Resource Management

Natural Resource Classification and Status

Natural resources are generally characterized as renewable or nonrenewable. Renewable resources, such as forests, can regenerate if they are not overharvested. Soil and water are [Page 418]both renewable, but can become depleted if not sustainably managed so that the rate at which they can become replenished is equal to or higher than the rate at which they are used. Once renewable resources are consumed at a rate that exceeds their natural rate of replacement, the standing stock will diminish and may eventually run out. Severe resource degradation can occur prior to total depletion, and often occurs at accelerated rates in specific at-risk areas.

Fossil fuels, like coal, petroleum, and natural gas, take thousands of years to form, and are not created at the same speed as they are being consumed. These energy sources are considered nonrenewable and are at risk for depletion. Nuclear energy is also nonrenewable because it requires uranium, a finite resource. A natural resource's value rests in the amount and extractability of the material available and the demand for it. If we do not transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles, the price for oil may reach surprising levels.

Natural resources are currently under increasing pressure, threatening environmental and human health and development. Air, soil and water pollution, water shortages, soil exhaustion, loss deforestation, and degradation of coastlines are some of the many existing problems reflecting gaps and weakness in environmental policy and natural resource management. Most developed countries currently consume natural resources at a pace much faster than they can regenerate. Seventy-five percent of energy resources are consumed by 25 percent of the world's population, living in developed countries. The same population also consumes the majority of the world's extracted and marketed mineral and forest resources in any given year. On average, a child raised in the United States utilizes more than 30 times as many resources as a child reared in India.

Sustainable natural resource management requires addressing global inequity in resource use, since resource extraction may increase as low-income countries seek to develop and prosper. While many people in the industrialized world overconsume, their counterparts in many developing countries do not have access to enough resources to meet basic needs. A significant portion of the poorest families live in rural areas and depend directly on natural resources for their survival, a situation that often makes their future insecure as stocks of resources become diminished and the health of the environment deteriorates. Even where natural resource stocks remain, natural resource endowment may contribute to destabilization and conflict in many developing countries. In places such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, diamonds and fossil resources have fueled conflicts by challenging livelihoods, threatening the environment, raising disputes over rights to control the resources, or by overusing revenue to cover the cost of war. In the Middle East and China, water access is a source of conflict. Managing natural resources is particularly challenging in unstable and conflict-affected areas because of the vulnerability of the economy to illicit trade and lack of transparency.

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