Katana VentraIP

Natural resource

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]

"Primary resource" redirects here. For original sources used in research, see Primary source.

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.

: Resources that originate from the biosphere and have life such as flora and fauna, fisheries, livestock, etc. Fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic matter.

Biotic

: Resources that originate from non-living and inorganic material. These include land, fresh water, air, rare-earth elements, and heavy metals including ores, such as gold, iron, copper, silver, etc.

Abiotic

Asteroid mining

Citizen's dividend

Conservation (ethic)

Cultural resources

Environmental movement

Land (economics)

Lunar resources

Mining

Resource nationalism

Sustainable development

United Nations Framework Classification for Resources

United Nations Resource Management System

britannica.com

Natural resource

encyclopedia.com

Natural resources

Media related to Natural resources at Wikimedia Commons