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Natural Resources are all that exists without the actions of humankind. This includes all natural characteristics
such as magnetic, gravitational, and electrical
properties and forces. On earth we include sunlight,
atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with
all vegetation and animal life that naturally subsists upon
or within the heretofore identified characteristics and
substances.[1][2][3][4]
Particular areas such as “The rainforest in Fatu-Hiva" are
often characterized by the biodiversity and geodiversity
existent in their ecosystems. Natural resources may be
further classified in different ways. Natural resources are
materials and components (something that can be used)
that can be found within the environment. Every manmade
product is composed of natural resources (at its
fundamental level). A natural resource may exist as a
separate entity such as fresh water, and air, as well as a
living organism such as a fish, or it may exist in an alternate
form which must be processed to obtain the resource
such as metal ores, mineral oil, and most forms of energy.
There is much debate worldwide over natural resource
allocations, this is partly due to increasing scarcity
(depletion of resources) but also because the exportation
of natural resources is the basis for many economies (particularly
for developed nations).
Some natural resources such as sunlight and air can be found everywhere, and are known as ubiquitous resources.
However, most resources only occur in small
sporadic areas, and are referred to as localized resources.
There are very few resources that are considered inexhaustible
(will not run out in foreseeable future) – these
are solar radiation, geothermal energy, and air (though
access to clean air may not be). The vast majority of resources
are exhaustible, which means they have a finite
quantity and can be depleted if managed improperly.
1 Classification
There are various methods of categorizing natural resources,
these include source of origin, stage of development,
and by their renewability. These classifications
are described below. On the basis of origin, natural resources
may be divided into:
• Biotic – Biotic resources are obtained from the
biosphere (living and organic material), such as
forests and animals, and the materials that can be
obtained from them. Fossil fuels such as coal and
petroleum are also included in this category because
they are formed from decayed organic matter.
• Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that come
from non-living, non-organic material. Examples
of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, air
and heavy metals including ores such as gold, iron,
copper, silver, etc.
Considering their stage of development, natural resources
may be referred to in the following ways:
• Potential resources – Potential resources are those
that exist in a region and may be used in the future.
For example, petroleum occurs with sedimentary
rocks in various regions, but until the time it
is actually drilled out and put into use, it remains a
potential resource
• Actual resources – Actual resources are those that
have been surveyed, their quantity and quality determined
and are being used in present times. The development
of an actual resource, such as wood processing
depends upon the technology available and
the cost involved.
• Reserve resources – The part of an actual resource
which can be developed profitably in the future is
called a reserve resource.
• Stock resources – Stock resources are those that have
been surveyed but cannot be used by organisms due
to lack of technology. For example: hydrogen.
Renewability is a very popular topic and many natural resources
can be categorized as either renewable or nonrenewable:
• Renewable resources – Renewable resources can be
replenished naturally. Some of these resources, like
sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available
and their quantity is not noticeably affected by human
consumption. Though many renewable resources
do not have such a rapid recovery rate, these
resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use.
Resources from a human use perspective are classi-
fied as renewable only so long as the rate of replenishment/recovery
exceeds that of the rate of consumption.
• Non-renewable resources – Non-renewable resources
either form slowly or do not naturally form
in the environment. Minerals are the most common
resource included in this category. By the human
perspective, resources are non-renewable when
their rate of consumption exceeds the rate of replenishment/recovery;
a good example of this are fossil
fuels, which are in this category because their
rate of formation is extremely slow (potentially millions
of years), meaning they are considered nonrenewable.
Some resources actually naturally deplete
in amount without human interference, the
most notable of these being radio-active elements
such as uranium, which naturally decay into heavy
metals. Of these, the metallic minerals can be reused
by recycling them,[5] but coal and petroleum
cannot be recycled.