Natural Resources (Edexcel GCSE Geography A)

What is a Natural Resource?

• Natural resources are materials/substances which occur in the environment 

• These resources can be categorised into different groups

Biotic

• Obtained from the biosphere

• These are living things that can reproduce: plants, animals, fungi, etc.

Abiotic

• Obtained from the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere

• These are not living and include soil, sunlight, rocks, etc.

Non-renewable

• Resources that cannot be 'remade' because the process takes too long

• They are finite and will run out

• Examples include:

  • Coal

  • Oil

  • Gas

Renewable

• Resources that are infinite and will not run out

• Examples include:

  • Wind

  • Solar

  • Biomass

Exploitation of Natural Resources

• Humans have always used natural resources

• Natural resources are being used by humans at an increasing rate

• The UN estimates that by 2050, the use of natural resources per person will be 71% higher than in 2017

• Since the 1970s, human use of natural resources has created a global ecological deficit

  • More natural resources are being used each year than the Earth can sustain

  • Humans consume an average of 1.7 planets' worth of resources each year

  • The consumption of natural resources is not even across the world 

    • People in developed countries consume far more than people in developing countries

• The world's population is now over 8 billion

• This leads to:

  • More exploitation of environments

  • An increase in the pressure on natural resources, particularly those used for water, food and energy

Water resources

• Only 2.5% of the water on Earth is freshwater

• 68.7% of freshwater is stored in glaciers and ice sheets and 30% is groundwater

• The remaining 1.3% of freshwater is in rivers, soil moisture, lakes and the atmosphere

Use of water resources

• The global distribution of water resources is uneven

• Water is abstracted from:

  • Aquifers

  • Lakes

  • Rivers

Food resources

• Farming and fishing provide the food humans need

• It is estimated that by 2050, the world's population will reach 10 billion

• The World Resources Institute estimates that 56% more food will be needed to meet the demand than was produced in 2010

Fishing

• According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), fishing provides more than 3 billion people with their main source of protein

Farming

• Over 44% of habitable land in the world is used for agriculture

• Increasing areas of wilderness have been converted to agricultural land

Extraction of fossil fuels

• The world is dependent on fossil fuels

  • Over 80% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels

• Fossil fuels are extracted by drilling or mining

Impact of Exploitation of Natural Resources

How are environments changed by the exploitation of natural resources?

Water

• Over-abstraction of water can lead to 

  • Subsistence, where ground levels sink

  • Reduced flow downstream, which impacts ecosystems

Food 

• Overfishing reduces fish populations

  • It occurs when reproduction rates can not replace the fish caught

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that 35% of fish stocks are overfished

  • This impacts on marine ecosystems

  • It causes an imbalance in the ecosystem food web

• Over 80% of global deforestation is to provide land for agriculture

• Deforestation leads to:

  • Soil erosion

  • Loss of biodiversity

  • Pollution of water supplies

Energy

• Drilling and mining for fossil fuels impact increasing areas of the world. Impacts include:

  • Forcing indigenous communities off land they have inhabited for generations in areas such as the Amazon and the Arctic

  • Oil spills impact on the ecosystem 

  • Water pollution from mining waste

  • Health issues from water and air pollution