What Are Natural Resources?
Natural resources are materials and energy sources found in the natural environment that humans use to meet their needs. They include everything from clean water, fertile soil, and forests to coal, oil, and minerals.
Natural resources can be divided into two broad categories:
- Renewable resources: Resources that are naturally replenished and will not run out if managed wisely.
- Non-renewable resources: Resources that took millions of years to form and exist in limited quantities. Once used, they cannot be replaced within a human lifespan.
Resources are not spread evenly around the world. Where they are found has shaped the history of human settlement, trade, conflict, and economic development.
Renewable Resources
Renewable resources are continually replaced by natural processes:
- Solar energy: Energy from sunlight. The amount of solar energy reaching Earth in just one hour is enough to power the whole world for a year. Solar panels convert sunlight into electricity and are increasingly common on rooftops and in large solar farms.
- Wind energy: Moving air turns wind turbines to generate electricity. Coastal and highland areas are particularly suitable for wind farms.
- Hydroelectric power (HEP): Flowing or falling water drives turbines to generate electricity. Dams on large rivers (such as the Three Gorges Dam in China) can generate enormous quantities of power.
- Timber (forests): Trees can be harvested for wood and paper, and new trees planted to replace them — as long as forests are managed carefully. Tropical rainforests take very long to recover and are not always considered truly renewable if cleared at the current rate.
- Fresh water: Rivers, lakes, and rainfall supply fresh water for drinking, farming, and industry. Groundwater (water stored in underground aquifers) is renewable if not extracted faster than it is replenished.
- Fertile soil: Soil supports crop growth. However, overfarming, erosion, and chemical use can degrade or destroy soil — so it needs careful management to remain productive.
- Fish: Fisheries can recover if sustainably managed — but overfishing can drive some species to near-extinction.
Soil is sometimes called the most underappreciated natural resource. On average, it takes about 1,000 years for nature to form just 1 centimetre of topsoil through the breakdown of rock and organic matter. Yet poor farming practices, overgrazing, deforestation, and urban construction destroy vast areas of topsoil every year. Without healthy soil, it is impossible to grow food.
Non-Renewable Resources
Non-renewable resources formed over millions of years and exist in limited quantities:
- Fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas): Formed from the compressed remains of ancient plants and sea creatures. Burning fossil fuels releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Fossil fuels currently supply most of the world's energy, but they will eventually run out, and their environmental impact is severe.
- Minerals and metals: Iron ore, copper, gold, silver, aluminium (from bauxite), and rare earth elements are mined from the Earth's crust. They are used to make everything from buildings and cars to electronics and batteries.
- Coal: Still a major source of electricity in many countries, particularly China and India, but declining as cheaper renewable energy becomes available.
- Oil and natural gas: Used as fuel for vehicles and heating, and as raw materials for plastics and chemicals.
Resources and Settlement
Where resources are found has often determined where people settle:
- Water: Settlements almost always developed near fresh water. Ancient civilisations grew in river valleys — the Nile (Egypt), the Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia/Iraq), the Indus (Pakistan), and the Huang He (China).
- Fertile soil: Flat, fertile plains became densely populated — such as the North China Plain, the Ganges Plain in India, and the Po Valley in Italy.
- Coal and iron ore: During the Industrial Revolution (18th–19th centuries), large industrial cities grew up near coal and iron ore deposits in Britain (South Wales, Yorkshire, Midlands), Germany (Ruhr Valley), and the northeastern USA.
- Oil: The discovery of oil transformed barren, sparsely populated desert regions into wealthy countries — as in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.
- Gold and minerals: Gold rushes in the 19th century created new settlements almost overnight — San Francisco (California Gold Rush, 1848), Johannesburg in South Africa, and Melbourne in Australia all grew rapidly due to nearby mineral discoveries.
Countries that depend heavily on exporting one or two natural resources (such as oil, diamonds, or copper) can be very vulnerable when the price of those resources falls on world markets. Economists call this the "resource curse" — having abundant resources does not automatically lead to prosperity. Countries that manage their resources well, invest in education and industry, and diversify their economies tend to do much better in the long run.
Using Resources Wisely
As the world's population grows, so does demand for natural resources. This raises important questions:
- Conservation: Protecting resources by using them carefully and efficiently — for example, recycling metals rather than always mining new ore.
- Sustainability: Using resources at a rate that allows them to be replenished — for example, only harvesting as many fish as the population can replace.
- Transition to renewables: Reducing dependence on fossil fuels by switching to solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources to reduce both resource depletion and carbon emissions.
Real world: Norway's oil fund — avoiding the resource curse
Norway discovered oil in the North Sea in 1969 and could have simply spent the money. Instead, it created the Government Pension Fund Global — now worth over $1.4 trillion, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. Every Norwegian citizen is theoretically a millionaire based on their share of the fund. Norway invests the oil money in global stocks, bonds, and real estate — rather than spending it all immediately — ensuring wealth for future generations even after the oil runs out. This is the opposite of the "resource curse" experienced by many oil-rich developing nations.
Real world: Democratic Republic of Congo — rich in minerals, poor in development
The DRC holds some of the world's largest deposits of cobalt (essential for electric car batteries), coltan (essential for smartphones), diamonds, gold, and copper. Yet it remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with average income under $700 per year. Armed groups control many mines, using the profits to fund ongoing conflicts. The supply chain for cobalt — from DRC mines to your phone — is one of the most controversial in global trade. This is a textbook example of the resource curse.
Real world: The California Gold Rush and rapid settlement
In January 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California. Within two years, over 300,000 people had arrived from across the world — by ship, overland, and on horseback. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of 1,000 people in 1848 to 25,000 by 1849. New towns, roads, farms, and businesses sprang up across California to support the miners. By 1850, California had enough population to become a US state. The Gold Rush shows how dramatically a single natural resource discovery can reshape settlement patterns within just a few years.
Where do you see this in real life? Look at the materials in your smartphone — it contains gold, silver, cobalt, lithium, tantalum, and tin, sourced from over 60 countries. Every phone is a miniature map of global natural resource extraction. Recycling phones recovers these rare materials — the "urban mining" of old electronics is now a growing industry.
Practice Problems
What is the difference between a renewable and a non-renewable resource? Give one example of each.
Show answer
Explain how natural resources have influenced where people choose to settle, using two specific examples.