Природные ресурсы мира = World Natural Resource. Учебно-методическое пособие

PEOPLES’ FRIENDSHIP UNIVERSITY OF RUSSIA

(RUDN University)

M.G. Makarova, E.V. Stanis, A.A. Meleshko

WORLD NATURAL

RESOURCE

Moscow

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia

2017

Макарова, М. Г.

М15 Природные ресурсы мира = World Natural Resource :

учебно-методическое пособие / М. Г. Макарова, Е. В. Станис, А. А. Мелешко. – Москва : РУДН, 2017. – 49 с. : ил.

This tutorial provides an overview of the contemporary issues of natural resource studies and different aspects of natural resource use.

Natural resource studies address the issues related to the rational use of natural resources, the patterns of their distribution in the world, and sustainable management, which deals with creating sustainable solutions for conserving natural resources such as water, minerals, energy, etc. The program allows students to direct their study towards specific environments, natural resources or industries, focusing on such topics in natural resource studies as renewable resource management, energy use, climate change, forest and wildlife management, land-use planning, conservation.

Depending on the background and interests of students, courses and projects can reflect a science or management perspective. Graduates can apply knowledge from different disciplinary fields. The program trains students to define, analyze and address issues; present projects and reports, find and develop solutions or approaches.

LIST OF CONTENT

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available to humanity. The use of fossil fuels, produced over millions of years, created an apparent energy surplus for human societies. The population has also grown steadily since the Industrial Revolution, mainly because the use of machines and ever greater amounts of fertilizer led to a constant increase in harvest yields per hectare of cultivated land. One hectare of arable land today feeds much more people than in agrarian societies, which were limited to the use of human labor and had no chemical fertilizers. However, progress has had an environmental price, as the consumption of resources has risen dramatically. One resident of an industrialized country today uses fifteen to thirty-five tons of raw materials and products annually – a multifold increase in comparison to agrarian societies [5]. With a growing global population, economy, and affluence, our consumption of nature also grows. It would help us if global ecosystems would grow accordingly – but we cannot change the size of our planet.

A history of natural resources exploration

A long history of the development of humankind is first of all the history of natural use. Historically, natural use is classified into different types by geographers, ethnologists, and anthropologists. Stadial and evolutionary patterns of natural use development were predominant up to the end of the nineteenth century. There are four distinct stages in the human progress, and four types of natural use [18]:

Gathering and primitive hunting

Nomadic cattle breeding

Agriculture

Urban culture

The following types are most often considered in the historical periodization of natural use:

Pre-agrarian

Agrarian

Industrial

Post-industrial

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Each of these stages differs in the nature and scale of interaction between human society and environment. The ability of humans to grow food and use domestic animals developed into agricultural land use. Traditional agriculturists depended extensively on many resources (water, land, etc.). Later they began to use wells to get access to underground water sources and created irrigation systems by building dams. The use of fertilizers and pesticides to further boost the production of food from the same amount of land was a further step. Humankind entered the epoch of overusing and depletion of natural resources. Industrial growth, urbanization, population growth and the enormous increase in the use of consumer goods, have all put further stresses on the environment. The new stage of natural use resulted in enormous quantities of solid wastes, pollution of air, water, and soil, what seriously affect biotic systems and humanity.

Classification of natural resources

Natural resources are derived from the environment. Natural resource potential is a part of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous materials in or on the Earth's crust. Natural resources are often seen in terms of economic value because most of them are crucial for people’s livelihoods and once they are used for economic purposes, no damage to its sustainable development should be caused.

Natural resource potential determines the capacity and perspectives on the economic development of the region.

Natural resource potential is associated with:

Availability and amount of types of natural resources in the territory of a given country or region;

Quality of natural assets; Geographical location of natural assets;

Potential and efficiency of natural resource management;

Relative waste weight and end product from the extracted resources. There are numerous ways to classify the natural resources into types; they include the source of origin, the state of development, the renewability, etc.

In terms of the source of origin, natural resources can be divided into:

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oBiotic: biotic resources come from living and organic material (forests and animals etc.). Biotic natural resources also include fossil fuels (e.g. coal formed from organic matter).

o Abiotic: these resources originate from a non-living and nonorganic material. Examples include water, air, land, metals (gold, copper, etc.).

Natural resources can also be categorized according to the stage of development including:

o Potential resources: are those, who's entire quantity may not be known and these are not being used in the present. They can be used in the future. The level of technology available at the moment may not be advanced enough to utilize these resources easily.

o Actual resource: identified resources being used in the present. o Reserve resource: that portion of an identified resource from which a valuable material/mineral or energy commodity can be economically and legally extracted at the time of determination.

o Stock resources: materials in the environment, which have potential to satisfy human needs, while there is no appropriate technology to access them. For example, water is a compound of two gases: hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used as an abundant source of energy.

Natural resources are also considered in terms of their renewability: o Renewable natural resources

Renewable resources are defined as resources that are regenerated on a human time scale. Examples of renewable resources are water, fisheries, and forests. These types of resources are often connected in ecological systems; for instance, water is necessary for forest growth and fisheries.

o Non-renewable natural resources do not form or replenish in a short period of time. Such resources are less likely to participate in the circular flows of the ecosystem, and exploitation of one resource typically does not affect the availability of the other resources (as long as the extraction does not destroy the other resource). Non-renewable resources can be considered as a stock that has a regeneration rate of zero over a relatively long period.

Table 1

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Natural resource classification by the resource's regeneration rate and its geographic concentration [12].

The vast majority of natural resources are available in a limited quantity (exhaustible) and can be used up if they are not managed rationally. The scarcity (resource depletion) and the exportation of natural resources is a primary issue for many economies (especially developed nations). The government and states determine how resources must be used and they monitor the availability and status of the resources.

Resource availability

Resource availability is a ratio between the amount/volume of natural resources and the intensity of their use or the number of consumers. Resource availability is expressed as [18]:

•the number of years during which these resources will be extracted:

•Y = R / P (years),

(where R - reserve of raw materials, P - annual production)

•or per capita reserves:

•P = R / H,

(where R - reserve of raw materials in the region, Н - population of the region)

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