III.4. Types of Natural Resources
Exhaustible natural resources are the one which the
quantities decrease due to consumption. Their categorization may be based on
various criteria. We distinguish for instance between under ground natural
resources and air natural resources, liquid and solid natural resources etc.
Depending on their aspect we may hay have
· mining products and precious materials
· fuel products
· hydrocarbons
· coal
· codmine
· sands and gravel
· forest and savannas etc
Reproducible natural resources are of various types:
· air and oxygen
· winds
· animal and bird species
· fishes and aquatic species
· drinking water and other liquids like natural honey
· vegetal species
· events, touristic resources and landscapes
· etc
Invariable natural resources are:
· planets and the universe
· soil, seas, rivers, lakes and oceans
· climates
· air spaces
· astronomy times
· heavenly lights the sun, the moon and stars
· zodiacs or zodiac movements and waves
· etc
All these natural resources constitute external economies for
man i.e. economic goods that man finds at the birth and that he consumes to
cater for his needs and desires. The production of economic goods thanks to
those resources is made possible through a combination of natural factors,
capital and work.
If exhaustible and reproducible natural resources are costly
on the one hand, invariable natural resources on the other hand do not have any
cost except for negative externalities by their users. However, we now observe
that reproducible natural resources and even invariable ones are likely to be
exhausted. Air and oxygen get pouted, soils are eroded, magmas are transformed
into volcanic lava; Winds are rare in areas with high buillings animal and
fauna species decrease due to human occupation, climates tend to change, lakes
and air spaces tend to deteriorate. So, multiplication of humans, technology
sophistication,... constitute a treat to man's survival. This explains why
scientific research about exhaustible reproducible and invariant natural
resources is necessary.
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