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In This Issue ...
..................... ... .5 Forthcoming
Events ....... 6 Meeting
of the Committee on Engineering & Environment
....... 7 India Hosts - 2007 WFEO General Assembly World Congress ............ 7
Acronyms commonly used ........... 8
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Announcement : WEC
Forthcoming Conference Committee
Over utilization of Natural Resources Nature has nourished life since its existence. From the very beginning life has sustained on the available resources. Human, other than any other organism on the planet earth has always overburdened nature with their desire to extract much more than his requirement. It is because of him that today the world is facing the conflict of increasing population, resource degradation and resource depletion. Over utilization of resources by the growing population has resulted in its degradation in most parts of the world. Exhaustive extraction of natural products, degradation of land resources and ever increasing population has not only effected the micro climatic conditions but also has led to the degradation of the global environment to such an extent that it has created a threat to existence. Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified (natural) form. A commodity is generally considered a natural resource when the primary activities associated with it are extraction and purification, as opposed to creation. Thus, mining, petroleum extraction, fishing, and forestry are generally considered natural-resource industries, while agriculture is not. Natural resources are often classified into renewable and non-renewable resources. Renewable resources are generally living resources (fish, coffee, and forests, for example), which can restock (renew) themselves if they are not overharvested. Renewable resources can restock themselves and be used indefinitely if they are used sustainably. Once renewable resources are consumed at a rate that exceeds their natural rate of replacement, the standing stock will diminish and eventually run out. The rate of sustainable use of a renewable resource is determined by the replacement rate and amount of standing stock of that particular resource. Non-living renewable natural resources include soil, as well as water, wind, tides and solar radiation. A renewable resource is any natural resource that is depleted at a rate slower than the rate at which it regenerates. A resource must have a way of regenerating itself in order to qualify as renewable. Renewable resources include oxygen, fresh water, timber and biomass. However they can become non-renewable if used at a greater rate that the environment's capacity to replenish them. For example ground water may be removed from an aquifer at a greater rate than the sustainable recharge. Removal of water from the pore spaces may cause permanent compaction (subsidence) that cannot be reversed. Renewable resources may also include commodities such as wood and leather. A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be re-made or re-grown. Often fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas are considered non-renewable resources, as they do not naturally reform at a rate that makes the way we use them sustainable. This is as opposed to natural resources such as timber, which re-grows naturally and can, in theory, be harvested sustainably at a constant rate without depleting the existing resource pool. In this sense, all mined resources, stone, metals, uranium, and various other materials and minerals should be considered non renewable. As the people of the world become city dwellers, they tend to lose sight of their dependence on natural resources. Most of these are products of the land. My forefathers and yours lived close to the land. They knew their dependence on the land for food, for clothing, for shelter, and for fuel to warm the shelter. To these basic necessities of life we must add today our dependence on natural resources for all the raw materials of industry. The history of mankind is the history of man's competition for land, of man's struggle to obtain adequate natural resources – and of man's over utilization of resources. A nation's natural resources often determine its wealth and status in the world economic system, by determining its political influence. Developed nations are those which are less dependent on natural resources for wealth, due to their greater reliance on infrastructural capital for production. However, some see a resource curse whereby easily obtainable natural resources could actually hurt the prospects of a national economy by fostering political corruption. In recent years, the depletion of natural capital and attempts to move to sustainable development have been a major focus of development agencies. This is of particular concern in rainforest regions, which hold most of the Earth's natural biodiversity – irreplaceable genetic natural capital. Conservation of natural resources is the major focus of Natural Capitalism, environmentalism, the ecology movement, and Green Parties. Some view this depletion as a major source of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations. Resource utilization pattern refers to the difference of resource utilization in terms of space, time, culture, group of people and environment; it is therefore necessary to understand the present status and predicting the change in the available resources. Sustainability of resource is to assure the availability for future use by utilizing resource only to such an extent that they do not get exhausted.
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