Natural resources: definition and types

Natural resources are elements or goods that nature provides us and that are found in the natural environment without being altered by human action, that is, they do not intervene in their production.

These resources can be used to satisfy the vital needs of both man and other living beings. The latter is important, since when we talk about natural resources we seem to forget about the rest of the living beings on the planet that also need them. In fact, from an economic point of view these resources are very important for the well-being and development of human society.

In the first place, we can comment that natural resources can exist in nature independently of each other, such as water; or they can exist in a slightly less accessible way, but that after a specific process through other elements can become just as important natural resources, such as metallic minerals.

We know that there are many resources we need today and that not all of them are natural. What’s more, it may seem that natural resources may take a backseat to, for example, energy resources. But if you look for the background of these man-made resources you will find their importance.

First of all, these natural resources are completely indispensable for life to develop . Examples of this are air or water , which are used directly.

From this, these resources are usable from a practical point of view for the production of other raw materials or energies (transport, electricity, industry …). That is, these resources are the basis and responsible for us to enjoy our current lifestyle.

Natural resources are divided into different types according to the sources. In general, all of them coincide when classifying these natural resources into two large groups: renewable natural resources and non-renewable natural resources . This distinction is based on the time it takes for these resources to generate and regenerate themselves in nature. In this article we will develop and focus on this classification of natural resources.

However, there are also other classifications that may be complementary. Some classify natural resources as omnipresent resources , those found throughout the planet such as air or solar radiation; or in localized resources , those that appear sporadically in very specific places.

In addition, these resources can also be separated into resources located in the soil (mining resources), mineral resources, water resources, biological resources and energy resources.

In this AgroCorrn article you will be able to discover more related topics like this one on Renewable energies and non-renewable energies: examples and summary .

Renewable natural resources , as we mentioned, refer to the fact that they are permanently available, that is, they are not depleted despite their use, since they regenerate at a much higher rate than they are consumed. But we must be careful in this last aspect. If the utilization rate were higher than the rate at which the resource is regenerated, it would begin to be in danger of being depleted and ceasing to be a renewable resource. For this reason, we must always keep in mind to make responsible use of our natural resources.

Some examples of renewable natural resources are:

• Water
• Solar radiation
• Wind
• Biomass

In addition, natural resources are considered renewable energy also those that can be obtained from these sources, called renewable energy , such as hydropower, tidal power, solar energy, wind energy , geothermal energy and biofuels.

Get to know with this other AgroCorrn article all about Examples of inexhaustible natural resources .

Once the renewable natural resources are known, we can get an idea of ​​what non-renewable natural resources consist of. They are those whose formation has greater difficulties in terms of the time it takes to generate (on a geological scale they take many thousands of years). Therefore, they cannot be reused, regenerated or produced at a sufficient rate to maintain a high rate of consumption. This rate is usually very high for all the time it took to generate. Also, these resources exist in limited quantities .

Some examples of non-renewable natural resources are:

• Fossil fuels such as coal, oil, or natural gas.
• Minerals
• Metals
• Nuclear fuels .
• Groundwater confined in isolated aquifers.

We recommend that you also consult the information on Natural resources that will be exhausted before in this other informative article from AgroCorrn. In addition, with this video you can learn more about renewable and non-renewable natural resources.

If you want to read more articles similar to Natural resources: definition and types , we recommend that you enter our category of Other environment .