[MUSIC] [MUSIC] In this section, we will focus on the system of resources and on the concept of a resource. We will try to gain a better understanding of how this system works and what are the implications for the management of water. On the photo of a landscape that you see here, you will be able to identify different types of resources. First, you can see the ground, but you can also see that tree. Other types of resources are also hiding here. For example, you could mention the air. You could equally speak of the landscape as a resource. So we will first of all ask how this notion is defined. Above all, a resource is a production system. A system which, as we shall see, helps produce different types of goods and services to be appropriated by a range of different end users. Next, the resource is tied to an anthropocentric point of view. The tree that you see in the picture becomes a resource from the time as soon as it participated in a system of production which will ultimately deliver goods and services appropriated by humans. Therefore, the tree in question represents a system which will evolve according to socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions. The resource is not always treated in the same way and this also depends on technological developments. The water sector demonstrates this well with the emergence of urban wastewater, with potabilisation systems and sanitation. As described by De Gregori, the resource “is not, it becomes.” It depends on how it is considered by humans. The resource is therefore the result of practices and uses that are constantly changing. If we adopt a anthropocentric perspective, we can then consider water as a system which allows the production of these well known goods and services. The resource, a renewable resource, is interesting to us because of the way that it is managed, made up from a stock resource where the minimum quantity and quality are necessary for reproduction as the system naturally replenishes itself. It is therefore the background of the resource’s system that must be maintained to ensure the renewal and durability of the system as a whole, and likewise for the production of goods and services. Next, the resource consists of fruits, be it all the units produced at a certain pace, a pace set by the resource system. These fruits are not necessarily consumed, these fruits may exist but it is not a given that we will pick them, just as, for example, apples on an apple tree. However, if they are consumed, then we can speak of goods and services that individuals will use. Lets go back to our tree, and consider that this tree is a resource system made up of a supply which ultimately enables the production of goods and services for different types of users. These different photos show different configurations, different ways of managing the system. Can you see the differences, the distinctions between these different stages, these different ways in which the the resource supply can be considered? We can make several observations. Firstly, the tree can be considered as a resource by the simple fact that it beautifies the landscape. It can also be a resource that produces fruit, fruit that enables different types of goods and services such as the apple into which I am about to bite, the apple juice that I’d like to drink or even the ice-cream that I will eat. However, the tree can also be used differently. It can be cut, it can be used to make a table such as the one on which you are viewing this Therefore, these photos clearly show that the way that the resource is exploited can have very different effects on the management of the supply of resources. For example, what is the difference between apple juice and the construction of planks? In one case, it is only the fruit that is touched and in doing so we guarantee a seasonal renewal of the resource and fruit production. In the other case, the resource is actually consumed but this time it is more or less irreversible. The supply of resources are managed very, very differently. This example illustrates the constant evolution of the system. These are the practices, as we have seen, the socio-economic practices that will make the resource and that will also change the perception that we have of a system of resources. The apple harvesting practices have created various uses, from simple fruit picking through to the construction of furniture. In this context, water is also a resource system. It is a system composed of a supply which allows a quantitative and qualitative renewal of the system and produces fruits and therefore goods and services that can be used by humans. These goods and services are many. Think about life in a general sense but you can also think about production uses of the resource including energy, hydropower, nuclear power, or even irrigation or industry. One can also think of other services provided by this system such as landscapes which have been sculpted by the resource, for example. Given the multitude of goods and services produced by the resource, and with a view on sustainability, it is therefore about ensuring the renewal capacity of the resource supply. How the system is used can carry the balance such as when the consumption of fruits does not affect the renewal capacity. Or it can lead to over-exploitation as in the case where fruit consumption exceeds the renewal capacity of the system, or the sub-system operation. It should be noted here that under-exploitation can likewise pose a problem. For example, there is the case of a stock of places to live. Apartments left unoccupied for many years. In other words, if there is a multitude of goods and services, there will be many users, users who are rivals when in the resource system. As said by Sproule Jones: “a rivalry is born from the scarcity of a resource.” [EMPTY_AUDIO] So here it is important to properly distinguish between different types of scarcity. There is not only one type. Firstly there is objective scarcity versus scarcity that is socially perceived or politically constructed. This is the case of an oil shortage in an oil producing country. There is also absolute scarcity versus relative scarcity where it is worthwhile seeking out a resource very deep underground. Take the example of petrol, where the cost of extraction will cost more than the sale price of the resource. There is widespread scarcity versus localized scarcity, for example, in a country like Switzerland the “water tower of Europe”. There are situations where procurement is difficult, occasional difficulties but difficulties nonetheless. There is long-term scarcity, structural scarcity, versus short-term scarcity and finally regular scarcity, recurrent, versus the unpredictable scarcity which is typically seen in situations of flooding or of severe drought. Finally, regarding rivalries, several remarks need to be made. First of all, we distinguish between rivalry of use and conflict of use. A rivalry exists the moment that several users depend on one resource system This rivalry may be more or less exacerbated but does not necessarily lead to conflict. Next, a rivalry can be mitigated, and can even disappear or if a a supply of resources use disappears, use rival disappears, or if the resource stock is considerably increased, as a result of a technological influence. Finally, use rivalries are not necessarily negative. They allow competition between different uses but they also enable technological innovations. This can be a product of this competition, where practices are changed to mitigate a rivalry, for example the movement from sprinkler irrigation to drip irrigation. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
