Chemical Pollution Land Use and Land Cover Change
Watersheds and Health
Curated collection by PLOS Earth & Environment.
• Tools
WHAT IS PLANETARY HEALTH?
Resource Scarcity
The limited availability of freshwater, rare earth metals, and arable land is an enormous challenge in many parts of the world.
The supply of natural resources such as soil, water, and minerals is diminishing due to climate change and consumption patterns. Their scarcity ripples outward to other systems humans rely on for survival, such as agriculture and aquaculture, aquifers, woodlands, renewable energy sources, and medical technology and supplies.
In particular, demographic changes are driving sharp increases in global water and energy demand at a time when climate change and unsustainable water use promises to increase water scarcity in a variety of ways, and the emissions and runoff from mining activities negatively impact water, air, and soil quality. Ironically, the demand for renewable energy also increases the need for rare earth metals which are extracted at the expense of nature. Competition for scarce resources has also been linked to displacement of populations and conflict.
Generations of resource extraction and overuse of ecosystem services have scarred the natural environment: the planet cannot support current levels of human consumption, and the benefits we derive from ecosystem services and natural resource consumption can no longer justify the destruction of the environment. Research to better characterize these challenges and identify systems-level solutions to competing needs for ecosystem services is urgently needed.
Resource Scarcity Resources
Resource Scarcity Food Systems
Deepening water scarcity in breadbasket nations. Nature Communications.
• Research & Reports
Life Stage and Reproductive Health Noncommunicable Diseases
An invisible threat lurking in the water is slowly destroying these women’s lives. The Telegraph.
• News
Climate Change Ocean / Marine Degradation
Global water monitor: 2024 summary report. Global Water Monitor.
• Research & Reports
Climate Change Resource Scarcity
A just world on a safe planet: A Lancet Planetary Health–Earth Commission report on Earth-system boundaries, translations, and transformations. The Lancet.
• Research & Reports
