, however, present some food for thought and action, based on the knowledge and experiences summarized in the previous chapters.

Understanding the challenges

Although general knowledge about resource challenges is essential to raise awareness among companies, governments and society, more detailed and specific data and expertise are required to assess vulnerabilities and develop robust strategies that will ensure sufficient, timely and affordable access to resources for the future.