Washington: According to a United Nations (UN) environment panel the consumption of natural resources could triple to 140 billion tonnes by 2050 if steps are not taken now to reduce its consumption.
The panel highlighted that since the population is growing at a rapid pace worldwide especially in developing countries the usage of fossil fuels, minerals, ores and biomass per year is likely to increase threefold as compared to now.
Currently the world collectively consumers 60 billion tonnes of natural resources like fossil fuels, minerals, ores and biomass every year.
The panel also warned that the increase in consumption of resources will not only harm the environment but will also push up prices of the resources among the countries and might lead to global conflict.
The panel said that the world is already running out of cheap and quality sources of some essential materials such as oil, copper and gold, which in turn need rising volumes of fuel and water to produce.
It was pointed out that the government should try to make judicious use of resources and should try to use them as mush as possible rather than focussing on economic advancement.
