As our economies have grown, so has the use of
materials and resources. In an increasingly globalised economy,
the challenge for policy-makers is to streamline actions for ensuring
a more sustainable management of resources, both renewable and non-renewable.
There are existing measures such as policies on climate change and
biodiversity that tackle certain aspects of the global resource
issues. However a holistic approach to resources management is needed
to better identify their interlinkages and gaps
in a systemic way.
The establishment of the International Resource Panel
is a first step towards addressing this need. The Panel was officially
launched in November 2007 and is expected to provide the scientific
impetus for decoupling economic growth and resource use from environmental
degradation.
The objectives of the International Resource Panel are to:
a. provide independent, coherent and authoritative
scientific assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable
use of natural resources and their environmental impacts over
the full life cycle;
b. contribute to a better understanding
of how to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
This work builds on and will contribute to other related international
initiatives, including the development of the 10-year framework on sustainable consumption and production (Marrakech process), the
3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) initiative, the circular economy approach, Global Environment Outlook and the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment.