Our resources that helps us to sustain our life on the earth are Renewable and Non-Renewable. When consumption of non-renewable resources are more than its production or replenishment, it is defined as Resource Depletion. Classic examples would be the use of oil or the cutting down of trees on a large scale from forests.

Our current global population is approx. 7.2 billion and still growing while Earth?s total resources are only good for 2 billion people at the current demand. The way we are living, we are already using 2 to 3 times more of the Earth's natural resources than what is sustainable.

Our resources are perishing

There are mainly top 3 natural resources that are being depleted.

Oil- 40% of all energy, for example mining, building, planting, manufacturing or harvesting, all comes from oil. It is a liquid fuel generated from petroleum which is a non-renewable resource.

EIA's International Energy Outlook 2013 shows that we have enough Oil to last for 25 years.

Efforts are underway to develop cheaper and more sustainable energy such as solar power, wind power and other forms of renewable energy that can replace oil and fossil fuel.

Causes:  Industrial boom. Increased population. Wastage.

Consequences:  Less Transportation. Smaller economies. Higher prices. Possibly help push the transition to green energy with reduced CO2 emissions and pollution

Oil takes an estimated hundreds of thousands of years to produce, but the world uses roughly 90 billion barrels of oil (petroleum) each day. Given the time it takes to produce oil, the rate of production has no value in comparison to its consumption. 

Middle East net oil exports were higher in 1976 at 20.84 mbd versus 20.44 mbd in 2015.  The Middle East produced 30.10 mbd of oil in 2015 compared to 22.35 mbd in 1976.  This was a growth of 7.75 mbd.  However, Middle East domestic oil consumption increased from 1.51 mbd in 1976 to 9.57 mbd in 2015.   Thus, the Middle Eastern economies devoured an additional 8.06 mbd of oil during that 40 year time-period. Basically, all the hard work the Middle East oil companies spent on increasing production over the past 40 years went to supplying their own insatiable domestic consumption.

Here is a breakdown of the some of the Middle Eastern countries oil consumption:

In 1976, Kuwait only consumed 84,000 barrels per day (bd) of its own oil, but this jumped nearly ten times to 818,000 bd in 2015.  While Iran?s oil consumption increased nearly four times from 1976 to 2015, Saudi Arabia wins the award as its economy is now consuming a staggering eight times as much oil than it did during the same time period.

This is defiantly bad news for the Middle Eastern National Oil Companies.  If these oil companies are spending a lot of their oil profits just to increase production to feed their growing domestic economies, what happens when production finally starts to decline.

Water- Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce, especially for the millions there who already lack access to sanitary water. In fact the depletion of our water resources is more grim than the current oil depletion. There are substitutes for oil but nothing can replace our drinking water. Some of these countries, including Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, are facing unique problems that require global, immediate attention. Beside their neighboring location , one shared factor of all these countries is their lack of water resources and poor water management. The Middle East requires water resources and suitable land for agriculture.

Causes: Increased irrigation, roads and infrastructure prevent water seepage in the soil, rising temperatures and most importantly increased desertification.

Consequences: Drinking water shortage. Food Shortage. Famine.

UAE residents have one of the highest per capita water consumption rates in the world at 550 litres per day.The Emirate's groundwater supply has been reduced by 18 per cent since 2003, according to EAD's Annual Abu Dhabi Emirate Water Resources Statistics Report. This reduction in groundwater supply points to the increasing use of unconventional water resources, such as desalination and re-use of treated wastewater. Reiterating the need to conserve water on World Water Day today (March 22), EAD said that at abstraction rates, it anticipates depletion of both fresh and brackish reserves, in five decades.

Forests

Trees are another example of a natural resource we are depleting. Deforestation leads to the depletion of our forest area as it basically means cutting down more trees in a given area than what is grown in a given period of time.

 An estimated 18 million acres of forests are destroyed each year.

Deforestation contributes 12 to 17% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually.

Millions of species are on the brink of extinction because of the depletion of forests which are their habitats.

Causes: Urbanization, Illegal logging, Agriculture, Subsistence Farming.

Consequences: Soil erosion, Global Warming caused by the rise of greenhouse gases- Extinction of species and loss of biodiversity. Flooding and drought.

Steps to reduce the Depletion of Resources

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by buying energy efficient appliances.

Cycle, walk or use public transportation whenever possible.

Save trees by going paperless or by using only recycled products.

Efforts by UAE government to combat Resource Depletion

The UAE must focus on investment in scientific research and innovation technology as oil resources will deplete in the next 40-70 years, says Dr Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al Najar, Head of Arab Science and Technology.

UAE government has been making tremendous efforts in water conservation, through large investments and building of desalination plants as well as infrastructure for water distribution networks. The EAD has recently developed an Abu Dhabi Water Master Plan, which describes the current status of water sources and demand, uses and future needs of water in all sectors of development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi until 2030.

Government is taking steps to increase public awareness to contain the unnecessary use of water by encouraging public to take small steps in their household like using washing machines and dish washers in non-peak hours.

Emirates Environment agency encourages towards using treated sewage effluent to irrigate forests and use of desalinated water in excess of need in the recharge of underground reservoirs for use in times of emergency.

 The government promotes the use of appropriate local drought tolerant plants in landscape agriculture, parks and various places of entertainment to reduce water consumption.
UAE has adopted a national strategy for sustainable development of water resources, planting of trees and conservation of its mangroves, which has led to spread of greenery, fighting desertification and introducing modern farming techniques. The journey towards stopping the depletion of our resources has started but not yet complete. It will take years to fulfil the gap.

To Conclude

As natural resources deplete, and as the Earth?s climate becomes less stable, the world?s nations will likely compete ever more desperately for access to fossil fuels, minerals, agricultural land, and water.

Nations need increasing amounts of energy and raw materials to produce economic growth, but the costs of supplying new increments of energy and materials are burgeoning. In many cases, lower-quality resources with high extraction costs are all that remain. Securing access to these resources often requires military expenditures as well. Meanwhile the struggle for the control of resources is re-aligning political power balances throughout the world.

This game of resource ?musical chairs? could well bring about conflict and privation on a scale never seen before in world history. Only a decisive policy shift toward resource conservation, climate change mitigation, and economic cooperation seems likely to produce a different outcome.

Oilprice.com, Gulf News, Worldcounts.com, emirates247.com

/srsroccoreport.com