What are Natural Resources, Types and Threats to Natural Resources

Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, Natural Resources and Depletion a half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. Freshwater only makes up 2.5% of the total volume of the world’s water, which is about 35 million kilometer cube.

While it is necessary to utilize deforestation for many of these functions, we tend to abuse our forests with little regard to the environment. By putting profits over sustainability first, we run the risk of depleting this natural resource. Vehicles that are dependant on gasoline are used for commuting, traveling, and the transport of goods and services, which means that every aspect of our way of life is causing natural resource depletion through transportation. These include the use of fossil natural resources like coal which in turn leads to a depletion of these natural resources. However, if we are able to use technological development to decrease the use of natural resources in the sense that we make processes more efficient, stable consumption levels may be possible by using ever lower amounts of resources. We should switch to sustainable energy sources such as wind and solar energy rather than using fossil fuels. Last but not the least cause of natural resource depletion is the unintelligent use of chemicals for fulfilling the food need of the large population.

Human settlements and industrial systems

We can expect to see a huge shift in energy efficiency as we begin to green energy homes and clean energy vehicles make their way into the lives of everyday citizens. Moving forward, we will need to establish solar panels on all private residences that are worthy of solar power and create solar energy farms in places that receive an abundance of sunlight. These effects have been brushed under the rug for decades, as they either didn’t pose as serious of a threat in our past – or they were simply disregarded by governments, industries, and society as a whole. While wildfires like these are rarely directly created by man, humans do contribute to this problem by adding to the climate crisis, which makes wildfires much more common and larger in size. Building quality sand is currently being extracted at unsustainable rates. Even food that would still be suitable for consumption is often disposed of since the best before date had been reached.

• While it is necessary to utilize deforestation for many of these functions, we tend to abuse our forests with little regard to the environment.
• By sweeping away millions of acres of beautiful forested areas, we have tainted a once beautiful landscape.
• Overusing groundwater, old or young, can lower subsurface water levels and dry up streams, which could have a huge effect on ecosystems on the surface.
• Water is an essential resource that is needed for survival in everyday life.
• Groundwater available for agricultural and other uses is also being exploited.
• The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations is predicting that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity.

Our vehicles are predominantly fueled by gasoline to this day and although they have gotten more fuel-efficient over the years, they are still major contributors to resource depletion. At this stage, large vehicles and trucks are what eats up the most gas in our society, however, this problem is perpetuated by each individual on the planet in some way or another. Instead of using coal for the production of energy, we could use wind or other renewable resources. Since oil is a non-renewable natural resource, the avoidance of plastic means saving natural resources. Moreover, through industrial processes, the extracted resources are turned into things for our daily use or into energy, which results in the emission of harmful gases and therefore in air pollution.

Solutions to the Resource Depletion Problem

These mechanisms and institutions are not always complementary; in fact, at times they stand in conflict with one another. A slide with simple understanding sentences on Natural Resources, conservation and its depletion. In the field of economics, a consensus regarding sustainable growth has also been elusive. Water is, of course, crucial to survival, butmore than 2 billion peopledon’t have clean drinking water at home. The Forest Stewardship Council and the Rain forest Alliance Certified certify businesses and products, so consumers can tell which ones are created using sustainable forestry management. Reduced fish populations can alter entire ecosystems and hurt coastal economies that depend on fishing.

Green subsidies and coordinated irrigation development are offered as a win–win solution to the problem of maize farming and rapid deforestation in the province of Nan in northern Thailand. Narrated over the study of historical environmental accounting for Sweden, Lindmark sets the stage for analytical conceptualization of the green macroeconomics structure. The fact is that modern society is totally dependent on the products of mining–from cellphones, to ipods, to plows, cars and even roads. The challenge is further complicated given that many mining areas overlap with ancestral domains, forests and biodiversity-rich habitats. Recent shifts to environmentally-friendly production systems are apparent, for example, organic production and conservation tillage systems.

What Is the Difference Between a Community and an Ecosystem?

Moreover, many countries that have former been quite remote to electronic devices now aspire to have a similar lifestyle like industrialized countries. Since our lives become more and more focused on electronic devices like smartphones and computers, our energy demand increases constantly.

This occurs when economic prosperity is put before respecting and admiring the natural wonder of the world. Let’s examine some of the ways that the depletion of our natural resources damages the natural beauty of our planet. As we continue to advance and progress as a society, we have seen some of our planet’s most incredible natural wonders become destroyed in the process. Much of this has to do directly or indirectly https://accounting-services.net/ with the depletion of our natural resources. When we deplete our natural resources, it tends to have a lot of negative effects on the land itself. The harvesting and pollution of natural resources often sabotages the livelihood of our plant and animals species and puts their entire existence at risk. This has led to millions of species going extinct with over 100 species going extinct every single day on average.

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Soil erosion increases with the share of arable land of total land use, mitigated by physical background factors and farming practices. Some two-thirds of the world’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants, and coal is responsible for more than a quarter of global CO2 emissions. For instance about 0.92kg of CO2 is typically released for every kilowatt hour of electricity produced in a coal-fired electricity generation station. Gas is a comparatively less carbon intensive fuel – about 0.52kg of CO2 is typically released for every kilowatt hour of electricity produced in a gas-fired station.

Deforestation, as the name suggests, can be understood as the elimination of forests by cutting and burning down the trees and plants in a forested area. The extent of deforestation is extreme; one-half of the trees that once covered the earth have been destroyed. As the population increases, so too does the number of mouths that need to be fed. The increasing need for agricultural lands leads to the clearing out of more land. Remember, the industrial value of land is zero unless and until something viable can be extracted from it.

Oil depletion is the decline in oil production of a well, oil field, or geographic area. The Hubbert peak theory makes predictions of production rates based on prior discovery rates and anticipated production rates. Hubbert curves predict that the production curves of non-renewing resources approximate a bell curve. Thus, according to this theory, when the peak of production is passed, production rates enter an irreversible decline.

Some economists want to include measurement of the benefits arising from public goods provided by nature, but currently there are no market indicators of value. Globally, environmental economics has not been able to provide a consensus of measurement units of nature’s services. Over-exploitation of natural resources harms the health of ecosystems and the wellbeing of people.