Integrated use of natural resources and geoenvironment

Natural resources and the geoenvironment have been an interest and need of mankind throughout history. Exploitation of natural resources occurred locally prior to the industrial revolution of the 18th century. Since that time, spectacular technological and economic development has led to a large increase in the consumption of renewable and nonrenewable resources. The material flow presently connected with man's activities (30 billion tons every year) is comparable with the annual flow of matter within the global sedimentary cycle.However, the use of natural resources is still nonuniformly distributed, and a less than optimal use of the geoenvironment is occurring. A modern approach emphasizing the integrated use of natural resources and the geoenvironment is desirable. A given region/area should be treated as a single multicomponent space, like a complex web formed by, and held together with, many threads. This integrated approach is not static but, rather, is a dynamic system which evolves and changes over time. To create such a system, development of new methods of geological research, more effective methods and technologies of natural resources exploitation and the protection and restoration of geoenvironment is required. Importance of soil and groundwater are emphatic.Edited text of requested paper for the plenary version of International Geological Congress in Moscow, 1989.