The need for global coordination in sustainable development

Abstract

Natural resources are being depleted at faster rates than ever; this highlights the need for global audits and actions to reverse the depletion. Coordinated efforts by various organizations are essential to quantify reserves and demands in such audits in order to enable the development and implementation of strategies for sustainable recovery, usage, and recycling of natural resources. This paper discusses such audits in several industries and puts forward analytical and technical methods and policies for sustainable recovery, usage and recycling of resources in those industries. Scenario analysis can help to provide better future directions for industries whilst eco-industrial parks could improve the efficiency of usage of available resources and waste products through synergies among different industries on a regional basis. Sustainable manufacturing within industries such as micromachining, cement and leather could further reduce consumption of natural resources. New technologies in mineral recovery could help to recover valuable minerals present in concentrates generated by various processes such as reverse osmosis of sea water, chemical processing of minerals, and domestic and industrial wastewater treatments. These areas are discussed in this special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production. It is imperative that the efforts by various organizations toward sustainable management of natural resources should compliment each other to minimize duplication; furthermore policy makers should play greater roles in developing and implementing policies and procedures to support such sustainable development oriented approaches simultaneously throughout the world in a coordinated and proactive manner for the short and long term future.