Types, distribution and use of natural resources
A natural resource is anything from nature that people find useful. Renewable stocks (forests, fish, soil, groundwater) can regrow, but only if use is slower than regrowth. Non-renewable stocks (coal, oil, gas, metal ores) took millions of years to form. Flow resources (sunlight, wind, tides) are not used up.
Resources are unevenly distributed because of geology, climate and relief. Use is also uneven: richer people use far more per person. A disparity is the gap between places that have plenty and places with too little. It leads to trade, migration, debt or conflict. For example, the Middle East holds about half of known oil reserves, while many dry regions face water stress.
Developing resources and their impacts
Developing a resource means finding, extracting, processing and transporting it. Benefits: jobs, income, taxes, energy and products. Costs: deforestation, soil erosion, water and air pollution, loss of habitat, and people moved from their land.
Big projects such as dams, mines and oil fields need an environmental impact assessment (EIA) before they start. The fair question is: who gains, who loses, and for how long? Indigenous and local communities are often the most affected, so their consent and share of benefits matter.
Sustainable yield and resource management
Sustainable yield is the amount of a renewable resource that can be taken each year without shrinking the stock. If a forest of 100 trees regrows 10% a year, cutting 10 trees a year keeps it at 100. Cutting 15 shrinks it every year.
The tragedy of the commons: when a shared resource (a lake, grazing land) is open to all, each user gains by taking more, so the resource can collapse. Management sets rules so that use stays at or below sustainable yield. The carrying capacity is the largest population an area can support for a long time.
Policies, strategies and stewardship
- Protected areas: national parks and reserves.
- Quotas and permits: fishing quotas, logging permits.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle: less demand for new material.
- Economic tools: water pricing, carbon taxes, subsidies for clean energy.
- Community management: local people guard resources, as in India's joint forest management or Nepal's community forests.
- International agreements: the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Agreement, the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
Stewardship means acting as a caretaker, not an owner, so that future generations have the same chances.
Science, technology, society and investigation
Technology can help (drip irrigation uses about 30–50% less water; satellites track forest loss) or harm (more powerful trawlers empty seas faster). Investigating a resource issue: ask a question, collect data (for example tree counts or water readings), graph it, compare with sustainable yield, and communicate a clear recommendation.
Key formulas and definitions
- Renewable stock: regrows if use < regrowth
- Non-renewable stock: fixed amount; use reduces it for good
- Flow resource: not used up (sun, wind, tides)
- New stock = old stock + regrowth − harvest
- Sustainable yield = regrowth per year (harvest ≤ regrowth)
- Reserve life (years) = known reserves ÷ yearly use
- Tragedy of the commons: shared open resources get overused
- Stewardship: caring for resources for future generations
Worked examples
1. A forest has 2,000 trees and regrows 5% a year. What is its sustainable yield?
Regrowth = 5% of 2,000 = 100 trees a year. Cutting 100 or fewer a year keeps the forest at 2,000.
2. A country has 600 million tonnes of coal reserves and uses 20 million tonnes a year. How long will they last at this rate?
Reserve life = 600 ÷ 20 = 30 years.
3. A lake has 1,000 fish growing 20% a year. Fishers take 300 a year. What happens after one year?
New stock = 1,000 + 200 − 300 = 900. The catch (300) is more than regrowth (200), so the stock falls each year: overfishing.
Common mistakes
- Thinking renewable means unlimited. Forests and fish run out if cut faster than they regrow.
- Calling sunlight a renewable stock. It is a flow resource; using it does not reduce it.
- Judging development only by jobs and income. Costs to water, soil, air and people must be counted.
- Forgetting that regrowth is a percentage of the stock: a smaller stock regrows fewer units.