fisheries, and other similar products are all biotic resources, as are hydrocarbon
fuels, because they are derived from living material. Abiotic resources are
obtained from locations outside the biosphere and are not alive, such as metallic
ores that are mined below the Earth’s surface, salt, and other minerals obtained
from sea water, etc.
The management of natural resources is a vital process in the modern world.
Before the age of industrialization and rapid growth of the humanpopulation, re-
sources could be and often were exploited as though they were essentially limit-
less. The enormous demand for resources of all types by modern economies has
meant that most resources must be carefully monitored and maintained, a key
approach in the concept ofsustainable development. Moreover, poor manage-
ment of one resource may lead to degradation of others. A simple illustration of
this is the clear-cutting of forest, rather than using a more sustainable approach
like selective harvesting of trees. Clear-cutting not only eliminates habitat for
wildlife, but also typically results in heavy erosion of the soil, thus degrading
another resource and damaging the entire ecosystem further. Soil erosion then in
turn may lead to a decline in the quality of local water resources. Proper manage-
ment of natural resources attempts to approach the issue in an integrated fashion,
because poor management of one resource frequently has negative consequences
for others. In the developing world, resource managementis sometimes tied to
the concept ofcarrying capacity. Unless resources are utilized carefully and con-
servatively carrying capacity may be exceeded, for example, when land is over-
grazed or when water for irrigation is wasted or poorly allocated. Exceeding the
carrying capacity of an area is not simply a matter of poor resource management;
it may well be a matter of life and death for some local people, because the result
may be a decline in food production.
Natural resources are thus essential to economic growth and innovation but
must be conserved and utilized wisely. Because resources have economic value,
as they become scarce their value increases, driving consumers to use them more
carefully and efficiently. On the other hand, the value of some resources may not
be initially apparent, as may be the case of the tropical rainforests, which serve
as a vast repository of potentially vital and useful genetic material. Market forces
alone may not be sufficient to protect such fragile and irreplaceable ecological
resources, and other means must be found to preserve them.
Neo-Malthusianism.SeeMalthusian Theory.
Natural Resources 241