Classification of natural RESOURCES

Planet Earth provides us with a series of substances or objects that can satisfy human needs or desires. These are called natural resources. Natural resources are varied and diverse, and therefore they can be classified according to different criteria.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we will see the definition of a natural resource but also the classification of natural resources according to its origin, its state of development and its capacity for renewal. If you want to know more about environmental resources, keep reading!

Index

1. What is a natural resource?
2. Classification of natural resources according to their origin
3. Classification of natural resources their state of development
4. Classification of general resources according to their capacity for renewal
5. Non-renewable resources
6. Renewable resources
7. The inexhaustible resources

The natural or environmental resources they have been extensively studied by humans. As early as 1995, Mather and Chapman defined them as those parts of nature that can provide the goods and services required by humans.

This definition has changed little throughout history, and is currently defined:

The natural resources are those resources that come directly from the Earth provided by nature without human intervention.

And to understand it we will have to take into account what a resource is:

It defines resource the set of human capacities, natural elements and capital goods, scarce in relation to their demand, which are almost always used together to produce goods and services.

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Depending on the origin of the resource, it can be classified into:

• Biotic natural resource: are those natural resources that are obtained from the biosphere, that is, from living and organic matter, such as bacteria, plants and animals and the products generated by both types. Fossil fuels (coal and oil) are also considered biotic resources since they are derived by decomposition and modification of fossilized organic matter.
• Abiotic natural resource: are all those resources that do not derive from living organic matter. Some examples are soil, water, air and metallic minerals (iron, copper, etc).

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Another classification of natural resources focuses on their state of development, that is, whether they are currently available for use or not. Based on this, natural resources can be:

• Potential natural resources: potential resources are those that exist in a region and can be used in the future, but are not currently exploited. An example is the existing oil in India. Numerous studies have found oil in many parts of India, which has sedimentary rocks, but so far where the oil is actually drilled, explored and used, the oil from these parts of India is still a resource potential.
• Current natural resources: Current resources are those that are already being exploited, their quantity and quality have been determined and are currently being used. The development of a current resource from a potential one depends on the technology available in the the moment of its exploitation and the costs involved in the exploitation, storage and transport of the same.
• Reserve natural resources: Reserve resources are that part of a current resource that can be developed profitably in the future. If the amount of natural resource is very small or its exploitation is very fast, the reserve natural resource will be very low. This is often the case in metal ore mines, which are quickly depleted and unprofitable to extract.

Possibly one of the classifications of natural resources is the one that has to do with their capacity for renewal.

The natural resources that the Earth provides us with have different regeneration capacity, that is to say, of replacement. Considering this characteristic, natural resources can be of three types:

• Nonrenewable resources: Non-renewable resources are resources that form very slowly and those that are not formed under normal conditions in the environment.
• Renewable resourcesRenewable or flow natural resources are replenished under current physical and natural conditions, regardless of how long it takes for them to regenerate.
• Perpetual or perennial resources: inexhaustible natural resources are those that do not become extinct, end or waste with use or with the passage of time.

Due to the importance and great use of this classification of natural resources, in the following sections we will take a closer look at each of the categories separately.

Non-renewable or stock natural resources are those that are formed by finite quantities, determined and material invariants. The formation and regeneration process is very slow so, from the human timescale, they are considered as fixed.

That is, non-renewable natural resources exist in fixed quantities or have a regeneration rate lower than the exploitation rate. As they are used, these resources are depleted until they run out. The most common examples of non-renewable natural resources are oil, minerals, and natural gas.

Because its replacement rate is very slow, some day the oil will run out, so alternative resources are sought renewable or perennial natural sources such as biofuels, solar energy, wind energy and the use of hydrogen as fuel.

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Renewable or flow resources they reproduce in the current physical and natural conditions regardless of the time it takes to regenerate. Are those natural resources whose existence does not run out for the use of them.

This can happen for two reasons, or because its use does not modify its quantity or stock or their status (solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, biothermal energy, etc.) or because they regenerate quickly so that they can continue to be used without being depleted: fish, forests, biomass in general, etc.

This type of renewable natural resource may stop being so if overused and this is what differentiates it from an inexhaustible or perennial resource. For example, overfishing is leading to the decline of certain species, meaning that the rate of exploitation is greater than the rate of regeneration. The same is true of forests.

The perennial or inexhaustible natural resources They are those that do not become extinct, end or wear out with use or with the passage of time. No matter how much or how quickly they are consumed, these resources are not removed and therefore do not have to be regenerated.

Examples of inexhaustible natural resources are solar radiation, wind, tides or geothermal energy (the heat inside the Earth). These resources are inexhaustible and will always be there because they are not extinguished with their use and, normally, they are due to the same operation of the planet and the physical laws.

These resources can provide energy with much less environmental impact in relation to energy provided by fossil fuels, which is why they are currently being widely studied for their utilization.

We could group inexhaustible resources as natural resources highly renewable, since its quantity is maintained over time despite its use. However, not all renewable natural resources are inexhaustible. For example, the amount of biomass (forests, wood, etc.) and the amount of fish can decrease with their use, even though they are renewable resources. On the other hand, solar energy will not be reduced or depleted even if we use a large number of solar panels.

If you want to read more articles similar to Classification of natural resources, we recommend that you enter our category of geology.

• Marcano, J (s.f) Natural Resources - Introduction. Environmental education in the Dominican Republic. Recovered from: https://jmarcano.com/recursos-naturales/recursos/
• National Geography Olympiad Program of the Rep. Argentina, National University of the Litoral. (s.f) Natural resources. Recovered from: http://www.fhuc.unl.edu.ar