Strategic Roadmap on Sustainable Management of Anthropogenic Resources

Responsible policies, which are essential for the achievement of sustainable consumption and production (SDG12), take the material resources required for human health and well-being into consideration. Extraction of natural resources and utilization of residues can be optimized to achieve the SDGs, but we need to develop systems to enable sustainable practice. The systems we currently use to manage natural resources are entirely different from those used to manage anthropogenic resources derived from wastes; security of supply and economic profitability are the focus of the former while prevention of harmful impacts on human health and the environment are the concern of the latter. COST Action MINEA developed this Strategic Roadmap to realize the vision (Desired End Point) of sustainable management of anthropogenic resources established on a common footing with natural resources. The Strategic Roadmap traverses a landscape in which a number of supportive elements already exist, including the Circular Economy Package of the European Commission and a considerable number of research projects funded by the Horizon 2020 programme. The recommendations associated with the Strategic Roadmap is linked to the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) to form the core of a new globally relevant United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS). The Strategic Roadmap recommends the following:

Developing case studies
      Action 1: Mapping and bridging of the case studies to align with the UNFC.
      Action 2: Development of new pioneering case studies.
      Action 3: Updating existing case studies.
      Action 4: Extending the scope of case studies.

Harmonizing and developing anthropogenic resource assessment, classification and reporting
      Action 5: Development of a generic harmonized procedure to estimate and communicate the viability of resource recovery.

Providing information systems
      Action 6: Creation of an information system to support resource assessment and reporting to end-users

Implementing quality assurance systems
      Action 7: Development of methods for estimating and reporting recoverable quantities.
      Action 8: Certification of people and institutions.
      Action 9: Certification of raw material supply chains.

Establishing supporting networks & structures
      Action 10: Establishment of a European Network of Excellence.
      Action 11: Establishment of Regional Centers for Sustainable Resource Management.

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The “Mining the European Anthroposphere” (MINEA) is a pan-European expert network, which received funding from the COST Association between 2016 and 2020. The network pools knowledge for estimating the future recoverability of raw materials from anthropogenic resources.