Natural Resources Essay

Natural resources are materials and components (something that can be used) that can be found within the environment. Every man-made 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, oil, and most forms of energy.

They  occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form.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 such as Australia). According to Theodore Roosevelt, The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others’’.

Resource depletion is the exhaustion of raw materials within a region.In recent years, the depletion of natural resources has become a major focus of governments and organizations such as the United Nations (UN). This is evident in the UN’s Agenda 21 Section Two, which outlines the necessary steps to be taken by countries to sustain their natural resources. Depletion of Natural Resources is associated with social inequity. Considering most biodiversity are located in developing countries, depletion of this resource could result in losses of ecosystem services for these countries.

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Some view this depletion as a major source of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations.The depletion of natural resources is caused by ‘direct drivers of change’ such as Mining, petroleum extraction, fishing and forestry as well as ‘indirect drivers of change’ such as demography, economy, society, politics and technology. The current practice of Agriculture is another factor causing depletion of natural resources. For example the depletion of nutrients in the soil due to excessive use of nitrogen and desertification The depletion of natural resources is a continuing concern for society. This is seen in the cited quote given by Theodore Roosevelt, a well-known conservationist and formerUnited States president, was opposed to unregulated natural resource extraction. Air, water, soil, forests, animals, etc. , that are provided by nature or occur naturally are called natural resources. Some of these natural resources like sunlight and wind are renewable resources. This means that they can be used again and again without being exhausted. But some like forests, minerals, oil, etc. , are non-renewable. We need to conserve and preserve these resources or soon they will be exhausted. 1. Preservation of forests and wild animals: We need to stop destroying forests and cutting trees.Forests are the home to many different animals, birds and insects. Many animals like the leopard, the Indian Wild Ass, the great Indian one-horned Rhinocerous, etc. have become endangered and are close to extinction because of the destruction of their natural habitat. Trees give us wood that helps in making so many things like furniture, paper, etc. Trees help in purifying the air and also hold the soil with their roots and stop soil erosion. We must protect our forests. This can be done in the following ways : * We must control the cutting of trees and plant more trees. We must prevent forest fires. 2. Converting forests to National Parks and Bird Sanctuaries: The government has now started protecting forests by converting them into national parks and wildlife or bird sanctuaries. Cutting of trees or killing of birds and animals is not allowed here and is punishable by the law. Grazing or cultivating of the land is also prohibited. Some national parks of India are marked on the map given alongside. The Kaziranga National Park in Assam is famous for one-horned rhinoceros. Bird sanctuaries are areas where birds are protected and encouraged to breed.The Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is one of the biggest bird sanctuaries in India. It houses more than 415 kinds of birds, out of which many birds like the Siberian crane, flycatchers, buntings, etc. , migrate from places as far away as Siberia and China. 3. Preservation of soil: Soil is a very important natural resource. Man and animals depend on plants for their food and plants get nourishment from the soil. So we can say that all living things depend on soil for their food. The process of wind, rain or rivers carrying away the top fertile layer of soil is called soil erosion.Cutting of trees or deforestation, strong winds in places of less vegetation (deserts), running of water bodies over the soil and overgrazing are all causes of soil erosion. We can prevent it by the following methods : i) Forestation or planting trees as their roots hold the soil together. Cultivating the soil also provides it cover and prevents wind from blowing it away, ii) Terrace or step farming done on slopes of hills slows the speed of water flowing down and reduces soil erosion. iii) Building embankments on river banks prevents soil erosion by the rivers. 4. Preservation of minerals:We must use minerals sensibly as they are non-renewable natural resources. There is only a limited amount of oil, limestone, iron, coal, etc. , found in the Earth. We should use renewable and non-polluting sources of energy like solar energy, wind energy, etc. , instead of coal and oil so that they can last longer. 5. Windmill is used to harness wind energy: Though some resources like air, water, soil, etc. , are renewable we should use them carefully as their pollution has affect on plants and animals too. Even a small change in environment or the quality of natural resources affects life around it.