Concepts in Natural Resources

 Concepts we discuss:
Renewable Resource
Nonrenewable Resource
Environment
Ecology
Ecosystem
Biome
Preservation vs. Conservation
Carrying Capacity
Food Chains
 Renewable Resource:
Resources that can be replaced by human efforts
Can be Renewable forever depending on the management of the resource
Example: Forests and Forest Products
 Non-Renewable Resources:
Limited resources that cannot be replaced once they are gone
Careful use and extend the length of their availability
Example: Petroleum and Petroleum products
 Environment: All of the physical surroundings of a species
 Ecology: Study of the complex relationships among living things and their environment
 Ecosystem:
Any partially self-contained environmental and living thing
Example: A lake, a large valley, or a forest
 Biome:
A major land area characterized by dominant plant life forms
Established by altitude and rainfall

Preservation Conservation

o An attempt to prevent the use of a o An attempt to use a natural

natural resource resource in a way to minimize
water

o Aim is to “preserve” or keep it o Aim is to maintain the resource in

intact as it is or was as good of condition as possible

 Carrying Capacity: The ability of an ecosystem to provide food and shelter for a given population

 Food Web:
A group of plants and/ or animals
 related to each other by the fact that one feeds or
depends for food on the next
Pyramidal in shape
Many producers
Fewer Consumers
Fewer still predators

producers consumers
Also known as autotrophs Also known as hetertrophs

Make their own food Organisms that feed on other species

Food Chains:
 Carnivores
First-order Carnivores: Carnivores that feed on herbivores
Second-order Carnivores: Carnivores that feed on first order carnivores
 Omnivores
“All eaters”
These critters are both herbivores and carnivores
 Predators
Carnivores that feed on live animals
Examples: Owls
 Prey
Animals that are eaten by predators
Examples: Mice
 Scavengers
Critters that feed on dead organisms
Both plants and animals
Examples: snails, crayfish, crow
 Saprophytes
Fungi that feed on dead organisms
Examples: Fungi, bacteria
 Decomposer
Break down and feed on non-living organic matter
Examples: Yeasts, molds
 Development and Environment Linkages
The linkages between development and environment are numerous. The state of the environment can
contribute significantly to or worsen poverty and human well-being.
The contribution of environment to the Millennium Development Goals
Goals
Poverty
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and
hunger
Gender and Education
2. Achieve universal primary
education
3. Promote gender equality and
empower women
Health
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and
major diseases
Partnership for development
8. Develop a global partnership for
development
1
Environmental links
 Livelihood strategies and food security of poor households often depend
directly on the health and productivity of natural ecosystems and the diversity
of services that they provide.
 Poor households often have insecure rights to land, water and biological
resources, and inadequate access to information, markets and decision-making
– limiting their capability to sustain the environment and improve their
livelihoods and well-being.
 Women more than men have limited decision-making roles from community
to national levels which constraints their voice from being effectively heard
particularly as it pertains to their environmental concerns.
 Vulnerability to environmental shocks and stresses, such as natural disasters
and climate change, undermines men and women’s livelihood opportunities
and coping strategies – and hence their ability to lift themselves out of poverty
or to avoid falling into poverty.
 Environmental degradation contributes to the increasing burden on women
and children (especially girls) of collecting water and fuel wood, reducing
time for education or income-generating activities.
 Women in particular often have unequal rights and insecure access to land and
other natural resources, limiting their opportunities and ability to access other
productive assets.
 Water and sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhea, and acute respiratory
infections primarily from indoor air pollution, are two of the leading causes of
under-five child mortality.
 Indoor air pollution and carrying heavy loads of water and fuel wood
adversely affect women’s health, and can make women less fit for childbirth
and at greater risk of complications during pregnancy.
 Up to one-fifth of the burden of disease in developing countries is linked to
environmental factors—primarily polluted air and water and lack of
sanitation—and preventive environmental health measures are as important
and at times more cost-effective than health treatment.
 Natural resources and sustainable environmental management contribute to
national economic development and revenues, decent and productive work and
poverty reduction.
 Developing countries’, including Small Island developing States, special needs
include climate change adaptation and addressing other environmental
challenges, such as water and waste management.
Facts and figures on poverty-environment linkages
 In Afghanistan, only 5% of rural residents have access to improved sanitation
 In Bangladesh, more than 95% of the population rely on solid fuels for their energy needs (2000)
 In Burkina Faso, 92% of the active workforce in the world is employed in agriculture, fisheries (2001)
 In Bolivia, over 80% of the people living in rural areas are poor
 In Fiji, 68% of the population live in slum conditions (2001)
 In Namibia, conservancies and community based natural resource management support enterprises
contributed to an estimated USD $9.6 million to the net national income (2004)
 In Latin America and South East Asia, 100% of the poor living on less that USD$1 per day are exposed to
indoor air pollution