During its more than 30 years of activity, NADRA GROUP has established relationships, which in some cases resulted in cooperation, with many state geological services around the world. Actively participating in geological congresses, conferences, seminars, and other events within the geological community, NADRA GROUP recognized the need to establish permanent communication and cooperation between geological services. Periodic meetings during various events are not enough to achieve permanent cooperation.
Another issue is the need to establish permanent cooperation among public geological organizations worldwide. That's why NADRA GROUP is implementing a project to create professional digital geological platforms and manage them. The main idea behind the activity of such platforms is to change the priorities of geology in the 21st century in response to challenges.
The 21st century presents new challenges to geology, requiring a fresh perspective on the role of geological sciences, as well as new approaches to the organization and implementation of geological exploration and production.
By the end of the 20th century, the knowledge gained from geological science and practice had generally met the world market's needs for energy and mineral resources.
However, there continues to be a significant and growing disparity among countries and continents in terms of the consumption of material goods obtained from natural resources. The population of many regions and entire countries that heavily extract natural resources has lost its normal way of life and has not been able to enjoy the expected benefits. Instead, it has faced negative environmental trends and their consequences.
The availability of rich natural resources has, in many cases, resulted in the so-called "resource curse." Such countries often experience macroeconomic instability due to their excessive dependence on natural resource exports, leading to low economic progress, high levels of poverty, authoritarianism, corruption, and armed conflicts.
Natural resources can also trigger conflicts within society, as various groups and factions fight for the right to control them, exhibiting rent-seeking behavior. Sometimes these conflicts manifest openly as separatist conflicts in regions where resources are extracted. However, they more commonly take covert forms, such as struggles among ministries or departments for access to public funds, which reduces the efficiency of public administration in general.
According to researchers, for a typical country where primary resource exports make up about 25% of GDP, the probability of conflict is 33%. However, this probability drops to 6% when the export share of primary resources is reduced to 5% of GDP.
Over a long period of time, the extraction and processing of mineral deposits have led to significant environmental degradation and human health problems. Additionally, there has been an accumulation of large amounts of waste that is not used or disposed of properly.
It is time to introduce a new system for the efficient, well-balanced, and investment-attractive use of natural resources in Ukraine.
Ukraine's integration into the world economic space, particularly through the implementation of the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, highlights the importance of rational use of the country's natural resources in the 21st century.
The world is constantly changing, and these changes are often disruptive and rapid. In order to develop efficiently, Ukraine must meet the requirements of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
At the beginning of the 21st century, society faced numerous global challenges, the most significant being the availability of clean air and good-quality drinking water, humanity's growing energy and material needs, natural and man-made disasters, epidemics, climate change, population migration, and the complex interdependence between the environment, society, and economy.
The emerging globalized economy has led to an increased demand for all resources, without exception. The rapidly growing population of the planet, especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, rightly expects greater development and freer access to resource consumption, which puts additional pressure on the interconnected elements of the water-energy-food chain. The reliable and sustainable provision of the population with good-quality drinking water, food, available energy, and living conditions in a healthy and clean environment is complicated by climate change, natural disasters, man-induced load, and the cumulative effect of all negative factors. The current state of the environment is equally dependent on natural processes and man-induced impact. Humanity obtains foodstuffs, drinking water, clean air, and other resources necessary for full functioning from the ecosystems that need to be studied, researched, protected, and preserved.
Geological knowledge is essential but insufficient to overcome many of the challenges mentioned above. It is important to systematically integrate geological knowledge with other theories of natural conditions and resources. It should be recognized that the planet Earth is a complex system where the lithosphere is intricately linked and interacting with the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and increasingly with the anthroposphere.
The need to integrate knowledge and research on the environment and natural resources is reflected in the policy documents of various geological surveys around the world, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the Geological Survey of Canada, and the joint geological surveys programme of European countries. The Strategy of the Geological Surveys of Europe towards the creation of the European Geological Service, in particular, focuses on addressing the following tasks: meeting Europe's needs for reliable, clean, and efficient energy and non-energy minerals, including critical mineral raw stock; planning the use of underground space; studying the impact of resource exploitation on the environment and developing relevant mitigation measures; studying the environmental impact on soils and groundwater to prevent food and drinking water shortages; studying natural and man-made hazards and developing measures to combat emergencies and disasters; developing measures to prevent climate change through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, geological carbon storage, and the use of alternative energy sources, including geothermal energy; and preserving geological diversity and geological heritage.
While the national geological surveys in European countries have competence that "covers the geospheres (solid Earth), both on land and in the waters, with emphasis on the 'human interaction zone', i.e. the upper 5-7 km of Earth's crust," the U.S. Geological Survey identifies itself as a federal science agency focused on natural resources.
While the general priorities may be similar, the U.S. Geological Survey engages in a wider range of activities with a focus on protecting and preserving natural ecosystems. These efforts include developing standardized national maps of U.S. ecosystems, studying climate variability and change to inform impact assessments based on statistical data, establishing the scientific foundation for environmental sustainability and efficient land management, assessing hazards and risks to ensure sustainable health and well-being for the nation, and protecting wildlife habitats, among other initiatives.
The Geological Survey of Canada has a focus on enhancing geological science and increasing its contribution to unlocking Canada's resource potential, promoting public safety, and mitigating risk. In addition, it has a separate role in environmental geology, which involves facilitating responsible resource development, among other initiatives.
In a modern context, Earth Science, or New Geology, encompasses not only the scientific study of the Earth's structure, composition, development history, dynamics, and the processes that shaped it, but also a comprehensive doctrine that extends beyond traditional geological knowledge.
Geology must now address the challenges faced by modern society and prioritize humanity's long-term needs, with a focus on ensuring a sustainable future:
- Ensuring sustainable access to clean drinking water;
- Exploration and extraction of critical minerals using green technologies, such as solar and wind energy;
- Conducting subsoil exploration to harness geothermal energy and ensuring safe development of infrastructure and technologies for carbon capture and storage;
- Contributing to climate change mitigation and impact on public policy through past climate research, modeling potential future impacts, and raising awareness about the impact of climate change on the environment, means of subsistence, and natural disasters.