Category: Economy
Sustainable Development in Colombia: Trends, Examples and Parks
Colombia is one of the 17 megadiverse countries, which together are home to 70% of the world’s biodiversity, which makes it vital to protect the environment as the country develops economically. Its national parks system has 61 protected areas covering about 23.3 million hectares, including marine areas, and its Human Development Index reached 0.788 in…
OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: Key Findings and Projections
The OECD’s Environmental Outlook to 2050, published in 2012, projects a world population of more than 9 billion, with 70% living in urban areas. Without action, terrestrial biodiversity would shrink by 10%, water demand would grow by 55% and greenhouse gas emissions would rise by 50% by 2050. What will the world’s environment look like…
8 Facts You Need to Know About the Global Food System
The global food system produces enough food for everyone (about 3,000 calories per person per day in 2023, according to FAO data), yet some 645 million people faced hunger in 2025. About a third of all food is lost or wasted (1.3 billion tonnes a year, according to a 2011 FAO estimate), and a handful…
How Drones Drive Sustainable Development: Uses and Examples
Drones drive sustainable development by offering greater efficiency at lower cost in sectors such as agriculture and telecommunications. They take photos with a resolution of 2 cm, compared with 30 cm for commercial satellites in 2016, and are used to monitor crops, inspect power lines and support humanitarian work, such as the 3D maps created…
Uzbekistan Natural Resources: Gold, Natural Gas and Uranium
Uzbekistan’s natural resources are based on natural gas, oil and gold. What are Uzbekistan’s most valuable natural resources? The country produces about 129 tonnes of gold a year, much of it from the Muruntau mine, one of the largest in the world; it ranks 17th in natural gas production; and its gold reserves total 1,800…
Yemen Natural Resources: Oil, Coffee and Sidr Honey
Yemen’s natural resources are limited, but they include oil, gas and endemic biodiversity. What natural resources does Yemen have? After the conflict, its oil production fell to about 15,000 barrels a day in 2024, although it still has reserves of 3 billion barrels, 30th in the world. Yemen is a country at the southern tip…
United Arab Emirates Natural Resources: Oil, Gas and Solar Power
The natural resources of the United Arab Emirates rest on oil and gas. It has produced an average of almost four million barrels a day of oil and other liquids since 2016, and in 2025 it produced about 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas, the world’s 15th-largest output. Why is the United Arab Emirates…
Tunisia Natural Resources: Phosphates, Olive Oil and Petroleum
Tunisia’s natural resources include phosphates, oil, natural gas and minerals, in a territory that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Sahara. What are Tunisia’s most important natural resources? Phosphates and oil top the list, with crude production of about 29,863 barrels a day, reserves of 425 million barrels and iron ore mined mainly at Djerissa,…
Syria Natural Resources: Oil, Phosphates and the Euphrates
Syria’s natural resources revolve around oil and gas, with estimated reserves of 2,500 million barrels that place it around 32nd in the world. What natural resources does Syria have besides oil? It has the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the 880 MW Tabqa Dam and 14.7 km³ of renewable freshwater resources, although the conflict has affected…
Trinidad and Tobago Natural Resources: Natural Gas, Oil and Asphalt
Trinidad and Tobago’s natural resources combine hydrocarbons with rich Caribbean biodiversity. The country produces 53,730 barrels of oil a day and about 26 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year (2023), and forests cover 44.24% of its land. What are Trinidad and Tobago’s most important natural resources? It is also home to 454 bird…
