Natural Resources

As we look around at the area in which we live,we see that our surrounding were originally a natural landscape such as forest,a river,a mountain,a desert, or a combination of these elements.Most of us live in cities get their food supply from surrounding villages.Thus our daily life lives are linked with our surroundings.we drink water and day to day activities ,we breath air ,we use resources from which food is made and we depend on the community of living plants and animals which from a web of life,of which we are also a part.For example though growing more food by using fertilizers and pesticides,developing better strains of domestic animala and crops ,irrigating farmland through mega dams and developing industries, led to rapid economic growth,the ill effects of this type of development, led to environmental degradation. The industrial development and intensive agriculture that provides the good for our increasingly consumer oriented society users up large amounts of natural resources such as water,minerals, petroleum products, wood,etc Non renewable resources,such minerals and oils are those which will be exhausted in the future if we continue to extract these without a thought for subsequent generations. Renewable resources, such as timber and water,are those which can be used but can be regenerated by natural process such as regrowth or rainfall.But these too will be depleted if we continue to use them faster than nature can replace them.For example ,if the removal of timber and firewood from a forest than the regrowth and regeneration of trees ,it cannot replenish the supply.And loss of forest cover not only depletes the forest of its resources,such timber and other nonwood products,but affect our water resources because an intact natural forest acts like a sponge which holds water and releases it slowly.Deforestation leads to floods in the monsoon and dry rivers once the rains are over. Such multiple affects on the environment resulting from human activities must be appreciated by each one of us,if it is to provide us with the resources we need in the long term.Our natural resources can be compared with money in the bank.If we use rapidly,the capital will be reduced to zero.On the other hand, if we use only the interest,it can sustain us over the longer term.This is called ssustainable utilisation or development.