Natural resource

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"Primary resources" redirects here. For original sources used in research, see Primary source .
Rainforest on Fatu-Hiva, Marquesas Islands is an example of an undisturbed natural resource.
The Upsala Glacier in the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina is an example of a natural resource.
The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.
—Theodore Roosevelt[1]
The ocean is an example of a natural resource.

Natural resources (economically referred to as land or raw materials) occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity existent in various ecosystems.

Contents

[edit] Examples

Some examples of natural resources include:

[edit] Natural resource management

Main article: Natural resource management

Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural resource management is interrelated with the concept of sustainable development, a principle which forms a basis for land management and environmental governance throughout the world.

In contrast to the policy emphases of Urban planning and the broader concept of Environmental management, Natural resource management specifically focuses on a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology and the life-supporting capacity of those resources.[3]

[edit] Natural resource depletion

In recent years, the depletion of natural resources and attempts to move to sustainable development have been a major focus of development agencies. This is of particular concern in rainforest regions, which hold most of the Earth's natural biodiversity - irreplaceable genetic natural capital. Conservation of natural resources is the major focus of natural capitalism, environmentalism, the ecology movement, and green politics. Some view this depletion as a major source of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations.

Mining, petroleum extraction, fishing, hunting, and forestry are generally considered natural-resource industries. Agriculture is considered a man-made resource. Theodore Roosevelt, a well-known conservationist and former United States president, was opposed to unregulated natural resource extraction. The term is defined by the United States Geological Survey as "The Nation's natural resources include its minerals, energy, land, water, and biota."[4]

[edit] Natural resource protection

See also: Environmental protection

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction.[5][6] It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on sciences, economics, and the practice of natural resource management.[7][8][9][10] The term conservation biology was introduced as the title of a conference held University of California at San Diego in La Jolla, California in 1978 organized by biologists Bruce Wilcox and Michael Soulé.

Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range.[11] It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology.

[edit] See also

Ecology portal
Environment portal
Sustainable Development portal
Earth sciences portal

[edit] References

The natural resource of wind powers these REpower 5MW wind turbines on the Thornton Bank wind farm on the Belgian coast.
  1. ^ Theodore Roosevelt, Address to the Deep Waterway Convention Memphis, TN, October 4, 1907
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h United States Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service. Retrieved May 2009.
  3. ^ Massey University: Bachelor of Applied Science (Natural Resource Management)
  4. ^ "Natural Resources". U.S. Geological Survey. http://www.usgs.gov/themes/resource.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-09. 
  5. ^ M. E. Soulé and B. A. Wilcox. 1980. Conservation Biology: An Evolutionary-Ecological Perspective. Sinauer Associatess. Sunderland, Massachusetts.
  6. ^ M. E. Soule. (1986). What is conservation Biology? BioScience, 35(11): 727-734 [1]
  7. ^ Soule, Michael E. (1986). Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity. Sinauer Associates. pp. 584. ISBN 0878937951, 9780878937950 (hc). 
  8. ^ Hunter, M. L. (1996). Fundamentals of Conservation Biology. Blackwell Science Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts., ISBN 0-86542-371-7.
  9. ^ Groom, M.J., Meffe, G.K. and Carroll, C.R. (2006) Principles of Conservation Biology (3rd ed.). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. ISBN 0-87893-518-5
  10. ^ van Dyke, Fred (2008). Conservation Biology: Foundations, Concepts, Applications, 2nd ed.. Springer Verlag. pp. 478. ISBN 978-1-4020-6890-4 (hc). 
  11. ^ Habitat Conservation Planning Branch. "Habitat Conservation". California Department of Fish & Game. http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/. Retrieved on 2009-04-07. 

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