IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/minecn/v35y2022i3d10.1007_s13563-022-00331-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of transdisciplinarity for mineral economics and mineral resource management: coping with fallacies related to phosphorus in science and practice

Author

Listed:
  • Roland W. Scholz

    (University of Continuing Education, Danube University Krems
    Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
    Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS))

  • Gerald Steiner

    (University of Continuing Education, Danube University Krems
    Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH))

Abstract

Mineral economics is a genuine multidisciplinary field dealing with economic and policy matters related to the production, distribution, and consumption of mineral commodities. We discuss why the increasing complexity, ambiguity, ambivalence, and social contestation of subjects of mineral economics promote the participation of mineral economists in transdisciplinary processes. These processes relate (a) knowledge from targeted interdisciplinary processes and (b) mitigated discourses among different stakeholders to provide (c) a shared problem definition and to attain shared basic knowledge about problem transformation science and practice. We discuss known examples of misperceptions regarding minerals (phosphorus), such as an imminent scarcity threat, the incorrectly understood causations of the 2007/2008 price peak and present the phosphorus ore-grades increased by 3.2% between 1983 and 2013 fallacies (which is based on the Simpson’s paradox), and only few countries have mineable reserves fallacy. Here, we also illuminate motivations underlying several mineral economics–related misunderstandings. We argue that societally relevant questions require an honest mineral economics knowledge brokership. The example of the Global TraPs project, which targeted sustainable phosphorus management, is presented. Honest brokership to attain a clearinghouse function of science requires trust formation in society. We argue that this calls for increasing the understandability of relationships that are not well-understood, such as “if prices rise, so do stocks.” Wellmer and Becker-Platen’s feedback control cycle may be considered an example of how complex mineral economics can become and how challenging it is to be understandable to scientists from different disciplines and faculties as well as to practitioners whose knowledge may well be used to cope with the complexity of given problems. Thus, the present paper represents a plea for mutual learning between science and practice in order to understand the complex social and economic challenges of mineral resource dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Roland W. Scholz & Gerald Steiner, 2022. "The role of transdisciplinarity for mineral economics and mineral resource management: coping with fallacies related to phosphorus in science and practice," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 35(3), pages 745-763, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:minecn:v:35:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s13563-022-00331-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s13563-022-00331-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13563-022-00331-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13563-022-00331-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. George F. R. Ellis, 2003. "The shape of the Universe," Nature, Nature, vol. 425(6958), pages 566-567, October.
    2. Owen, John R. & Kemp, Deanna, 2013. "Social licence and mining: A critical perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 29-35.
    3. Friedrich-W. Wellmer & Roland W. Scholz, 2017. "Putting Phosphorus First: The Need to Know and Right to Know Call for a Revised Hierarchy of Natural Resources," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-23, June.
    4. Ayres, Robert U., 1993. "Cowboys, cornucopians and long-run sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 189-207, December.
    5. de Groot, Rudolf S. & Wilson, Matthew A. & Boumans, Roelof M. J., 2002. "A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 393-408, June.
    6. Freeman, Chris, 1994. "The Economics of Technical Change," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 18(5), pages 463-514, October.
    7. Radetzki,Marian & WÃ¥rell,Linda, 2020. "A Handbook of Primary Commodities in the Global Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108970914, November.
    8. Christine Alewell & Bruno Ringeval & Cristiano Ballabio & David A. Robinson & Panos Panagos & Pasquale Borrelli, 2020. "Global phosphorus shortage will be aggravated by soil erosion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Peschel, Anne O., 2021. "Scarcity signaling in sales promotion: An evolutionary perspective of food choice and weight status," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    10. Dierk Raabe & C. Cem Tasan & Elsa A. Olivetti, 2019. "Strategies for improving the sustainability of structural metals," Nature, Nature, vol. 575(7781), pages 64-74, November.
    11. Gordon, Richard L. & Tilton, John E., 2008. "Mineral economics: Overview of a discipline," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 4-11, March.
    12. Anil Ananthaswamy, 2018. "How the belief in beauty has triggered a crisis in physics," Nature, Nature, vol. 558(7709), pages 186-187, June.
    13. Peter Loukopoulos & Roland W Scholz, 2004. "Sustainable Future Urban Mobility: Using ‘Area Development Negotiations’ for Scenario Assessment and Participatory Strategic Planning," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(12), pages 2203-2226, December.
    14. John E. Tilton, 2020. "Life as a mineral economist," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 33(1), pages 273-274, July.
    15. Yaksic, Andrés & Tilton, John E., 2009. "Using the cumulative availability curve to assess the threat of mineral depletion: The case of lithium," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 185-194, December.
    16. Arenas, Daniel & Albareda, Laura & Goodman, Jennifer, 2020. "Contestation in Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: Enhancing the Democratic Quality of Transnational Governance," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(2), pages 169-199, April.
    17. Janni Leung & Jack Yiu Chak Chung & Calvert Tisdale & Vivian Chiu & Carmen C. W. Lim & Gary Chan, 2021. "Anxiety and Panic Buying Behaviour during COVID-19 Pandemic—A Qualitative Analysis of Toilet Paper Hoarding Contents on Twitter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-16, January.
    18. Friedrich-Wilhelm Wellmer & Roland W. Scholz, 2018. "What Is the Optimal and Sustainable Lifetime of a Mine?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Roland W. Scholz, 2017. "The Normative Dimension in Transdisciplinarity, Transition Management, and Transformation Sciences: New Roles of Science and Universities in Sustainable Transitioning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-31, June.
    20. Tilton, John E. & Crowson, Phillip C.F. & DeYoung, John H. & Eggert, Roderick G. & Ericsson, Magnus & Guzmán, Juan Ignacio & Humphreys, David & Lagos, Gustavo & Maxwell, Philip & Radetzki, Marian & Si, 2018. "Public policy and future mineral supplies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 55-60.
    21. Corinne Moser & Michael Stauffacher & Pius Krütli & Roland W. Scholz, 2012. "The influence of linear and cyclical temporal representations on risk perception of nuclear waste: an experimental study," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 459-476, May.
    22. Kazuyo Matsubae‐Yokoyama & Hironari Kubo & Kenichi Nakajima & Tetsuya Nagasaka, 2009. "A Material Flow Analysis of Phosphorus in Japan," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 13(5), pages 687-705, October.
    23. Radetzki,Marian & WÃ¥rell,Linda, 2020. "A Handbook of Primary Commodities in the Global Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108841542, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marek Vochozka & Svatopluk Janek & Lenka Širáňová, 2023. "Geopolitical deadlock and phosphate shortfall behind the price hike? Evidence from Moroccan commodity markets," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 69(8), pages 301-308.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berlemann, Michael & Eurich, Marina & Meyer, Hennes, 2023. "HWWI Commodity Price Index: A technical documentation of the 2023 revision," HWWI Working Paper Series 1/2023, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    2. Chowdhury, Emon, 2023. "The Impact of Commodity Market on the Economy of Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 119462, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Dec 2023.
    3. Emilio Castillo & Roderick Eggert, 2019. "Reconciling Diverging Views on Mineral Depletion: A Modified Cumulative Availability Curve Applied to Copper Resources," Working Papers 2019-02, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    4. Bruno, Daniel & Sorando, Ricardo & à lvarez-Farizo, Begoña & Castellano, Clara & Céspedes, Vanessa & Gallardo, Belinda & Jiménez, Juan J. & López, M. Victoria & López-Flores, Rocío & Moret-FernÃ, 2021. "Depopulation impacts on ecosystem services in Mediterranean rural areas," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    5. Kuangyuan Zhang & Richard Olawoyin & Antonio Nieto & Andrew N. Kleit, 2018. "Risk of commodity price, production cost and time to build in resource economics," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(6), pages 2521-2544, December.
    6. Flexor, Georges, 2024. "Food challenges, technological changes and food geopolitics," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 62(3), January.
    7. António Mateus & Catarina Lopes & Luís Martins & Mário Abel Gonçalves, 2021. "Current and Foreseen Tungsten Production in Portugal, and the Need of Safeguarding the Access to Relevant Known Resources," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-26, June.
    8. Philip Cooke, 2002. "Biotechnology Clusters as Regional, Sectoral Innovation Systems," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 8-37, January.
    9. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    10. Anne-Maree Dowd & Michelle Rodriguez & Talia Jeanneret, 2015. "Social Science Insights for the BioCCS Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-19, May.
    11. Stefan Liehr & Julia Röhrig & Marion Mehring & Thomas Kluge, 2017. "How the Social-Ecological Systems Concept Can Guide Transdisciplinary Research and Implementation: Addressing Water Challenges in Central Northern Namibia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, June.
    12. Kelly Gerard, 2023. "Doing aid chains differently: Evaluating the potential of Multi‐Stakeholder Partnerships," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(1), January.
    13. Ren, Kaipeng & Tang, Xu & Wang, Peng & Willerström, Jakob & Höök, Mikael, 2021. "Bridging energy and metal sustainability: Insights from China’s wind power development up to 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    14. Yanzi Wang & Chunming Wu & Yongfeng Gong & Zhen Zhu, 2021. "Can Adaptive Governance Promote Coupling Social-Ecological Systems? Evidence from the Vulnerable Ecological Region of Northwestern China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Breffle, William S. & Muralidharan, Daya & Donovan, Richard P. & Liu, Fangming & Mukherjee, Amlan & Jin, Yongliang, 2013. "Socioeconomic evaluation of the impact of natural resource stressors on human-use services in the Great Lakes environment: A Lake Michigan case study," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 152-161.
    16. Comino, E. & Ferretti, V., 2016. "Indicators-based spatial SWOT analysis: supporting the strategic planning and management of complex territorial systems," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64142, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. P. Hlaváčková & D. Šafařík, 2016. "Quantification of the utility value of the recreational function of forests from the aspect of valuation practice," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 62(8), pages 345-356.
    18. Jansson, Åsa, 2013. "Reaching for a sustainable, resilient urban future using the lens of ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 285-291.
    19. Bolaños-Valencia, Ingrid & Villegas-Palacio, Clara & López-Gómez, Connie Paola & Berrouet, Lina & Ruiz, Aura, 2019. "Social perception of risk in socio-ecological systems. A qualitative and quantitative analysis," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Bordt, Michael, 2018. "Discourses in Ecosystem Accounting: A Survey of the Expert Community," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 82-99.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:minecn:v:35:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s13563-022-00331-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.