Impoverishment of Natural Resoures

              What is natural Resources?

Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. On Earth, it includes sunlight, atmosphere, water, land, all minerals along with all vegetation and wildlife.

A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as fresh water, air, as well as any living organism such as a fish, or it may be transformed by extractivist industries into an economically useful form that must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, rare-earth elements, petroleum, timber and most forms of energy. Some resources are renewable resources, which means that they can be used at a certain rate and natural processes will restore them, whereas many extractive industries rely heavily on non-renewable resources that can only be extracted once.

what is depletion of natural resources?

Resource depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources (see also mineral resource classification). Use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion. The value of a resource is a direct result of its availability in nature and the cost of extracting the resource, the more a resource is depleted the more the value of the resource increases.^] There are several types of resource depletion, the most known being: Aquifer depletion, deforestation, mining for fossil fuels and minerals, pollution or contamination of resources, slash-and-burn agricultural practices, soil erosion, and overconsumption, excessive or unnecessary use of resources.

Resource depletion is most commonly used in reference to farming, fishing, mining, water usage, and consumption of fossil fuels. Depletion of wildlife populations is called defaunation.

Why we have to preserve natural resources?

Everything material in our culture ultimately comes from natural resources. For example, Coal, Oil, Soil, Water, Land, Minerals, Forests and Timber, and Air we breathe. The role natural resources has on earth is imperative indeed. That is why it’s so important for us to all have some accountability and why we need to PROTECT and RESPECT our environment.

 Here are few reasons listed below which will through light regarding the importance of natural resources and the need to conserve them:

1. Nature helps to maintain the environmental balance and satisfy the needs to the fullest.

2. A wide range of industrial material and biological material from plant and animal, directly or indirectly are used in production and in the manufacturing of medicine.

3. Resource are known as capital converted to commodity inputs to infrastructural capital processes.

4. These are the “3R Concept” 3R means “REDUCE”, “REUSE” and “RECYCLE”. An example is papers, our used papers will reuse by recycling it and turn it into a new paper product.

5. Resources are important for the development of any country. For example, to generate energy, one need fossil fuels; and for industrial development, we require mineral resources.

6. Irrational consumption and over utilisation of natural resources has led to socio-economic and environmental problems.

7. Natural resources are available in fixed quantity and they are non – renewable, 

8. Natural resources are getting scarce with the increasing population, so it is essential to conserve them. This empowers us as well as our future generation to utilise the natural resources to the full extent.

9. It takes millions of year for the formation of natural resources.

10. They play a vital role in the economic development of the country by enriching agriculture, trade, imports and exports, etc.

Cause of Depletion

Overpopulation

The total global population is more than seven billion people. Still, there is a consistent increase in the overall earth populace and this has been a critical factor in accelerating the depletion of natural resources. An increase in the populace expands the need for resources and conditions necessary to sustain it.

Even if everyone tried to adopt a correspondingly low material standard of living, with the population approaching eight billion, it would still cause the depletion of natural resources.

Poor Farming Practices

Humans are causing a lot of stress on land resources due to the over-reliance on food production for daily nutritional requirements. Poor irrigation practices, for example, are a key contributing factor to the salinization and alkalization of the soil that sustains plant growth.

Overconsumption of Natural Resources

The 1760 industrial revolution saw large-scale mineral and oil exploration, and the practice has been gradually growing, leading to more and more natural oil and mineral depletion.

Together with the advancements in technology, development, and research in the contemporary era; exploitation of minerals has become easier and humans are digging deeper to access different ores. The increased exploitation of different minerals has led to some of them entering into a production decline.

For example, minerals such as gasoline, copper, and zinc production are estimated to decline in the next 20 years. Plus, oil mining continues to rise due to the upsurge in the number of engines that use petroleum, thereby magnifying its depletion.

Industrial and Technological Development

The present-day world is incessantly becoming industrialized as more and more countries make major technological breakthroughs. But as technological advancements continue, there is also a considerable growth in industries that release toxins and chemical by-products which are eventually deposited in lakes, oceans, soils, and lands.

Some of the industrial by-products are organic compounds, metals, radioactive materials, and other destructive wastes. As a result, the by-products and toxic materials alter natural habits such as aquatic systems and wildlife.

Examples of the impacts include acidic lakes, dead zones, and the death of wildlife as well as aquatic life. Industrial and technological advancements have also driven the demand for virgin materials for research, development.

Effects of Depletion of Natural Resources

Water shortages

Poor farming practices, deforestation, and pollution are major causes of water resource depletion due to contamination, wastage, and the destruction of natural water catchment areas.

As of today, approximately two billion people lack access to clean water because of the effects of deforestation and contamination of water sources and groundwater. Water shortages further contribute to famine and food insecurity.

Due to the lack of clean water access, there are around two billion cases of diarrhea among children younger than five years old, three million cases of cholera, and 11 million cases of typhoid fever. Moreover, a lot of water-related diseases and deaths are continuously occurring.

Oil depletion

Oil is a nonrenewable resource that accounts for roughly 40 percent of the total global energy consumption. Oil is used for plenty of purposes, and together with technological advancements, it is being more frequently used than ever.

Research by EIA’s International Energy Outlook had shown that due to the high rate of oil exploitation, the amount of oil remaining would last for only 25 years. Moreover, EIA’s research stated that by 2030, oil consumption will be at 118 million barrels per day.

The energy consumption of humans is increasing rapidly while replacing the resources being used in energy production is still at a slow pace. Oil is an essential commodity in manufacturing, planting, mining, and transportation among many activities, and its depletion would be devastating.

Loss of forest cover

Approximately 18 million acres of forest cover are destroyed annually. This means that half of the world’s natural forest cover has already been cleared and millions of animal and plant habitats are destructed.

Furthermore, studies indicate an increase in deforestation in the past three decades has resulted in a 12% to 17% rise in greenhouse gases globally. Due to the lack of trees to absorb carbon dioxide, global warming is becoming more severe.

Other devastating effects of deforestation include soil erosion, an increase in greenhouse gases leading to global warming, loss of biodiversity, increased flooding, and drought.

Extinction of Species

Due to the changes in the living conditions of animals as a result of resource overexploitation and habitat degradation, some species may go extinct. Habitat destruction is one of the primary reasons why species of plants and animals are being endangered, or worse, extinct.

Forested regions are known to be habitats for thousands of animals, but deforestation is progressively destroying forest habitats. Practices such as overfishing and pollution have similarly led to a drastic reduction in the number of marine species such as tuna fish.

Some of the animals that have become extinct recently are the ivory-billed woodpecker, splendid poison frog, Lake Lanao freshwater fish, smooth handfish, bramble cay melomys, spix’s macaw, baiji, and western black rhinoceros. In the flora area, 32 orchid species and 65 North American plants became extinct.

Solutions to Depletion of Natural Resources

 Controlling Deforestation

Programs aimed at checking against deforestation, such as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), created by the World Bank, the New York Declaration on Forests, and the United Nations, are initiatives that could help reduce the depletion of natural resources.

The initiatives may also act as incentives for encouraging the general public to conserve forests as these are the habitat and protectors of some of the world’s unique plant and animal species and water sources, respectively.

Sustainability programs that aim to educate people about the importance of conserving natural resources should also be enacted as a way of focusing on the long-term risks associated with environmental degradation.

Reducing oil, mineral, and material consumption

Oil-rich countries, together with the World Bank, state, and consumables’ regulatory bodies, should join hands towards a common international objective of discussing how oil and mineral consumption, as well as exploitation, can be reduced.

Manufactures can, for instance, be trained on lean manufacturing (recycling, re-use, and reducing wastage) while consumers are sensitized on how to adopt re-use, reducing wastage, and recycling techniques.

 More exploration and use of renewable sources of energy

Renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind power can be explored more and utilized to reduce the dependency on fossil fuel, which is a major cause of environmental pollution, climate change, global warming, and the destruction of natural habitats.

Through the exploration of different renewable sources of energy, a lot of technological innovations can be developed, which in turn could help reduce the use of natural nonrenewable resources.

Sensitization and awareness creation

People must be educated on how their daily practices put a strain on scarce natural resources, as well as their individual contributions to resource depletion. The main purpose of creating awareness would be to encourage people to preserve and restore the natural environment by getting involved in conservation efforts.

Awareness education may be in the form of a symposium, creating videos for people to watch, writing articles and blog posts for people to read, or many other ways to educate everyone across the globe.

Conclusion

They are important for the cash economy, for creating energy, for providing shelter, for food and medicine, and for spiritual well being. By protecting and conserving natural resources we help to ensure that they are available for use not only today, but in the future as well.

                                       Written By- Vikalp Pareek