Natural resource

Natural resources are resources that exist as a result of natural processes rather than human efforts. This comprises the sources of highly valued features such as economic and industrial usage, aesthetic worth, scientific curiosity, and cultural significance, among other things. On Earth, it contains the sun, the atmosphere, the water, the soil, all minerals, as well as all flora and animal life, among other things.

Natural resources may be preserved as part of our natural history or safeguarded in nature preserves and preserves. Particular ecosystems (such as the rainforest in Fatu-Hiva) are often characterised by high levels of biodiversity and geodiversity. It is possible to classify natural resources in a variety of ways. Natural resources are elements and components (something which may be utilised) that can be found in the environment and are derived from it. Natural resources are used in the production of every manufactured product (at its fundamental level).

An extractivist industry can transform a natural resource into an economically useful form that must be processed in order to obtain the resource, such as metal ores, rare-earth elements, petroleum, timber, and most forms of energy. A natural resource can exist as a separate entity, including such fresh air and water, as well as any living organism such as a fish, or it can be transformed into an economically useful form that must be processed in order to obtain the resource. Some resources are renewable, which indicates that they may be exploited at a specific pace before being replenished by natural processes. On the other hand, many extractive industries depend largely on non-renewable resources, which can only be mined once.

In many economic and political disputes, natural resource distributions may be at the heart of tensions within and between nations as well as within and between continents. The latter is especially true during situations of rising scarcity and shortages (depletion and overconsumption of resources). Natural resource exploitation is also a significant cause of human rights abuses and environmental degradation. While the Sustainable Development Goals and other international development agendas frequently emphasise the need to increase the sustainability of resource extraction, some scholars and researchers are concentrating on developing economic models, such as the circular economy, that rely less on resource extraction and more on reuse, recycling, and renewable resources that can be managed sustainably.