LECTURE 7: RESOURCE OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION

DEFINATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

➢ Natural resources are defined as the stocks of materials that are supplied by the earth and
that are both scarce and economically useful in production or consumption, either in their raw
state or after a minimal amount of processing. Such materials are minerals, forests, water and
fertile land.
➢ Each time these natural resources are used to produce goods, there are ecological, social, and
economic impacts.
➢ Managing these natural resources and utilizing conservation techniques is necessary to help
societies meet present and future needs (sustainability).
➢ The primary economic value of a matured resource derives from the services it provides
humans.

TYPES OF NATURAL RESOURCES

➢ There are three main categories of natural resources: perpetual, renewable and non-
renewable.
o Perpetual: Perpetual resources are those expected to last many billions of years
without being depleted, such as solar energy, wind, or ocean tides.
o Renewable resources are those that have the potential to be renewed through
natural processes and/or human processes.
o Trees are an example of a renewable resource because, although trees die naturally or
are harvested, new trees can be replanted or allowed to reseed naturally. They can be
renewed both naturally and through forest management practices.
o (Other examples include groundwater, fisheries resources and soil nutrients.)
o Renewable resources must be managed properly to be sustainable for future
generations, i.e., people should not consume natural resources faster than nature can
replenish the supply.
o Although various management practices can be used to ensure that a resource will
renew itself, there is a maximum rate at which the resource can be used by people.
That rate is called ―sustainable yield.
o Important to note is that renewable resources are exhaustible if they are over –
exploited.
Renewable Energy Systems
✓ Sources of renewable energy are bioenergy, direct solar energy, geo-thermal,
hydropower, ocean energy, and wind energy.
✓ Bioenergy can be produced from a variety of biomass feedstocks, including forest,
agricultural and livestock residues; short-rotation forest plantations; energy crops; the
organic component of municipal solid waste; and other organic waste streams. Through a
variety of processes, these feedstocks can be directly used to produce electricity or heat, or
can be used to create gaseous, liquid, or solid fuels.
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 ✓ Direct solar energy technologies harness the energy of solar irradiance to produce
electricity using photovoltaics (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP), to produce
thermal energy (heating or cooling, either through passive or active means), to meet direct
lighting needs and, potentially, to produce fuels that might be used for transport and other
purposes.
✓ Geothermal energy utilizes the accessible thermal energy from the Earth‘s interior. Heat
is extracted from geothermal reservoirs using wells or other means. Reservoirs that are
naturally sufficiently hot and permeable are called hydrothermal reservoirs, whereas
reservoirs that are sufficiently hot but that are improved with hydraulic stimulation are
called enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Once at the surface, fluids of various
temperatures can be used to generate electricity or can be used more directly for
applications that require thermal energy, including district heating or the use of lower-
temperature heat from shallow wells for geothermal heat pumps used in heating or
cooling applications.
✓ Hydropower harnesses the energy of water moving from higher to lower elevations,
primarily to generate electricity. Hydropower projects encompass dam projects with
reservoirs, run-of-river and in-stream projects and cover a continuum in project scale.
✓ Ocean energy derives from the potential, kinetic, thermal and chemical energy of
seawater, which can be transformed to provide electricity, thermal energy, or potable
water.
✓ Wind energy harnesses the kinetic energy of moving air. The primary application of
relevance to climate change mitigation is to produce electricity from large wind turbines
located on land (onshore) or in sea- or freshwater (offshore).
o Non-renewable resources are exhaustible and can be depleted. There is a limited
quantity and once used, cannot be replaced in this geologic age.
o Fossil fuels are an example of a resource formed over millions of years, and it will be
millions of years before it is again available.
o Other natural resources with finite amounts include copper, gold, aluminum and many
minerals and gems.
➢ Managing these natural resources and using conservation technologies can help society
maintain and extend the time these resources can be used to meet human needs and wants.

Use of Natural Resources

➢ The use of a resource begins with its collection, its processing into a useable product, and
transport through a delivery system, to the consumer who uses it. It also involves disposal of
the waste products produced at each step.
➢ Each step in resource has an effect on the environment positively or negatively. The control of
these steps is known as environmental management.
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1. Extraction of building material and minerals:
➢ Mineral is a naturally occurring substance of definite chemical composition and identifiable
physical properties.
➢ An ore is a mineral or combination of minerals from which a useful substance, such as a
metal, can be extracted and used to manufacture a useful product.
➢ Minerals are formed over a period of millions of years in the earth‘s crust. Iron, aluminum,
zinc, manganese and copper are important raw materials for industrial use. Important non-
metal resources include coal, salt, clay, cement and silica.
➢ Stone used for building material, such as granite, marble, limestone, constitute another
category of minerals.
➢ Minerals and their ores need to be extracted from the earth‘s interior so that they can be
used. This process is known as mining.
➢ Mining operations generally progress through four stages:
o a. Prospecting: Searching for minerals.
o b. Exploration: Assessing the size, shape, location, and economic value of the deposit.
o c. Development: Work of preparing access to the deposit so that the minerals can be
extracted from it.
o d. Exploitation: Extracting the minerals from the mines.
➢ Mining operations are considered one of the main sources of environmental degradation. The
extraction of all these products from the lithosphere has a variety of side effects.
o Depletion of available land due to mining,
o Waste from industries,
o Conversion of land to industry and
o Pollution of land, water and air by industrial wastes, are environmental side effects of
the use of these non-renewable resources.
➢ Public awareness of this problem is of a global nature and government actions to stem the
damage to the natural environment have led to numerous international agreements and laws
directed toward the prevention of activities and events that may adversely affect the
environment.

2. Water supply and sanitation:

➢ Water covers 70% of the earth‘s surface but only 3% of this is fresh water. Of this, 2% is in
polar ice caps and only 1% is usable water in rivers, lakes and subsoil aquifers.
➢ Only a fraction of this can be actually used. At a global level 70% of water is used for
agriculture about 25% for industry and only 5% for domestic use. However, this varies in
different countries and industrialized countries use a greater percentage for industry.
➢ India uses 90% for agriculture, 7% for industry and 3% for domestic use.
➢ With the world population past 6 billion, the demand for freshwater is at an all - time high.

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a) Utilization of water resources:
➢ Water sources are usually ground and surface water.
➢ Surface water sources in Kenya are grouped into five basins namely Lake Victoria, Rift
Valley, Athi, Tana and the Ewaso Ng‘iro basins with each basin having different water yield
potential.
➢ These surface water resources in the drainage basins comprise of both permanent and
seasonal rivers, lakes, dams, ponds/pans and the Indian Ocean.
➢ Due to the increasing demand for water from various rivers by livestock, agriculture,
domestic and industrial uses, the water flow in the rivers and streams and the volume in the
lakes, ponds and dams have shown decreasing trends.
➢ The groundwater resource varies in both quantity and quality and from basin to basin. It
comprises of 14% of the total water resources in the country and is estimated to be 619
million cubic meters of which 69% is located in shallow aquifers and 31% in deep ones.

Several challenges face groundwater exploitation in the country.

➢ The challenges include rundown of existing boreholes, lack of rehabilitation or replacement of
existing ones, low yielding aquifers and poor-quality water from most of the boreholes.
➢ Other challenges are saltwater intrusion, leachate from garbage dumps in urban centres and
infiltration of fertilizer and pesticides and pesticide residues from farms.
➢ Increasing demand for water, encroachment of recharge areas and un-regulated utilization of
the resource also threaten ground water resources.

b) Sustainable water management:

➢ A number of measures need to be taken for the better management of the world‘s water
resources. These include measures such as:
o Building several small reservoirs instead of few mega projects.
o Develop small catchment dams and protect wetlands.
o Soil management, micro catchment development and afforestation permits recharging
of underground aquifers thus reducing the need for large dams.
o Treating and recycling municipal waste water for agricultural use.
o Preventing leakages from dams and canals.
o Preventing loss in Municipal pipes.
o Effective rain water harvesting in urban environments.
o Water conservation measures in agriculture such as using drip irrigation.
o Pricing water at its real value makes people use it more responsibly and efficiently and
reduces water wasting.
o In deforested areas where land has been degraded, soil management by bunding along
the hill slopes and making ‗nala‘ plugs, can help retain moisture and make it possible to
re-vegetate degraded areas.

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c) Water management Techniques in buildings:
✓ Water re-use directly or after treatment.
✓ Water conservation measures – automated taps and toilet faucets.
✓ Water treatment- of grey and black water
✓ Water storage
✓ Rain water harvesting

3. Agriculture/Food production:
➢ Agricultural land provides the most direct and immediate linkage between land use and
human welfare.
➢ Sustainable Land Management is the adoption of land use systems that, through
appropriate management practices, enables land users to maximize the economic and social
benefits from the land while maintaining or enhancing the ecological support functions of the
land resources.

4. Energy production:
➢ Fossil fuels dominate energy consumption-87% market share.
➢ Renewable energy accounts for 2% consumption globally- though it continues to gain.
➢ Oil still leading fossil fuel though has been on the decline for 12 consecutive years.
➢ Coal is now the fastest growing fossil fuel- posing potential increase carbon emissions.

➢ Buildings use about 40% of global energy; and a large amount of this is generated using
fossil fuels which are responsible for emission of greenhouse gases. Therefore, in order to
protect the environment, it is important to employ energy saving strategies in buildings. Such
strategies are:

✓ Note that Different regions and countries in the world face very different challenges for
reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the buildings sector.
Each country will have a different energy and consumer profile that will need to be
considered when designing the most appropriate building policies and measures to support
an energy efficient and low-carbon buildings sector.

✓ The major areas of energy consumption in buildings are heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning—35% of total building energy; lighting—11%; major appliances (water heating,
refrigerators and freezers, dryers) —18% with the remaining 36% in miscellaneous areas
including electronics.

In each case there are opportunities both for improving the performance of system
components (e.g., improving the efficiency of lighting devices) and improving the way they
are controlled as a part of integrated building systems (e.g., sensors that adjust light levels to
occupancy and daylight). Key opportunities for energy reduction include the following:
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 • High-efficiency heat pumps that reduce or eliminate the use of refrigerants that can lead to
GHG emissions.
• Thin insulating material.
• Windows and building surfaces with tunable optical properties.
• High efficiency lighting devices including improved green light-emitting diodes, phosphors,
and quantum dots.
• Improved software for optimizing building design and operation.
• Low cost, easy to install, energy harvesting sensors and controls.
• Interoperable building communication systems and optimized control strategies.
• Decision science issues affecting purchasing and operating choices.
• High levels of insulation in walls, roofs and floors to reduce heat losses in cold climates,
optimized using life-cycle cost assessment;
• High-performance windows with low thermal transmittance and climate-appropriate solar
heat gain co-efficient (SHGC).
• Highly reflective surfaces in hot climates, including both white and cool-coloured 3 roofs and
walls; properly sealed structures to ensure low air infiltration rates with controlled
ventilation for fresh air.
• Minimization of thermal bridges (components that easily conduct heat/cold), such as high
thermal conductive fasteners and structural members;
• Passive solar design that optimizes the orientation of the building and placement ofwindows
and shading, and allows for natural ventilation.

5. Industrial production:

6. Tourism and recreation:

➢ What natural resources are available for the tourism and recreation sectors?
➢ What are the likely effects of these activities to these resources? E.g Issues of human – wildlife
conflicts.
➢ What is the role of a construction manager and design team in mitigating these adverse effects
to the environment?
7. Human settlement:

Technology and use of resources

1) Modification
2) Processing
✓ Processing is the series of unit operations that transforms industrial materials from a raw
material state into finished parts or products.

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 ✓ The processing of raw materials involves taking substances or resources from the earth and
converting them into products that are useful to humankind.
✓ For example, crude oil is a raw material extracted from deep within the earth, processed into
various fuels, oils, plastics, and other chemicals used to produce many different products.
✓ Raw materials consist of substances that can be mined, harvested, collected, or otherwise
taken from the earth. There are many types of raw materials including lumber, metal ores,
grain, cotton, and crude oil.

3) Alteration
✓ Alteration is whereby raw materials are changed into one or more different forms after
processing. These altered forms may then be easily transported, stored, and used to create
finished goods or parts.
4) Transfer
5) Recycling
✓ Recycling is defined as any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed
into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes.
✓ It also includes the reprocessing of organic materials but does not include energy recovery
and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations.

Advantages of Recycling to the Environment:

✓ Recycling saves raw materials: Recycling reduces the need for raw materials such as
metals, forests and oil and so reduces our impact on the environment.
✓ Extracting raw materials is a key cause of global habitat loss. For example, demand for
paper and cardboard is threatening ancient woodlands. Raw materials need to be
refined and processed to create products, requiring vast amounts of energy and the use
of polluting chemicals further causing the destruction of habitats.
✓ Recycling reduces our impact on climate change: Although recycling uses energy,
overall, it reduces climate emissions, as recycling a material generally uses far less
energy than manufacturing from raw materials.
✓ Recycling costs less: When comparing landfill, incineration and recycling, recycling has
considerable economic merit.
✓ Recycling creates jobs: The process of recycling and composting, from roadside
collection to the sorting and re-processing of recyclables, creates more jobs than
incineration and landfill.

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 LECTURE 8: RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION

❖ Natural resource decision-making considers the limits of the environment and its
components. A link between design team and natural resources is the effect that each has on
the other ie the effect of externalities.
❖ An externality occurs when the actions of one economic agent affect other agents indirectly,
in either a positive or negative way (Nicholson, 2001).
o An example of a positive externality would be a situation where a MUD/new town
(tatu city, etc)/shopping mall with accompanying road infrastructure is built in an
agricultural area e.g case of Kiambu county and hence it becomes easier for farmers in
the area to transport their farm produce.
o It will also raise the land value in the area. This rarely occurs and we therefore focus
on negative externalities and how best to manage these for sustainability sake.
❖ Mitigation - Structural and non-structural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of
natural hazards, environmental degradation and technological hazards.
❖ In relation to climate change, refers explicitly to measures taken to reduce the concentration
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, either by reducing the production of these or
increasing their absorption.

1. Sustainable resource use concepts:

❖ NRM (Natural Resource Management) refers to the processes and practices relating to the
allocation and use of natural resources. Sustainable NRM optimizes the use of resources to
meet current livelihood needs, while maintaining and improving the stock and quality of
resources so that future generations will be able to meet their needs. NRM decisions are made
at various levels; communal, local, national and global.

Concept of carrying capacity

❖ Environmental carrying capacity is an ecological concept defined generally as the population
of organisms that can be sustained at a steady state considering the resources available in the
ecosystem in which they reside… and without causing eventual environmental degradation.
Biodiversity
❖ This is a term to describe the variety of life and all levels of biological organization on Earth.
Biodiversity dynamics change as a result of climate change, habitat fragmentation, etc. thereby
causing biodiversity imbalance.
Biodiversity balance
❖ The net difference between immigration credit and extinction debt once equilibrium is
achieved.

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Forms of resource management
Conservation
❖ The protection, improvement and use of natural resources according to principles that will
assure their highest economic or social benefits for humans and their environment now and
into the future.
Reclamation
❖ This is the act of returning a resource to its former or better state.
Rehabilitation
❖ This is the act of restoring a resource to its original state, like the rehabilitation of the Mau
forest.
Recycling
❖ Recycling is the practice of reusing items that would otherwise be discarded as waste.
❖ Variations of recycling include upcycling, which involves adding value to an item for
reuse, and downcycling, which involves breaking down an item or substance into its
component elements to reuse anything that can be salvaged.

2. Forms of resource protection and conservation

Afforestation and Re-forestation
❖ Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no
forest.
❖ Re-forestation is the re-establishment of forest cover, either naturally (by natural seeding,
coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seeding or planting).
Soil conservation
❖ Comprises any set of measures intended to control or prevent soil erosion or to maintain
fertility.
❖ Soil conservation practices include land management, cultivation systems, land management
and small construction works for correcting, preventing or reducing soil degradation.
Landscaping
❖ The art and science of improving a space; either indoor or outdoor by planning for and
planting various types of vegetation ie trees, shrubs, ground covers and bedding plants. It
primarily deals with soft landscaping.
Landscape Architecture
❖ This is the profession that deals with planning, programing, designing, installation and
maintenance of outdoor spaces such as parks, urban streets, plazas, golf-courses, airports, etc
Waste management
❖ This is the processes involved in dealing with the waste of humans and organisms, including
minimization, handling, processing, storage, recycling, transport, and final disposal.
Flood control
❖ This refers to all methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters.

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3. Regulations in resource management and conservation
(Take-away ASSIGNMENT: List the laws and regulations under each of these sub-topics and give
an overview of each law/regulation)
Agricultural/land use legislation – Land Policy, EMCA, Water Act, Energy Policy, National Env.
Policy, The land Act.
Public health legislation and regulations – The Public health Act.
Wildlife/Forestry - Forest ACT, Wildlife ACT.
International environmental protection conventions – Rio, Rio +20, Kyoto protocol, Agenda
21.
Community norms and customary regulations – indigenous knowledge, etc

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