Global problems content

Availability of natural resources
Mineral resources
Despite the acute crisis phenomena that have manifested themselves from time to time in developed countries and countries with economies in transition, the global trend is still characterized by a further increase in industrial production, accompanied by an increase in the demand for mineral raw materials. This stimulated the growth of mineral resources, which, for example, for the period 1980-2000 in total exceeds the production of 1.2-2 times over the previous twenty years. And as forecasts show, this trend will continue. Naturally, the question arises whether the mineral resources contained in the bowels of the Earth are sufficient to ensure this enormous acceleration of mining in the near and distant future. This question is legitimate especially because, unlike other natural resources, mineral resources on the scale of the past future history of mankind are non-r
enewable, and, strictly speaking, within our planet limited and finite.
The problem of limited mineral resources has become particularly acute because, in addition to the growth of industrial production, which is associated with the growing need for mineral raw materials, it is exacerbated by the extremely uneven distribution of deposits in the bowels of the earth's crust across continents and countries. This, in turn, exacerbates economic and political conflicts between countries.
Thus, the global nature of the problem of providing humanity with mineral resources predetermines the need to develop broad international cooperation here. The difficulties experienced by many countries of the world due to the lack of certain types of mineral raw materials in them could be overcome on the basis of mutually beneficial scientific, technical and economic cooperation. Such cooperation can be very effective in the joint conduct of regional geological and geophysical research in promising areas of the earth's crust or through joint exploration and exploitation of large mineral deposits, by assisting in the industrial development of complex deposits on a compensatory basis, and finally, through mutually beneficial trade in mineral raw materials and their products.
Land resources
The peculiarities and properties of the land determine its exceptional place in the development of the productive forces of society. The "man-earth" relationship that has developed over the centuries remains at the present time and in the foreseeable future one of the determining factors of world life and progress. Moreover, the problem of land availability due to the trend of population growth will be constantly exacerbated.
The nature and forms of land use vary significantly from country to country. At the same time, a number of aspects of land use are common to the entire world community. This is, first of all, the protection of land resources, especially land fertility, from natural and anthropogenic degradation.
Modern trends in the use of land resources of the world are expressed in a wide intensification of the use of productive land, the involvement of additional areas in economic circulation, the expansion of land allotments for non-agricultural needs, and the strengthening of activities to regulate the use and protection of land at the national level. At the same time, the problem of economical, rational use and protection of land resources should be under increasing scrutiny by international organizations. The limited and irreplaceable nature of land resources, taking into account population growth and the continuous increase in the scale of social production, require their effective use in all countries of the world with closer and closer international cooperation in this area. On the other hand, the land simultaneously acts as one of the main components of the biosphere, as a universal means of labor and as a spatial basis for the functioning of productive forces and their reproduction. All this determines the task of organizing scientifically based, economical and rational use of land resources as one of the global ones at the present stage of human development.
Food resources
Feeding the ever-growing population of the world is one of the long-term and most complex problems of the world economy and politics.
According to experts, the aggravation of the world food problem is the result of the combined effect of the following reasons: 1) excessive pressure on the natural potential of agriculture and fisheries, which impedes its natural recovery; 2) insufficient rates of scientific and technological progress in agriculture in those countries that do not compensate for the declining scale of natural renewal of resources; 3) the ever-increasing instability in the world trade in food, fodder, fertilizers.
Of course, scientific and technological progress and an increase in the production of high-quality agricultural crops, including food crops, on its basis can make it possible to double and triple in the future. Further intensification of agricultural production, as well as the expansion of productive land, are real ways to solve this problem on a daily basis. But, the key to its solution lies still in the political and social plane. Many rightly point out that without the establishment of a fair economic and political world order, without overcoming the backwardness of most countries, without socio-economic transformations in developing countries and countries with economies in transition that would meet the level of requirements of accelerating scientific and technological progress, with mutually beneficial international mutual assistance, the solution of the food problem will remain a long-term prospect.
Energy resources
A characteristic feature of the long-term development of world energy will be a constant increase in the share of converted energy carriers in the final use of energy (primarily electricity). The increase in prices for electricity, especially basic electricity, is much slower than for hydrocarbon fuels. In the future, when nuclear power sources will play a more prominent role than at present, we should expect stabilization or even reduction in the cost of electricity. Global Biospheric Ecological
In the coming future, the share of world energy consumption by developing countries is expected to grow rapidly (up to 50%). The shift in the centre of gravity of energy problems during the first half of the twenty-first century from developed countries to developing countries poses completely new challenges for the social and economic restructuring of the world, which must be addressed now. With a relatively low supply of energy resources in developing countries, this creates a complex problem for humanity, which can develop into a crisis situation during the XXI century, if appropriate organizational, economic and political measures are not taken.
An immediate transition to new sources of energy that could reduce the dependence of those countries on imports of liquid fuels and put an end to the unacceptable destruction of forests, which are the main source of fuel for those countries, should be a priority in the energy development strategy of developing countries.
In view of the global nature of these problems, their solution, as well as those listed above, is possible only with the further development of international cooperation, through the strengthening and expansion of economic and technical assistance to developing countries from developed countries.