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260                                               R.K. Rosenbaum et al.

            10.16.2  Environmental Mechanism

            With a focus on resource availability for current and future generations, the envi-
            ronmental mechanism may look as shown in Fig. 10.28. It is assumed that resources
            with easy and/or cheap access and with high concentration or quality are extracted
            first. Consequently, today’s resource extraction will lead future generations to
            extract lower concentration or lower value resources. This results in additional
            efforts for the extraction of the same amount of resource which can be translated into
            higher energy or costs. The endpoint of the impact pathway for resource use is often
            assessed as the future consequences of resource extraction. Schneider et al. (2014)
            went further in the pathway with the development of a new model for the assessment
            of resource provision including economic aspects that influence the security of
            supply and affect the availability of resources for human use.



                                Resource use
                                                    stock size
                             Decreased availability
                                                        regeneration rates,
                                                         recovery fractions
                       Regeneration        Recovery
                      (natural growth)  (urban & mining)


                                 Damage to
                                availability of
                                resources for
                                human wealth
                                                 geological distribution,
                                                     technology
                                                    development
                                   Future
                                availability &
                                effort needed
                                                   societal demand,
                                                     substitution
                                   Future
                                 provision of
                                   needs



                          Damage to      Damage to
                         human health   ecosystems
                        (less food, less   (less water, less
                          shelter,...)     prev)

            Fig. 10.28 Impact pathway for resource depletion [adapted from EC-JRC (2010b)]
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