FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL

ENVIRONMENTAL
AWARENESS
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author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European
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be held responsible for them.
 Excessive
Environment
Exploitation
2 nd to
6 th May, 2022
Romania
EXCESSIVE EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL
RESOURCES
What are natural resources?
Natural resources are those
that the planet offers without
the need for human
intervention. They are essential
for our survival, but if they are
consumed at a faster rate than
their natural regeneration, they
can be exhausted.
Today various types of natural resources are exploited, which
can be classified into three categories:

• Nonrenewable resources: Those that exist in finite

quantities and that once exhausted will not occur again, or it
will take large periods of time to do so. For example, oil.

• Partially renewable resources: Those which are constantly

occurring in nature and do not run the real risk of running out
soon, because they occur more quickly than they are
consumed. For example, fishing for certain species of rapid
reproduction.

• Renewable resources: Those which do not exhaust

themselves with their use or which recover their original
condition with speed, so there is no possible risk of their
exhaustion. For example, sunlight used to generate solar
energy .
What is the exploitation of natural resources?

The exploitation of natural resources refers to the activities of extraction

and processing of the raw material available in nature by the human being ,
for the purpose of obtaining energy and manufacturing industrial inputs or
processed consumer products.

By collecting fruits, hunting animals for

food, cutting wood-mining stone to
manufacture houses and tools and using
the raw material, the humanity has always
taken advantage of the natural resources of
its environment to make life easier and
better. And that is the exploitation of natural
resources.
6 of the Most Exploited Natural Resources on Earth
1.Water

Lakes, aquifers, and underground

sources of water are generally
replenishable through rain and the
gradual filtering of water through
natural ecosystems.
All around the world, however, water sources are being overexploited and polluted,
forcing people to dig and search for new sources of water, import water from
elsewhere, or buy bottled water.
Globally, one in 10 people do not have access to clean water and it’s expected
that more than half of the world’s population will be living in areas of with highly
stressed water sources.
2.Sand

Sand is used to form beaches and places for recreation. It’s used to make
windowpanes, cell phone screens, and sunglasses. Concrete and asphalt
both come from sand. And the industrial uses of sand — to fill holes, make
molds, and create traction — are seemingly endless.
It’s the second-most exploited resource after water, and the world is running
out of it
3.Fossil Fuels

Fossil fuels supply the vast majority of the world’s energy demands and will
continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
But the problems associated with fossil fuels are many. Most immediately, burning
fossil fuels warms the planet and acidifies the oceans by releasing carbon and other
greenhouse gas emissions into the environment.
Burning fossil fuels also leads to air pollution, which kills an estimated 6.5 million
people each year.
Extracting oil can cause devastating spills in marine environments; extracting coal
can destroy forests and other landscapes; and extracting natural gas can pollute
waterways and cause earthquakes.
4.Trees

Trees provide many essential roles — creating and regulating ecosystems,

providing food, filtering water, absorbing carbon, protecting people from
droughts and extreme weather, mitigating floods, and many more.
Yet trees are under siege around the world. In the last century, more than half of
the world’s rainforests have been cut down. Roughly 48 football fields worth of
trees are lost each minute. And it’s estimated that up to 15% of global
greenhouse gas emissions comes from destroying trees
5.Soil

It can take more than a millennium to produce 1 centimeter of soil, yet humanity has
degraded roughly a third of all the world’s soil, according to the UN, and half of all
topsoil has been lost in the past 150 years.
The primary drivers of this loss include industrial pollution, erosion, bad agricultural
practices, real estate development, salt-water contamination, and others.

Since 95% of the food that humans eat comes from soil, the continued degradation of
soil poses an existential risk.
6. Palm Oil

Because it’s so cheap and versatile, palm oil is the most common vegetable oil
in the world, used in everyday products like bread, chocolate, soap, lipstick,
and margarine.
But it’s also causing enormous ecological harm in the countries where it’s
harvested.
In many countries palm oil cultivation is largely unregulated and is depleting
.
tropical forests, which are important carbon sinks and habitats for endangered
species.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE OVEREXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

The uncontrolled consumption of natural resources has significant effects:It is called

overexploitation to the excessive or uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources,
especially those that are not renewable or only partially renewable. The consequences
of this uncontrolled activity are usually
Resource depletion: The extinction of species, rapid depletion of mines or termination
of exploitable surfaces (as in agriculture ), which weaken the industry and lead to crisis
of raw material.
Environmental destruction: The destruction of natural habitats affects the quality of
life of many species, which leads to the extinction and impoverishment of world
biodiversity .
Pollution: Overexploitation yields a greater amount of toxic, radioactive or ecological
balance modifying waste, without giving the ecosystem time to deal with them or
recover from their impact.
Socioeconomic crisis: The imbalance of the extraction mechanisms usually leads
to raw material crises and, therefore, to imbalances in the international market, now
that the economy is globalizing . This translates into poverty and social and
economic damage for the weakest countries.

For Health: If we do not take care of the forests there will be more air
pollution. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nine out of ten people
worldwide breathe air with high levels of pollutants and seven million people die each
year of air pollution.
SOLUTIONS TO THE OVEREXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
The future, as stated in the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development,
poses a double challenge to human beings: conserving the many forms and functions
of nature and creating an equitable home for people on a finite planet. If we want to
reverse this situation, we need, among other things, to:
Conserve Natural Capital
 Restore degraded ecosystems and their services.
 Halt the loss of priority habitats.
 Significantly expand the global network of protected areas.
Laws and Policies
 Develop legislation to regulate the exploitation of natural resources and establish
environmental impact assessment as an essential requirement for entire projects
 Support sustainable development and environmental protection initiatives
 Commit to renewable and non-polluting energies
 Promote environmental care to maintain ecosystem health
 Take responsibility for environmental and social costs.
 Support and reward companies that promote conservation, sustainable resource
management and innovation in their activities.
Awareness-Raising
 Encourage the use of public transport and bicycles
 Foster a culture of recycling: reduce, reuse and recycle
 Promote environmental education in schools
 Promote agriculture and ecological tourism
Responsible Consumption
• Use water and electricity responsibly
• Buy fewer unnecessary products
• Avoid non-biodegradable products
• Choose to buy local or organic products
• Consume more responsibly
• Change current energy consumption patterns
• Promote healthy and sustainable consumption patterns
***** THANK YOU! *****