Types of Natural

Resources

“Nothing in nature is a resource. Some

things become resources.”
Anonymous
What are natural resources?
• A natural resource is any natural
material comes from earth (found
naturally - not man-made) that is
used by humans
• provide everything needed for life
• we must breathe, eat and have
shelter to live
• needs = demands; wants: supply
 Earth‟s Resources:

soil, coal, oil, air, rocks,

minerals, trees, plants, and
water
Water is a Natural Resource
• Our supply of water will never run out.
Water covers about 70% of the Earth.
Remember, water is always being recycled.

• People, plants, and animals need water to

live and use water in many ways…
– drinking and cooking
– having fun, to swim or cool-off
– bathing and cleaning things
Plants are Natural Resources
• Plants have many uses…
– They make surroundings more beautiful.
– Trees are used for wood to build houses and make
furniture and paper.
– Fabric is made from plants, like cotton.
– Branches from plants are used for fuel to make a fire.
– Plants are used for food: fruits, vegetables and grains.
– Plants are used to make cooking oils, herbs, and
spices for seasoning foods.
– Plants are also used to make medicines.
– Some plants are even used to make rubber for tires.
3 Types of Soil
• Sand – rough, gritty, won’t form a ball
• Silt – smooth like flour, not sticky or shiny.
• Clay – soft, shiny, sticky when wet, forms ball,
stains hands.
• When clay is heated, it hardens to make bricks
and pottery.
Rocks are Natural Resources

• A rock is a natural solid

made of one or more
minerals.
Minerals are Natural Resources
• Minerals are natural solids usually formed
as crystals that are found in rocks. All rocks
are made of one or more minerals.
 NATURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES

Secure needs of
Resources population

Environmental
Secure desires on
resources
comfort or higher
level of living
Natural
resources

Encourage
population freedom
Not possible to Possible to for migration
measure measure
economical value economical value
9
 CLASSIFICATION OF THE
RESOURCES

Realistic Potential

•Mineral deposits
•Soil •Wave energy
•Timber •Earthquake energy
•Protected natural territories •Iceberg freshwater
•Suitable microclimate for
living and recreation
 POTENTIAL RESOURCES
Potential natural resources include those
that have not yet been discovered,
sufficiently explored or whose use is not
economically justified.

•Receiver of the •Iceberg as

sea wave energy freshwater source 11
CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

NATURAL RESOURCES

Exhaustible natural Inexhaustible

resources natural resources

•Conditionally
Inexhaustible
Non- inexhaustible
Partly
Renewable renewable
renewable
•Sun
•Wind •Water
•Plants Mineral
•Geothermal •Air
•Animals •Soil deposits
energy
•Peat •Tidal energy
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Types of Natural Resources

a) Renewable resources
b) Non- renewable resources
c) Flow resources
Renewable Resources Soils

• Can replace themselves once they

have been used.
eg. trees in a forest; crops; natural fish
supplies
“THESE RESOURCES REGROW or RENEW
THEMSELVES IN A SHORT PERIOD OF
TIME”

Wildlife Vegetation
Non- renewable Resources

• Gone once they are used

e.g. minerals such as gold, iron, nickel;
fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum
CAN ONLY BE CREATED UNDER VERY
SPECIFIC CONDITIONS

Natural Coal
Petroleum Gas
3
 Solar
Energy
Flow Resources Wind

• Replaced by natural actions whether

humans use them or not
e.g. fresh water flowing through streams
and rivers because of precipitation; ocean
currents
EXIST B/C OF NATURAL SYSTEMS AND
NATURAL PROCESSES

Fresh water Waves, Tides Air

Recycling metals
• Saves valuable non-renewable
minerals and energy
• It helps protect our natural
environment
1700-1800’s- a time of plenty
 1700-1800’s- a time of plenty
• Land stretched for miles!
• Endless resources!
• Huge forests leveled
• Prairies converted to farmland
• Swamps were drained for useable land

Attitude: USE IT UP, AND MOVE ON!

Conservation in the 19th Century

• Need for conservation of land and

resources became evident:
– Trees disappeared
– Soils were eroded

Several leaders and visionaries stepped

forward to intervene.
DEPLETION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

• There are numerous examples of ill-considered human

activities or mismanagement of natural resources when
stores of some resources have been essentially
diminished or destroyed.
• The most dramatic example of the negative impact of
human economic activity on natural resources is the
decline or total extermination of populations of animals.
• It has been estimated that during the last 3000 years over
100 species of mammals and about 150 species and
subspecies of birds have become extinct.
• In many cases animals disappear not only as a result of
their extermination but also due to environmental
changes, when the environment can no longer provide
the conditions necessary for the life and reproduction of
animal populations.
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 Depletion of the ocean resources
Resources of the sea (fish, crustaceans) were long considered
exhaustible renewable natural resources.
20th century, the annual per capita consumption of fish was ~16
kilograms. For many peoples fish and other seafood are their
principal daily sustenance.
It has been calculated that the total admissible annual harvest of fish
and other sea animals in the world amounts to 85 million tons.
However, the figure was ignored until fishing exceeded the
species replenishment rate.
47–50 % of fish and other populations of sea animals have
decreased so rapidly that their natural replenishment is nearly
impossible;
15–18 % of populations are potentially endangered;
9–10 % have decreased but their natural replenishment is
possible;
21 % are moderately exploited;
only 4 % of populations have not been affected. 25
 USE OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES
As the provision of natural resources decreases, prices go
up, unemployment climbs, and it is the availability of natural resources
that largely dictates the migration of population, formation of new
settlements and the abandonment of inhabited places in the world.
Historically, the world society has responded to a decrease in the availability
of resources with a price rise or replacement of one resource with
another.
For example, in Great Britain, around 1800, in response to total
deforestation people started using coal instead of firewood, while a
century later oil became the main energy resource, cheap and widely
available.
The availability of all the Earth‟s resources is limited in a way, either due to
insufficient reserves, complicated extraction or
transportation, inadequate technology of extraction and processing.
Thus, a moment comes when the demand for certain resources exceeds that
of their extraction.
Society responds to this by a attempts to develop the research and
extraction of mineral deposits and to improve extraction technologies.
It stipulates that, with a fixed resource, a unit of another resource(-s) will
yield a progressive decline in productivity when a certain output level is
exceeded.
Effective management of the natural resources
Many scientists stress that over a long period of time humanity has not
been able to manage natural resources effectively, and this is why
sustainable use of resources is required.

With the growing number of people and the development of

technologies, the impact on the environment is increasing.

It is a matter of historical experience that restriction or suspension of

the extraction or use of one or another resource will eventually lead
to the conflict of the parties concerned.

For example, the decrease in the cod population in the Baltic Sea in the
early 21st century caused heated discussions about their fishing
restrictions.

Several European Union countries maintained that cod fishing should

be banned, while others considered that it should be only restricted.

Under the circumstances the European Commission adopted a

compromise decision which stipulated that cod fishing quotas will
27
be reduced every year by 15%.
 Mineral resources of the Earth

Resources Deposits Diggings Minerals

•Inorganic
or organic
Reserves Extraction a substances
Consists of the certain
minerals whose use
Possible component
themselves and is feasible
reserves information and
From mines
about them
economical
Primary
commercial -ly
value profitable28
 Use of resources

The existing management encourages the

extraction of only the richest ores and other
natural raw materials („skimming the cream‟), and
there will never be a sufficient amount of such
raw materials.

•Oil
More used Earth‟s •Metal ores
resources

•Coal •Natural gas

29
 Use of land and soil
“Land” – all territories which are not covered by
water

Determinative factors which have an

effect on land use

Natural Human
Capital Infrastructure
resources resources
resources

Climate, vegetatio Inhabitants,

Investment •Traffic, commu
n, soil, hydrologic their age
funds for nication, techni
al structure and
starting actions cal
conditions, form education, land
on the land use infrastructure
of the land use ownership rights
 SOIL RESOURCES

Soil development is a long-time, gradual and very complex process.

Soil is commonly understood as the uppermost layer of the Earth’s
crust formed by mineral particles, organic substances, water, air
and living organisms.
Soil is the contact and interaction zone for the Earth, air and
water, and the habitat for most of the biosphere.
The fertility of soil is one of the principal factors that determine
the use of land in a certain place.
Soil properties determine the suitability of the place for:
▪ agricultural production, including the development of farming or
cattle-breeding,
▪ development of forestry, including nursing of species of trees,
▪ laying out tourist trails,
▪ building playgrounds for sports.
•Bingham canyon copper mine, near Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
•0.97 km deep, 4 km wide and covering 770 ha
32
 Soil resources
One of the most important renewable natural resources
is soil – the biologically active upper layer of land with
a unique property – fertility.

•To provide the world‟s population with food, it is

imperative that land degradation be reduced.

Reasons for soil

degradation
•Direct effect •Indirect effect

•Deforestation, overgrazing, •Overpopulation,

inadequate management of
•land ownership,
land, growth of human
population •poverty
33
 WATER RESOURCES
Deterioration of the freshwater quality and depletion of its
resources in certain regions of the world may become one of
the most topical problems of society in the 21st century.

•According to the UN
prognosis, 2.8 billion people in
48 countries will suffer from the
shortage of freshwater by 2025;

•40 of these countries are in

western Asia, northern Africa
and the Sahel zone in Africa.

Ground water polluted with oil

and other products, sewage
34
 FOREST RESOURCES
World forests occupy about 30% of the land
territory of all continents, with the exception of Antarctica.
•Forest is the biggest ecosystem of the Earth‟s terrestrial part.
The total forested area is 4.14 billion hectares, with forests of
sufficient density occupying about 3 billion hectares.

•Forests
•World 30%
terrestrial
territories 70% •Other surface
covering as
forests (inter
alia, deserts, mo
untains) 35
 FOREST RESOURCES

Main use of the forests

•Recreation •Preservation •Protection

(eco- •Production of the of the
tourism, hun of timber biological water and
ting) diversity soil

36
Depletion of the environmental and natural resources
•Pattern of the
human
population /
•Starvation, wars, migration food in
- human population reduce accordance
considerably with Malthus
theory

•Agricultural products
•Inhabitants
•Population

•Agricultural
products

•Halt of the
growing

•Time
•The future economic development and growth of the human
population in many countries will cause shortage of natural
resources, energy, food and water significant for the
development of humanity.

•Global society will face difficult and complex environmental

challenges. Under such circumstances, it is simply common
knowledge that an optimal use of one or another resource will
ensure their sustainability.

•In view of the economic, political and environmental interests

of the numerous parties involved, any decision on the
restrictions of the use of resources in the modern world
should be looked upon as a remarkable success.
 FUTURE TRENDS
The future economic development and growth of the
human population in many countries will cause
shortage of natural resources, energy, food and
water significant for the development of humanity.
Global society will face difficult and complex
environmental challenges.
Under such circumstances, it is simply common
knowledge that an optimal use of one or another
resource will ensure their sustainability.
In view of the economic, political and environmental
interests of the numerous parties involved, any
decision on the restrictions of the use of resources
in the modern world should be looked upon as a
remarkable success.
39
 •SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF THE RESOURCES

•Anthropogenic
air and water •Reccommence
pollution and conservation
balanced with of the ecosystem’s
•SUSTAINABLE productivity
natural renewed
processes MANAGEMENT
OF THE
•Efficient use and •Conservation of
RESOURCES
management of the the biological and
renewable natural landscape
resources not diversity
exceeding capacity •Flow efficiency and
and reproduction cyclization of the non
limits renewable resources.
•Creation and introduction
of the renewable substitutes 40
 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
PRIBCIPLES FOR RESOURCES USE

1. principle. Substances extracted from

lithosphere, not be allowed to accumulate in
lithosphere systematically.
2. principle. Substances produced by men not be
allowed to accumulate in ecosphere systematically.
3. principle. Nature and production conditions not be
allowed to grow worse in ecosphere systematically.
4. principle. Resources must be to use efficiently, in
respect of nature and population needs.
5. principle. Nature capital does not be reduced.
The main renewable resources!

• Water
• Air
• Forests (wood)
• Food
What is a non – renewable resource?

• Resources that don’t renew shortly after use.

• Take thousands of years to create.
• Some are rare resources. (oil, etc…)
• Consumed faster in respect to amount.
•Examples of non–renewable
resources
• Oil
• Uranium (nuclear power)
• Minerals (magnesium, etc…)
• Coal
What is recyclable?
• Plastic
• Metal
• Glass
• Paper

Resource vs. Reserve

 Recycling and Re-using
• Recycling helps lower resource use.
• Recycling can help save our planet.
• Recycled items are used in some
products.
• Mostly metals and plastics are reused.
• Protect: Prevent the loss of a resource (wildlife)
by managing its environment. Rapid deforestation
can wipe out both animals and plant life. By
controlling the environment, we can control the
resources.
Humans protection of resources
• Parks are made to protect resources

• We use safety guides for harvesting

• Trying to make renewable energy

• Laws on animal harvesting (limits, seasons).

How humans positively effect nature
• People have created renewable energy.

• Some types are: hydro, solar, wind

• Also have created bio fuels.

• The renewable resources are much cleaner

 Help the eco-systems
• People create parks: national & local
• Prevent destruction of eco-systems with
laws
• Clean up oil spills and save species
• Have organizations and laws for
protection
How pollution harm the environment

• Humans pollute in many ways daily.

• Trash goes to landfills, or polluting.
• Pollution can causes ozone loss
• Pollution contaminates both water and air
 Harming the environment
• Major destruction of forested areas

• Rain forest is being rapidly depleted

• Oil spills cause major environmental harm

• Recreation on water harms eco – systems

 More harm to our planet
• Uncontrolled chemical waste ruins the Earth
Chernobyl, Ukraine
• Poaching animals can kill eco – systems
• Over population of humans on Earth
• Destruction of environments for
metropolises
Conclusion
• Recycle things like plastic, paper, metal

• Use energy more efficiently

• Renewable resources are made quickly by Earth

• Non renewable resources aren‟t remade by Earth