Natural Resources

 

Natural Resources

Mother Nature has given us many wonderful gifts that not only help us to survive but also to live one life in a prosperous way. One of these gifts is a natural resource. Besides, these natural resources help us to make our life easy and comfortable. In addition, they are present in nature in abundance but many of them take time to regenerate. Natural resources are all those things that are readily present in the environment like air, water, sunlight, wood, coal, etc. Most of these natural resources are present on Earth’s surface (or reach Earth’s surface like sunlight). Still, some natural resources are also hidden below the Earth’s surface, which we have eventually reached and used to benefit us.

Natural resources that are obtained from living organisms or are eventually formed because of living organisms are called Biotic elements, like forests, birds, animals, fishes, or other marine organisms, fossil fuels, etc. Natural resources that refer to the non-living elements of nature are called Abiotic resources. Examples of abiotic resources are sunlight, wind, tide, soil, minerals, etc.

Natural Resources are Classified into Two Types:

1. Renewable - Water, air, sunshine, ground, wood, soil, plants, and animals are examples of renewable resources that can be reclaimed and reformed after use. Water, plants, livestock, and fresh air are examples of scarce resources. Without a well-managed mechanism for consuming these renewable resources, we will not be able to bring them back in the future for future generations to use.

2. Non-Renewable - Non-renewable natural resources are those that cannot be duplicated and are only available in finite amounts on the globe. Minerals, Metals, petroleum, and coal are located under the earth's surface. Both of these items are in short supply and are extremely useful and valuable in everyday life.

Other categories of natural resources:

1. Biotic - These are natural resources derived from the global environment and include life-like plants, trees, and animals.

2. Abiotic - These resources include non-living natural resources such as air, water, ground, soil, minerals, and metals.

Both Renewable and Non-Renewable resources are used for various purposes:

  • Wind energy is produced by the movement of air.
  • Water is used for drinking and hydroelectric energy production.
  • Plants and trees provide us with vegetables, fruits, cotton, and wood, which we can use to make paper, furniture, and houses.
  • Animals provide us with milk, and their skin is used to make soap, shoes, purses, belts, and other products.
  • Solar energy is generated by the sun, which is used to keep us warm.
  • Oil is used to power vehicles and generates electricity.
  • Coins, steel, and jewellery are all made from minerals and metals.
  • Electricity is generated using coal.

Causes of Depletion

1.     Over-Population: When the world's population grows at an exponential pace, so does the demand for natural resources.

 

2.     Urbanization: More cities and towns are springing up to meet the ever-increasing demand for housing and other necessities. Some resources have been exhausted as a result of this.


3.     Industrialization: Several new industries are springing up in both rural and urban areas to create jobs and manufacture consumer goods for everyday use. As a result, our natural resources have been over-exploited.


4.     Deforestation: Deforestation is the degradation of trees on a wide scale. Forest degradation has resulted in a reduction in other natural resources such as soil, water, and wildlife.

 

5.     Mining and Quarrying: Resources have also been exhausted as a result of unscientific mining and quarrying for the production of minerals and ores.

 

6.     Overgrazing: Soil erosion is exacerbated by overgrazing by cattle in general, and sheep and goats in particular.

 

7.     Intensive Agriculture: Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as cultivating the same crop year after year, decreases soil fertility and leaves the soil sick.

 

8.     Insecticides: Insecticides and industrial waste products have depleted biodiversity in the forest, rivers, wetlands, dams, and oceans.

 

9.     Soil Erosion: Soil erosion is the process of water or wind transporting nutrient-rich topsoil away. This harms both the soil and the plants.

Distribution of natural resources

The natural resources are unevenly distributed on the surface of the earth. In addition, the different regions of the surface are rich in different varieties of minerals or natural resources. While there are areas that receive an abundance of sunlight, on the contrary, there are areas that receive very little sunlight.

Similarly, some region has a lot of water bodies while others have minerals rich land. Above all, the main factor that influences the uneven distribution of resources is the land type and climate.

This uneven distribution is the major link that connects different countries and facilitates international trade between them. Moreover, it has some bad effects too because the countries rich in fossil fuels control and exploit the market as well as other countries that depend on them for the supply of fuel. Due to this, the rich countries are getting richer and poor countries are getting poorer.

In conclusion, we can say that the earth has a huge stock of natural resources and if we use them sustainably then we can easily save them as well as the planet for some extra time till we completely start using renewable resources. This will also reduce our dependence on non-renewable resources.

They are important for us because our existence depends on them. Also, we should use them wisely and avoid any 0kind of their wastage.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics by Thomas H. Tietenberg

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