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Publikation:Sustainable Prevention of Resource Conflicts - New Risks from Raw Materials for the Future? Case Study and Scenarios for China and Rare Earths (Report 3.4)
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Sustainable Prevention of Resource Conflicts

New Risks from Raw Materials for the Future? Case Study and Scenarios for China and Rare Earths

(Report 3.4)

"Rare earths are to China what oil is to the Middle East," stated Deng Xiaoping in 1992 (Wang 2007). China accounts for 97 percent of global rare earth production, and as such the world is more dependent on it than it is on oil from the Middle East. That situation is significant because rare earths, although usually used only in small amounts, are of great strategic relevance. They are not only key components of many military technologies, including guided missiles and radar; they are also to be found in many high-tech products which we use in our daily lives – primarily electronic devices such as computer hard disks, plasma screens and MP3 players. They also make alloys harder, and are used to grind precision lenses. 

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Series
Texte | 31/2011
Number of pages
48
Year of publication
April 2011
Author(s)
Moira Feil, Lukas Rüttinger
Related publications
Sustainable Prevention of Resource ConflictsSustainable Prevention of Resource ConflictsSustainable Prevention of Resource Conflicts
Language
English
Other languages
Deutsch
Project No. (FKZ)
3708 19 102
Publisher
Umweltbundesamt
File size
3429 KB
Price
0,00 €
Print version
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Tags:
 earth's natural resources  commodity market  noble earths  China

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Source URL (modified on 06.08.2013):https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/publikationen/sustainable-prevention-of-resource-conflicts-1