Natural Resources – Meaning, Types and Characteristics
They still exist in some farming areas to provide livestock with water. A great deal of research is taking place to determine the viability and best implementation of renewable energy on a mass scale. Uranium is a radioactive element that occurs with many other minerals in Earth’s crust. The mined ore is crushed and the uranium is chemically extracted.
First, the resource must exist naturally in the environment; that is, not synthetically produced by human beings, such as in a laboratory or factory. Crude oil, timber, deer, and sailfish fit that requirement, whereas genetically engineered bacteria or computers do not. A naturally occurring commodity typically is classified as a natural resource when it is extracted or purified from its natural state rather than being created. Second, the resource must be able to be exploited by humans to directly satisfy a need or want. In the era of rapid technological advancement and environmental awareness, the distinction between renewable and nonrenewable resources is critically important.
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Natural resources are known to be integral commodities within society and economy. This article details what they are, the examples in which they are used by civilisation, how and why they are important, and the state of the industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Natural resources are defined as resources which exist independent of human actions. Natural resources are of two types, based on their availability. By the end of Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, the company was able to announce major achievements in improving its environmental footprint as well as the company’s bottom line.
The disciplines of fisheries, forestry, and wildlife are examples of large subdisciplines of natural resource management. Human activities have greatly affected the supply and quality of natural resources. Cars and factories use vast amounts of petroleum products every day. About 40 percent of the world’s electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. Such widespread use of fossil fuels is depleting reserves of these limited resources. Burning fossil fuels also impacts other natural resources by releasing toxic materials into the air, water, and soil.
- Companies may also be more sustainable by promoting diversity and fairness in their workforce, or enacting policies that benefit the local community.
- Sustainability practices “significantly affect” the offshoring activities of multinational corporations, according to an examination of data from 1,080 multinational corporations.
- This requires continuous re-evaluation, as a company’s goals may change as the company grows.
- In 1982, the United Nations developed the World Charter for Nature, which recognized the need to protect nature from further depletion due to human activity.
How Sustainability Works
These investments also help to promote environmental awareness. For example, the ability to collect and use solar energy is limited at night and when the sky is simple definition of natural resources overcast. The continued availability of water depends on ongoing precipitation and weather conditions. In earlier years, windmills were used across the United States to capture energy and pump water from wells.
Coal and liquid petroleum (oil) are used to generate electricity in power plants around the world. Oil and gasoline provide fuel for heating and operating machinery and motor vehicles. Petroleum is a source of chemicals used to make plastics, synthetic fabrics, medicines, and other products.
Availability
When people do not have a certain resource they need, they can either replace it with another resource, or trade with another country to get the resource. People have sometimes fought to have them (for example, spices, water,2 arable farmland, gold, or petroleum). The dividing line between natural resources and man-made resources is not clear-cut. Hydro-electric energy is not a natural resource because people use turbines and generators to convert the energy of moving water to electric current. Petroleum and ores are natural, but need work to make them into usable refined oil and metals. Atomic energy comes from metallic nuclear fuel, like fissionable uranium and plutonium, but rocks need technical work to make them into these nuclear fuels.
- Living things need the land’s water, air, and energy, and they live in places with the things they need.
- As resources, plants and animals are only renewable if they are replaced when used.
- Consequently, they play a crucial role in global warming and climate change as carbon dioxide released from burning coal alone makes up 44% of global rates, thus making it the largest cause of temperature rise .
- Biomass is a source of renewable energy from plants and animals.
What Is a Renewable Resource?
The heat trapped by carbon dioxide gas when coal and oil are burned contributes to the atmosphere’s rising temperature and global climate change. Plants and animals are renewable resources of great importance to humans. Trees and plants provide food and raw materials for products ranging from clothing and furniture to medicines and fuels.
Renewable resources are of particular interest as sources of renewable energy. The uneven distribution of natural resources across the Earth is due largely to past geological processes such as plate tectonics and volcanic activity. For example, the abundance of petroleum in the Middle East resulted from tectonic plate movement.
Extraction
The wealth of natural resources makes a country affluent because it can be used to create financial capital. However, we have difficulties in sustainably providing our demands as the global population expands and consumes more resources. Responsible resource management is crucial if we want to ensure that both present and future generations may benefit from natural resources. Humans use natural resources for many purposes, including obtaining food, shelter, water, fuel, minerals, and other raw materials. We also use them for recreation and to support our economic activities. By sustainability, recycling also saves energy and natural resources.
Human Impact on Natural Resources
Minerals, forest products, water, and soil are just a few of the natural resources that human beings use to produce energy and make use of things. Within a few years or decades, certain natural resources can be replicated. For a long time, natural resources were the domain of the natural sciences.
It includes wood, agricultural crops, food waste, and animal manure. Renewable resources are considered to have less of a negative impact on the environment than nonrenewable resources. A renewable resource is a resource of which there is a seemingly endless supply because it can be replenished. For example, renewable resources such as the sun, the wind, and geothermal heat are considered inexhaustible. Fossil fuels are so-named because they formed from the buried remains of ancient plants and animals over millions of years.
Plant matter and animal wastes are sources of alternative energy. Such energy sources are often termed biofuels because they come from living organisms. Sustainable utilization of natural resources is essential for ensuring that the needs of the current generation are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This approach focuses on the careful and responsible management of natural resources in a way that balances economic, environmental, and social needs.
One pound of uranium produces as much energy as 3 million pounds (1.4 million kilograms) of coal. Many corporations are seeking to integrate sustainability practices into their core business models. Companies can adopt sustainability strategies in the same way that they develop their other strategic plans. The “sea change” in investor attitudes described by Harvard Business Review draws on the increased commitments of investors. The Principles for Responsible Investment, a United Nations-supported effort to bring these issues into investing, had 63 investment companies with $6.5 trillion in assets under management that committed when it launched in 2006. In 2018, it had 1,715 companies with $81.7 trillion in assets.
Resource extraction is also a major source of human rights violations and environmental damage. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world and has changed every aspect of everyday life, businesses, and industries. The industry made up of natural resource supply and demand is not an exception. Due to nationwide lockdowns in various countries, global rates of trade, travel, and spending have lowered drastically, resulting in less economic activity. Because of lockdown requirements and people staying at and working from home, the demand for oil has decreased and as a result the oil market has plummeted, and producers around the world are suffering . Some examples of effectively perpetual resources include solar energy, tidal energy, and wind energy.1 They are perpetual in effect, although absolutely they do have a limit.
