Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. On Earth, it includes sunlight, atmosphere, water, land, all minerals along with all vegetation, and wildlife.[1][2][3][4]
Natural resources are part of humanity's natural heritage or protected in nature reserves. Particular areas (such as the rainforest in Fatu-Hiva) often feature biodiversity and geodiversity in their ecosystems. Natural resources may be classified in different ways. Natural resources are materials and components (something that can be used) found within the environment. Every man-made product is composed of natural resources (at its fundamental level).
A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as freshwater, air, or any living organism such as a fish, or it may be transformed by extractivist industries into an economically useful form that must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, rare-earth elements, petroleum, timber and most forms of energy. Some resources are renewable, which means that they can be used at a certain rate and natural processes will restore them. In contrast, many extractive industries rely heavily on non-renewable resources that can only be extracted once.
Natural resource allocations can be at the centre of many economic and political confrontations both within and between countries. This is particularly true during periods of increasing scarcity and shortages (depletion and overconsumption of resources). Resource extraction is also a major source of human rights violations and environmental damage. The Sustainable Development Goals and other international development agendas frequently focus on creating more sustainable resource extraction, with some scholars and researchers focused on creating economic models, such as circular economy, that rely less on resource extraction, and more on reuse, recycling and renewable resources that can be sustainably managed.
- ^ "natural resources - definition of natural resources in English". Oxford Dictionaries. 2014-04-20. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
- ^ "Definition of natural resource - Student Dictionary". Wordcentral.com. 2012-09-20. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
natural resource [...] : something (as a mineral, waterpower source, forest, or kind of animal) that is found in nature and is valuable to humans (as in providing a source of energy, recreation, or scenic beauty[.]
- ^ "What is Natural Resources? definition and meaning". Investorwords.com. Archived from the original on 2019-11-02. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
- ^ "Natural resource dictionary definition | natural resource defined". Yourdictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
Natural-resource meaning [:]
An actual or potential form of wealth supplied by nature, as coal, oil, water power, timber, arable land, etc.
A material source of wealth, such as timber, fresh water, or a mineral deposit, that occurs in a natural state and has economic value.
Something, such as a forest, a mineral deposit, or fresh water, that is found in nature and is necessary or useful to humans.
Any source of wealth that occurs naturally, especially minerals, fossil fuels, timber, etc.