Natural resources (a. Natural Resources; Naturliche RessoursCen; F. Ressources Naturelles; and. Recursos Naturales) - a set of objects and systems of lively and inanimate nature, the components of the environment of the natural environment used in the process of social production to meet material and cultural needs. societies.
Natural resources Speakers in quality natural conditions The existence of mankind, which more and more actively uses natural resources, forming their needs, goals and methods to achieve them. The rapid development of the productive forces, the involvement of the processing of vast masses of natural raw materials, the increase in emissions of non-essential waste production and human activity in the biosphere makes particularly relevant issues of environmental management with maximum conservation of ecological equilibrium on the planet as a whole and in its individual regions. Issues of protection of components and natural resources (see Environmental Protection) go beyond the possibilities of individual states and require agreed actions of various countries in a single global strategy.
The use of the planned socialist system of the economy allows other socialist countries to overcome the negative factors of the global energy situation. In the USSR, the State Committee for Nature Protection was created in 1988.
IN modern conditions global problems The use and protection of natural resources are associated with the solution of such major problems of humanity, as preventing wars and arms race; saving the habitat; Ensuring energy, raw materials and food; Overcoming backwardness developing countries.
Classification of natural resources and their meaning. The combination of natural resources of the external geophagement of the Earth is represented by interrelated components used or scheduled for use; incoming in the natural circuit of substances or introduced in the process of human activity; permanent or variables by mass; renewable (replenishable) and non-visible by weight and quality, taking into account the time factor; constant, decreasing or growing in species diversity. Almost inexhaustible natural resource - solar energy, the source of "environmentally friendly" energy, component of about 5.10 20 kJ / year. IN different countries The first helicitations that generate heat and electricity are being built, projects of space power plants and methods for relaying electricity with orbit to land are discussed. Solar energy is used through photosynthesis products (natural vegetation, products agriculture), or the former biospheres (, lignites, stone coal, oil, bituminous).
The animal world of natural environmental systems - a resource, difficult to resume in quality and species diversity. The USSR adopted a law on the protection and use of the animal world (1980), work on the preservation of the gene pool is underway, the conditions for restoring the number of certain types (Sterch et al.) And the selection restoration of exterminated animal species (bison).
Landscape - recreational natural resources, habitat living organisms, human settlements, industrial structures, roads, reserve of biosphere reserves, reserves, etc. According to the UNESCO program, "Man and Biosphere" (1971), a draft conservation of natural zones is being implemented and the genetic material contained in them. By 1984, 226 biosphere reserves were created in 62 countries - standards of natural landscapes. In the USSR, issues of protection and use of soil and landscape resources are regulated by the foundations of the Land Law of the Union of SSR and the Union republics (1968), the laws on the protection of the nature of the Union republics.
In addition to the above principal classification of natural resources on a utilitarian basis, energy, water, land, mineral, vegetable and other natural resources are highlighted, which is reflected in a variety of classifications on one- and multipurpose use of natural resources by various sectors of social production, health care, etc. Separate types of natural resources are potential, their use in the future depends on the achievements of science and technology, on the level of international cooperation and the environmental self-consciousness of humanity.
Stages of mastering natural resources. In the early stages historical Development HUMAN HUNTING AND FISHING WITH MINERAL MEASURES OF MINERAL RESOURCES (rocks, minerals as instruments in Paleolithic and neolithic) with practically complete recycling of waste in natural ecosystems. At the subsequent stages of a processing society with the emergence and growth of agriculture and animal husbandry, soil resources, vegetation, water for irrigation, some sources of energy (wind, water flows, animal strength) have become increasingly used, and the culture of metals and alloys (, bronze, Gold, iron, etc.), ceramics, natural stone (religious buildings, roads, engineering facilities, sculpture, jewelry).
With capitalism sharply increased the intensity of the use of natural resources as a whole, incl. Fuel and minerals If estimated, a person in antiquity used to 19 chemical elements, then by the beginning of the 20th century - already 59, and in 1985 all chemical elements identified in the earth's crust are used. Natural resources were the subject of studying many naturalists of pre-revolutionary Russia (P. I. Richkov, I. I. Lepёkhin, A. I. Wayers, etc.). V. I. Vernadsky and formulated the most important provision on humanity as a planetary strength, geologically and geochemically transforming world.
From the first years Soviet power Natural resource problems are in the focus of state. In 1919, V. I. Lenin was tasked: "In order to preserve the source of our raw materials, we must achieve the fulfillment and compliance with the scientific and technical rules" (full. Cons. Op., Vol. 43, p. 174). Natural resources announced by the national property are studied by the Commission on the Study of Natural Production Forces and the Problem Commission of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the GCT "Natural Resources of the USSR". Grand extent and accelerated pace of socialist construction received reliable resource support, which contributed to the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, helped to restore and successfully develop national economy On the basis of own sources of raw materials.
The development of natural resources is reduced to identifying, evaluating, exploration, cadastriroving by type (forest taxation, land inventory, water inventory, counting mineral reserves, etc.), to actually use, savings and protection against exhaustion, maintaining productivity, and Also recovery (reclamation of landscapes and soils, restoration and strengthening of the coast of seas and large reservoirs, soil land reclamation, and the like.). At all stages, the environmental, economic and social justifications of the development of natural resources both in the global plan and the regional and local (natural resources of the Earth as a whole, land and its subsoil, world oceans and its parts, large regions, individual countries and its parts are primary role. Regions, right up to megalopolises and individual settlements, nature reserves, reserves and monuments of nature). Natural unevenness of the spatial distribution of natural resources in the global plan inevitably leads to the need to develop systems geographical separation Labor and integration of social production. The problem of natural resources becomes a number of socio-economic problems of paramount importance in countries serving sources of natural raw materials for other countries.
The study of natural resources is constantly deepened and expands. Successfully apply the most effective achievements of science and technology (remote sensing of the earth's surface with artificial satellites of the Earth and from airplanes, geophysical studies, ultra-deep drilling systems, etc.). Scientific substantive assessments of natural resources (cadastral, technological, economic, social, environmental) are a prerequisite for obtaining a maximum effect on the use of resources with a minimum level of negative consequences for nature and humans. According to the most common estimates, the annual extraction of various natural materials and products from the natural environment reaches 35-40 billion tons, during the burning of fuel for the year, up to 15-20 billion tons of atmospheric oxygen (the territory of the United States produces less oxygen than the country consumes it. ), the water consumption of the world exceeds 600 billion tons per year. Sharp territorial uneven consumption of natural materials in modern world Does not reflect the true needs of all mankind. In order to achieve in the future, the entire population of the level of consumption achieved by the most developed countries will need to triple the total production volume of natural resources. At the same time, for certain types of natural resources (fuel, ore), it is necessary to increase production of 10-15 times. The growth of the population and the inevitable increase in the level of consumption of natural resources per capita is even more aggravating the problem. Universal importance acquires the problem of monitoring natural resources, developing a natural resource management system by type and in general. At the same time, the main emphasis is placed on the integrated use of natural resources, the development of waste-free and low-waste industrial resource-saving technologies, recycled water supply, disposal of gas-dye emissions of factories, heat and power plants on mineral fuel, control of heat removal of nuclear power plants, etc. Since the growth of reserves, not renewable natural resources, has the limit, is important to search for new types of raw materials, fuel, energy (solar obtained on Earth or transmitted from space power plants; thermonuclear, heat of earthly subsoil, etc.). Inevitably, the complete use of secondary resources, involvement in the economic circulation of renewable natural resources instead of amperate species of raw materials, the introduction of new methods of mining, hydroponics in agriculture, etc. Such problems of saving and protecting natural resources are also saved for renewable resources.
Natural (natural) resources are natural objects and phenomena that a person uses to create material benefits that ensure not only the maintenance of human existence, but also a gradual improvement in the quality of life.
Natural objects and phenomena are different bodies and forces of nature used by man as resources. Organisms, except humans and largely pets, draw live energy resources directly from the environment, being part of biogeochemical cycles. These resources can be considered as environmental factors, including both limiting, for example, most of the food resources.
Natural resources used by man, diverse, diverse their purpose, origin, methods of use, etc. This requires a certain systematization.
The classification is based on three symptoms: on sources of origin, on the use of resources in production and by the degree of resource dehydration.
Given the natural origin of resources, as well as their enormous economic importance, the following classifications of natural resources have been developed.
Natural (genetic) classification - classification of natural resources for natural groups: mineral (minerals), aquatic, land (including soil), vegetable, (including forest), animal world, climatic, natural energy resources processes (solar radiation, internal heat of earth, wind energy, etc.). Often, the resources of the plant and animal world are combined into the concept of biological resources.
The environmental classification of natural resources is based on the signs of exhaustibility and renewability of resource reserves. The concept of exhaustion is used when taking into account the reserves of natural resources and the volumes of their possible economic seizure. Allocate resources on this basis:
inexhaustible - the use of which the person does not lead to the apparent exhaustion of their stocks now or in the foreseeable future (solar energy, internally heat, water, air, air);
the considered non-reparable - the continuous use of which can reduce them to a level in which further operation becomes economically inappropriate, while they are incapable of self-healing for the timing, commensurate with the terms of consumption (for example, mineral resources);
happened renewable - resources that are peculiar to the ability to restore (through reproduction or other natural cycles), for example, flora, fauna, water resources, in this subgroup allocate resources with extremely slow renewal rates (fertile land, forest resources with high quality wood).
Economic when natural resources are classified on different groups From the point of view of the possibilities of economic use:
for technical capabilities, natural resources allocate:
real - used when this level development of productive forces;
potential - established on the basis of theoretical calculations and preliminary work and comprising besides exactly established technically available reserves also the part that cannot currently master the technical capabilities;
on the economic feasibility of replacement, resources are distinguished and indispensable. For example, it is replaced by fuel and energy resources (they can be replaced by other sources of energy). It is indispensable to own atmospheric air resources, fresh water, etc.
A large role in the development of the economy is played by the degree of natural resource learning: the structure of the soil, the number and structure of minerals, wood reserves and its annual increase, etc. The mineral raw materials play a special role in the life of society, and the degree of provision of natural resources reflects economic level states. Depending on geological learning mineral resources divided into the following categories:
A - reserves, explored and studied with utmost detail, accurate borders of the occurrence, and which can be commissioned.
In -Passes, explored and studied with detail, providing identification of basic laying conditions, without precise display of the spatial position of the field.
C1 - reserves, explored and studied with detail, ensuring the clarification in the general terms of the laying conditions.
C2 - stocks, explored, studied and estimated pre-on single samples and samples.
Moreover:
For economic significance, minerals are divided into balance sheet, the operation of which is applicable to the current moment, and the offensive, the exploitation of which is inappropriate due to the low content of the useful substance, the high depth of the occurrence, features of the working conditions, etc., but which in the future can be developed.
A group of industrial production resources includes all types of natural raw materials used by industry. In connection with the multi-sectoral nature of industrial production, the types of natural resources are differentiated as follows:
energy, which include a variety of resources used at the present stage for energy production:
combustible minerals (oil, gas, coal, bituminous slates, etc.)
hydroenergoresurs (river water, tidal energy, etc.);
sources of bioenergy (fuel wood, biogas from agricultural waste.);
sources of nuclear energy (uranium and radioactive elements).
Neenergetic resources representing raw materials for various industries or manufacturing participating in accordance with its technical features:
minerals that are not related to the caustobiolite group (ore and non-metallic);
water used for industrial production;
land employed by industrial facilities and infrastructure facilities;
forest resources of industrial significance;
biological resources of industrial significance.
Agricultural resources combine those types of resources that are involved in the creation of agricultural products:
agroclimatic heat and moisture resources necessary for the production of cultivated plants and grazing;
soil-land - the land and its top layer - soil, which has a unique property to produce biomass;
vegetable biological resources - feed resources;
water resources - water used for irrigation, etc.
The resources of the non-productive sphere (non-productive consumption - direct or indirect) include the resources taken from the natural environment (wild animals representing the objects of fishing hunting, drug raw materials of natural origin), as well as resources of recreational economy, protected areas, etc.
Connection of natural I. economic classifications Allows you to identify the possibility of multidirectional use of various natural resources groups, as well as their replacement, draw conclusions about the tasks of rational use and protection of individual species. By relationships of use, there is the following classification:
resources of unambiguous use;
multipurpose resources, incl. Interconnected (integrated) use (water resources) mutually exclusive (competing) use (land resources).
Other groups of natural resources can be distinguished. For example, sources of homogeneous resources (mineral deposits, land, land bases, etc.) are divided by the magnitude of stocks and economic significance. Conditionally allocate:
the largest (nationwide),
large (interdistrict and regional meanings),
small (local values).
Private classifications of natural resources are also being developed, reflecting the specifics of their natural properties and directions of economic use. An example of this kind serve various landlocative classifications, groups of rivers in the degree of regulation of flow and others. The geological and economic classification of minerals in the main directions of their use in industry are widely used:
fuel and energy raw materials (oil, gas, coal, uranium, etc.);
black, alloying and refractory metals (iron, manganese, chromium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, etc.);
noble metals (gold, silver, platinumoids),
chemical and agronomic raw materials (potash salts, phosphorites, apatites, etc.);
technical raw materials (diamonds, asbestos, graphite, etc.).
IN market conditions The farms of practical interest acquires the classification of natural resources, taking into account, in particular, the nature of trade in natural raw materials. For example, you can allocate:
resources that have strategic importance, which should be limited, as it leads to undermining the defense relics of the state (uranium ore, etc. Radioactive substances);
resources having a wide export value and ensuring the main flow of currency revenues (oil, diamonds, gold, etc.);
resources of the domestic market, which are usually ubiquitous, for example, mineral raw materials, etc.
According to sources of origin, resources are divided into biological, mineral and energy.
Biological resources are all living medium-forming components of the biosphere: producers, consversions and relegates with genetic material concluded in them (Reimers, 1990). They are sources of manufacturing material and spiritual benefits. These include commercial facilities, cultivated plants, pets, picturesque landscapes, microorganisms, i.e., here include plant resources, resources of the animal world, etc., genetic resources are of particular importance.
Mineral resources are all suitable for use of real components of the lithosphere used in the farm as mineral raw materials or energy sources. Mineral raw materials may be ore, if metals are extracted from it, and nonmetallic, if non-metallic components (phosphorus, etc.) are extracted or used as building materials.
Energy resources are called the totality of the energy of the Sun and space, atomic energy, fuel and energy, thermal and other energy sources.
The second feature, according to which resources class is classified - on the use of them in production. This includes the following resources:
Land Fund - all lands within the country and world, which are part of their appointment in the following categories: Agricultural, settlements, non-agricultural purposes (industry, transport, mining workings, etc.). World land fund - 13.4 billion hectares.
Forest Fund - part of the land Fund, which grows or may grow, highlighted for agriculture and the organization of specially protected natural territories; It is part of biological resources;
Water resources - the amount of underground and surface waters that can be used for various purposes in the economy (of special importance of freshwater resources, the main source of which are river water);
Hydropower resources - those that can give the river, tidal and tidy activity of the ocean, etc.;
Fauna resources - the number of water inhabitants, forests, shallow, which can use a person without disturbing ecological equilibrium;
Minerals (ore, non-metallic, fuel and energy resources) - the natural accumulation of minerals in the earth's crust, which can be used in the economy, and the accumulation of minerals forms their deposits, the reserves of which should be of industrial importance.
From an environmental point of view, the classification of resources on the third basis is important - according to the degree of degrees. The exhaustion of natural resources from environmental positions is the inconsistency between the safe norms of the withdrawal of the natural resource from natural systems and the subsoil, and the needs of humanity (countries, the region, enterprises, etc.).
Inexhaustible resources - directly solar energy and natural forces caused by it, for example, wind and tides exist forever and in unlimited quantities.
Exhausted resources have quantitative restrictions, but some of them can be renewed if there is natural capabilities or even with the help of a person (artificial water purification, air, an increase in soil fertility, restoration of wildlife livestock, etc.). However, a very important group of resources is not renewed. These include such relics of the ancient biospheres, as fuel and iron ore, as well as a number of ores of metals of an internal (endogenous) origin. All of them have limited reserves in the lithosphere. These resources are finite and not renewed.
Currently, humanity is available to climatic and space resources, the resources of the World Ocean and continents. The quantitative consumption is constantly growing, their "assortment" is growing, often without regard to resource-based availability.
Used Books
Akimova T.A., Khuskin V.V. Ecology. Tutorial. -M.: Doniti, 2005.
Novikov Yu.V. Ecology, environment and man. M., 2001.
Natural resources are various material substances and forces of nature.
They can act as a means of labor, sources of raw materials, energy and as consumption items.
Classification of natural resources.
The classification of natural resources is based on three traits.
By sources of origin Natural resources can be biological, mineral or energy.
By accessories to one or another components of nature Land Fund, Forest Fund, Water Resources, Energy Resources, Living Resources, Minerals.
By degree of degrees Eliminate inexhaustible resources (space and climatic resources - air, precipitation, solar radiation, wind energy, sea tides and sings, etc.), and exhausted, which are divided into renewable and renewable.
Renewablebiological resources (animals and plants) are considered if the activity did not deprive their ability to reproduce, and some minerals, such as salts, besieged in lags and marine lagoons. Their renewal comes from different speed. The spending rate of renewable resources should not exceed the pace of their recovery, otherwise they will quickly become renewable.
Renewableare the majority of mineral resources - ores, clays, sands, oil, gas, rare earth elements, etc. If we speak more precisely - they can be restored, but for long geological eras. That is, much slower than their use of human use in a foreseeable period of time. Basically, it is wealth of subsoil, or minerals. Their protection lies in a careful rational integrated use with the smallest loss, as well as the search for a substitute.
The current state of the most important natural resources for humans.
- Mineral and energy resources of the ocean.
The ocean mineral resources include various solid, liquid and gaseous natural substances in such a form that allows them to be economically beneficial to extract them at the moment or in the future as an industrial or energy raw material. Mineral resources are either in a dissolved state in sea water, or in the form of sediments on the seabed.
- Land resources.
Soil is the main wealth that the existence of man depends on
The soil arose as a result of the effects of organisms, the atmosphere and natural waters on the surface of rocks in a variety of climate and terrain relief in the conditions of earthly gravity.
On the total area of \u200b\u200bthe planet, which is 510 million square meters, 29.2% falls on the share of sushi, that is, the land foundation is 149 million square meters.
The ratio of the most meaningful categories Lands in the Land Fund Planet:
3.Shole resources .
Forests play a crucial role in the preservation of water and land resources, in improving the surrounding seats.
Their functions:
Traceable;
Soil protection (anti-erosion);
Climate-forming.
They define biogeochemical cycles, participating in the process of photosynthesis.
The average forestry of our planet is 27%.
Forests, especially in developing countries, are predatory, exploited.
So, in Africa, more than 1/3 has already disappeared, in Asia - more than 2/5 of the original forest area. The rate of destruction of tropical forests is now 7 times higher than 50 years ago.
In addition, many forests are annually destroyed by forest fires, more often natural or by negligence, but sometimes deliberate.
We remind you that 40 million tons of wood are burned on the planet every year. Observations from space show that in Siberia at the place of cutting the terrain occurs.
4.Wurts subsoil (minerals).
Subsorate resources, or fossil resources refer to the category of non-renovable. The general reserves on the planet are reduced as much. The process of their recovery goes so slowly that in the short historical period it is almost impaired. In most cases, fossil resources as a fuel base and as raw materials for industrial production.
It is 75% of raw materials for the chemical industry, 85% - for electric power industry.
In 100% of mineral resources, color and black metallurgy, the nuclear industry and the production of building materials
Information about the explored and final reserves of some minerals of our planet (years of consumption):
According to scientists forecasts, by 2050 there are almost all economically cost-effective reserves of combustible organic fossils - coal, oil, gas, will be exhausted. This is especially true of oil and gas.
It is known that the burning of all types of fuels is accompanied by intensive pollution of the environment and entering the atmosphere of a huge amount of carbon dioxide, therefore the search for new sources of energy and new methods of its production is constantly being.
IN lately Increasingly talking about the energy crisis on the planet. According to the estimates of scientists of the explored reserves of organic fuel (coal, oil and gas), there is enough relatively for a while (oil - for 35 years, gas for 50 years, less used and environmentally friendly "dirty" coal - for 425 years). On the other hand, the average annual pace of energy consumption on the planet is falling and there are still many undiluted inventories of organic fuel, including at the bottom of the seas and oceans. Nevertheless, with ecological positions, humanity is already more profitable to switch to the use of environmentally friendly and relatively inexhaustible sources of energy, such as nuclear, solar, wind and dr.
- Others, including alternative energy sources.
Hydropower. The prospects for this direction are not very optimistic. The fact is that the construction of hydrostations adversely affects the natural environment: forcedly created biologically low-productive reservoirs cause flooding of adjacent, often fertile territories, change the terrain and climate, violated natural roads valuable species passing fish, in particular, sturgeon, salmon and carp, on their traditional spawning.
Prospects for nuclear power.
Of course, in principle, the development of atomic energy for humanity is necessary.
Economically the developed countries Investmental funds in the construction of safe NPPs and develop their nuclear power on this basis. There are no such funds from countries with such funds yet, there are still a number of stations built on the Chernobyl NPP technology (for example, the Ignalin NPP in Lithuania). As the economies of such countries develop and at the request of the world community, the old stations will be closed and can be conserved, but the construction of modernized NPPs will be launched, alternative energy will develop strongly.
Other alternative renewable energy sources.
This includes, above all, helium, wind power and hydrothermal
energy.
6.Reurry atmosphere.
The atmosphere has a lot of about one velomillion lobe from the mass of the Earth. However, the climatic, geophysical and environmental role of the atmosphere is enormous.
It defines the overall climatic mode of the earth's surface, protects it from harmful cosmic radiation, the dynamics of winds determines the flow of water in the oceans, seas and freshwater reservoirs.
The precipitation, humidity and air temperature determines the state of the soil and hydrosphere, and through them affects the economic relief process.
The air is the most important prerequisite Life existence on earth.
The modern gas composition of the atmosphere, as well as the chemical composition of the water in the ocean - the result of the long historical development of our planet. The main components of atmospheric air - nitrogen (78.1%), oxygen (21%) and water pairs. All 280 trillion tons of atmospheric oxygen - biogenic origin. As a result of technogenic pollution into the atmosphere, such gases like carbon oxide, or carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons, for example, methane (CH 4), isolated during the decomposition of organic residues, and many other pollutants entering the atmosphere as technical products Civilization.
Although the atmospheric air refers to the categories of inexhaustible natural resources, but changes in its composition in separate areas, especially over industrial centers, are so strong that high-quality exhaustion occurs, as if the "exhaustion" of this resource.
Therefore, in environmental practice, the atmospheric air is viewed as a resource, the resumption of which must be constantly taken care, supporting the atmosphere favorable for life.
- Fresh water resources.
Water is one of the main components of life on Earth. It is used by a person for drinking needs, in agriculture, as raw materials for energy production, in various industrial production, for shipping, forestlava, aquaculture, etc. Water on Earth is constantly in the cycle, spent and restored.
the total margin of fresh water on Earth in what is the time of time is estimated at 2120 ccm, but due to the continuous circulation, the annual volume of freshwater is about 23 times more and amounts to about 47 thousand cubic meters.
Freshwater is spread over continents unevenly. Most of all it is in South America (1000 cubic meters), in Asia (565 cubic meters). Less - in North America (250 cubic meters), Africa (195 cubic meters), Europe (80 cubic meters) and Australia with Oceania (25 cubic meters).
Of the countries are most provided with fresh water Brazil. Annual stock Amazon
it is 6930 cubic meters per year, which is almost 1.5 times higher than the drain of all rivers on the territory of the former USSR. In Russia, the main supply of fresh water is concentrated in Lake Baikal (23 thousand cubic meters), which is 80% of freshwater reserves of the CIS and 20% of world stocks.
8.Rears of fertile lands.
Every year, 6-11 million hectares of land deserted in the world. The total area of \u200b\u200bthe used lands has already decreased from 4.5 to 2.5 billion hectares. Anthropogenic desert area on the planet is estimated at more than 13 million square meters. Only one sugar went up for 60 years by 700 thousand square meters. (70 mln). The commercial sugar is expanding 1.5-10 km, daily - by 5-30 m. So, for example, 3 thousand years BC On the site of the Sahara was savanna with a developed river system, then it happened. The following types of erosions are also caused harm to the soil cover: 12% of Africa's water erosion covered, only 20-40 tons of soil cover with ha) are washed off per season, erosion under the influence of excessive livestock density and re-paint and erosion as a result of forest information. Under the influence of erosion different types Soils in Africa by the end of the twentieth century will be reduced by 20%, further desertification will occur, as in Latin America, South Asia, Kazakhstan and the Volga region.
Live, or biological resources.
As we already know, the biomass of the organisms living on earth are approximately 2423 billion, of which 99.9% (2420 billion tons) falls on the share of sushi organisms and only about 0.1% (3 billion tons) - on The share of the inhabitants of the aqueous medium (hydrobionts).
Of the 2732 thousand types of living organisms of our planet - 2274 thousand species of animals,
and 352 thousand species of plants (the rest is mushrooms and a shotgun).
Vegetation
On land, about 99.2% of the total biomass falls on the proportion of vegetation, which has the property of photosynthesis, and only 0.8% - to the share of animals and microorganisms.
In total, the biosphere of the "living matter" is only 0.25% of the mass of the entire biosphere and 0.01% of the mass of the entire planet.
A person uses for its purposes only about 3% of the annual productivity of the sushi phytomass, and from this amount only 10% is transformed into food. According to various estimates, even with modern agricultural engineering, our planet's resources will allow forging more than 15 billion (according to other estimates - up to 40 billion) people.
To solve the food problem, which we have already spoken in other gears, a person uses methods of chemicalization, land reclamation, selection and genetics, biotechnology. Vegetation is also an inexhaustible source of various drugs, used in textile industry, in the construction, furniture manufacturing and various items. Special role Forest resources playing about which we spoke somewhat earlier.
There is a process of extinction of certain types of vegetation. Plants disappear where ecosystems die or transform or transform. On average, each disappeared plant type will carry more than 5 kinds of invertebrate animals.
Animal world.
This is the most important part of the planet's biosphere, numbering about 2274 thousand species of living organisms. Fauna is necessary for the normal functioning of the entire biosphere and cyphans of substances in nature.
Many animal species are used as food, or in pharmaceutical purposes, as well as for the manufacture of clothing, shoes and manufacture of handicrafts. Many of the animals are friends of a person, ledge objects, breeding and genetics (dogs, cats, etc.).
The animal world belongs to the group of exhausted renewed natural resources, but a targeted extermination by a person of certain animal species led to the fact that some of them can be considered exhausted non-renewable resources.
Over the past 370 years, 130 species of birds and mammals have disappeared from the fauna of the Earth. The rate of extinction continuously increased, especially in the last 2 century. Now the extinction faces approximately 1 thousand types of birds and mammals.
Great harm also applies sports hunting, unregulated amateur fishing and poaching. Many animals are killed because of the allegedly high medicinal value of individual parts of their body or organs. In addition to direct animal destruction, a person has an indirect influence on them - changes the natural environment, changes the composition and structure of natural communities and ecosystems.
Thus, reducing forest area in Europe led forests in Europe led to the disappearance of many small animals here. The hydrostralization on the rivers of the European part of the USSR led to a change in the regime and the composition of the fauna of the South European and East Asian seas - the Black, Azov, Caspian and Aralsky.
Summarizing can be unambiguously approved - humanity in the 21st century it is necessary to reconsider its attitude to environment, not too late. Earth gives the last chance ...
"Comment from a specialist"
Every year about one hundred billion tons of resources, including fuel, and ninety billions of which are subsequently transformed into waste from the subsoil of the Earth. Therefore, the issue of resource saving in our days has become very relevant. If only twenty-chemical elements of the Mendeleev table used at the beginning of the last century, then in our time more ninety. Over the past four decades, resources consumption have increased twenty-five times, and the amount of production waste has been a hundred times
The rational use of natural resources is the most important problem of modern society. The development of progress in science and technology is accompanied by a negative impact on nature. Natural conditions are what person cannot affect, a climate can be brought here as an example. Natural resources are the phenomena of nature or objects used to meet the material needs of society or for the production that promote the creation and maintenance of the conditions necessary for the existence of humanity, as well as to increase living standards. The rational use of natural resources is a consequence of their reasonable study, which prevents the possibility of the malicious consequences of the human activity, increases and maintains the productivity of natural complexes and objects of nature. Parviz Akilov
"This publication / program has been prepared with the support of European Union. The content of this publication is the subject of the responsibility of Farrum Fayzulloeva and does not reflect the view of the European Union. "
Part of the geographic shell with which humanity interacts in the process of its livelihood is called Natural environment. Natural environment- Natural conditions plus natural resources. - These are the components and properties of nature, directly or indirectly associated with the economic activity of a person. Historically, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe ratio of natural conditions and natural resources has changed. The trend is as follows: an increasing number of components of nature is involved in human economic activity and thus becomes natural resources.
There are various classifications of natural resources. According to the principle of exhaustionall natural resources are customary to divide on Exhausted and inexhaustible. To inexhaustible natural Resources include water, air, some energy sources: thermonuclear, solar, as well as wind energy, falling water, tides and sings. Exhausable resourcesdivided into renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable resources - Such reserves of which can be exhausted in the near future at the existing pace of use. Non-renewable resources include almost all minerals. Stocks renewable resourcesrestored faster than those used, or do not depend on whether they are used or not. The renewable group includes forest, fish, fishing and hunting resources, soil fertility. Many resources that are related to renewable, in reality will ever be exhausted and will not restore. For example, solar energy. And vice versa, some non-renewable resources can be restored due to modern technologies. For example, metals can be reused.
Many types of mineral resources are depleted. Based on accounting for resource development, Scientists calculated the timing of human security by various metals.So, aluminum is enough for 570 years, iron - by 250, lead, zinc, tin, copper - for 30 years. According to some estimates by 2050, humanity spends most of the metals. Approximately 150 years there will be enough chemical energy carriers - coal, oil and gas, and earlier than others will be exhausted oil reserves. In such conditions, the task of integrated use of mineral resources is acute. At the same time, raw materials are not only saved, but also prevents pollution of nature by waste production. In the mining of minerals, some of them for one reason or another remains underground and the other field begins to be mastered. For example, in a century and history of the world oil industry More than 20 billion tone of oil was mined, while about 60 billion tons were left in the depths of the Earth. Therefore, from the position of the economical use of resources, the most complete extracts from the depths are important.
Biological resources are associated with a phenomenon of life and therefore, like all living things, can multiply, and therefore recovery. At the same time, the basic condition for the rational use of biological resources is a clear observance of the scientifically informed rules of their production. Recently, attempts to reproduce some renewable resources (fishing, forest stations, land reclamation) are made.
Water and air belong to quantitatively inexhaustible resources, but their quality exhausted, so their rational use implies protection against pollution. At the same time, the construction of a variety claimed facilities Does not solve the problem. More importantly, the integrated use of resources, the improvement of production processes, the development of waste-free and low-waste technologies. Thermonuclear energy, alternative energy sources are truly inexhaustible resources, but at this stage of the development of production forces only at the expense of them it is impossible to meet the needs of humanity in various types of energy.
By the nature of the use of the useful component, natural resources are divided into Production (industrial, agricultural), potentially promising, recreational (natural complexes and their components, cultural and historical sights, economic potential territory).
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Natural resources are objects, processes and conditions of nature used by society to meet the material and spiritual needs of people. Natural resources are divided into:
- - recipable and unacceptable;
- - renewable and non-renewable;
- - replaceable and indispensable;
- - Restored and unstable.
Natural resources include: Minerals, energy sources, soil, waterways and reservoirs, minerals, forests, wild plants, animal world Sushi and water area, gene pool of cultivated plants and pets, picturesque landscapes, wellness zones, etc.
The person learned how to use natural resources for the benefit, but the discovery of new opportunities to use natural resources is infinite. The whole nature of nature has on human health.
Waving, medicinal treatment and other options for using natural resources today, in the age of chemistry - are becoming more and more relevant.
1) mineral resources (a. Mineral Resources; N. MineralressourCen, Mineralische RESSOURCEN; F. Ressources Minerales; and. Recursos Minerales) - a set of minerals identified in the depths of individual regions, countries, continents, the bottom of the oceans or land as a whole, available and suitable for Industrial use and, as a rule, quantitatively valued by geological research and geological exploration. Mineral resources are non-renewable natural resources. Part of mineral resources prepared for the development are called a mineral resource base.
The concept of mineral resources has several aspects. In the mining and geological aspect, mineral resources are a set of different minerals identified in depths (deposits) of various minerals in which the chemical elements and minerals formed are in sharply increased concentrations compared with Clark content in the earth's crust ensuring the possibility of their industrial use. In the economic aspect, mineral resources serve as the raw material basis for the development of the most important industrial production industries (energy, fuel industry, black and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical industry, construction), as well as a possible object of international cooperation. In the context of capitalist society, mineral resources may be one of the reasons for international conflicts caused by the struggle of capitalist states for the seizure of the richest sources of mineral raw materials. Natural Resource Land Forest
By areas of use, mineral resources are divided into fuel and energy (oil, natural gas, coals, combustible shale, peat, uranium ores); ore of ferrous metals (iron, manganese, chromium, etc.); Ore colored and alloying metals (aluminum, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum, tin, antimony, mercury, etc.); ores of rare and noble metals; Mining and chemical (phosphorites, apatites, stone, potash and magnesial salts, sulfur and its compounds, boric ores, bromine and iodine-containing solutions, barite, fluorite, etc.); precious and diverse stones; Nonet industrial raw materials (mica, graphite, asbestos, talc, quartz, etc.); Nonmetallic building materials (cement and glass raw materials, marbles, slate shale, clay, tuffs, basalt, granite); Hydromineral (underground fresh and mineralized water, incl. Balneological, thermal, etc.). The classification given is conditional, because The industrial use areas of some minerals can be diverse, for example, oil and gas are also raw materials for the chemical industry, limestone and other carbonate rocks - raw materials for metallurgical production, chemical industry and building materials industry.
The concept of mineral resources varies in time and depends on the level of development of society, on the needs of production, as well as on the level of technology and the opportunities of the economy. Natural minerals are becoming mineral resources Only after the need for them also appears and there are methods for their practical use. The higher the technical armediation, the wider the assortment of minerals and more new types of mineral raw materials is involved in industrial production. For example, stone coal has become a mineral resource, which has an industrial importance, only since the end of the 17th century, oil from the middle of the 19th century; ores of aluminum, magnesium, chromium and rare elements, potash salts and others - from the late 19th - early 20 centuries; Uranium ores - from the mid-20th century. For the history of mastering mineral resources, see Art. Mining.
The spatial distribution of mineral resources in the depths of the Earth as a whole, as well as individual continents and countries is characterized by unevenness (see Card).
Over 80% of the explored coal reserves of industrialized and developing countries are concentrated in the depths of the five capitalist countries - the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Australia and South Africa, 87% of manganese ores in South Africa and Australia, 86% of potash salts in Canada. A significant part of the mineral resources of many of the most important types of minerals is focused on the depths of developing countries (Fig. 1).
As a rule, mineral resources are quantitatively evaluated by mineral reserves and forecast resources. In the mineral resource balance of the world, as well as in the balance of individual countries, over 70-80% of the reserves of each type of mineral resources are accounted for by a relatively small number of large deposits and giant fields, the rest are focused on medium and numerous small deposits. On the industrial value and size of mineral reserves, it is conventionally distinguished by: unique deposits that are of great importance in world stocks of the planet as a whole; large - in stocks of large in the territory and secured by mineral resources of countries; Middle - in stocks of medium and small countries or individual regions of large countries; Small and small - in reserves of small countries or individual areas and enterprises. Data on the reserves of certain types of minerals by continents are given in Table., And their distribution by country - in articles on certain types of minerals and states.
Long existing mining areas, territories of socialist and industrialized capitalist countries, to a lesser extent, the territory of developing countries in Africa and Asia, some areas of Latin America, as well as the Ministry of Ocean are most developed. Despite the exhaustion of the long-term exploited deposits and reducing the explored mineral reserves in some countries, the production levels achieved in the world in the early 80s are provided for a long time.
2) Water Resources, Veda in a liquid, solid and gaseous state and their distribution on Earth. They are in natural water bodies on the surface (in the oceans, rivers, lakes and swamps); in depths (groundwater); in all plants and animals; as well as in artificial water bodies (reservoirs, channels, etc.).
Water is the only substance that is present in nature in a liquid, solid and gaseous states. The value of liquid water varies significantly depending on the location and application possibilities. Freshwater is widely used than salty. Over 97% of all the water is concentrated in the oceans and inland seas. OK. 2% accounted for the share of freshwater enclosed in the coating and mountain glaciers, and only less than 1% - on the share of freshwater lakes and rivers, underground and soil.
Water, the most common connection on Earth, has unique chemical and physical properties. Since it easily dissolves mineral salts, living organisms with it absorb nutrients without any significant changes in their own chemical composition. Thus, water is necessary for the normal vital activity of all living organisms. The water molecule consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Its molecular weight is only 18, and the boiling point reaches 100 ° C at atmospheric pressure of 760 mm Hg. Art. On the brutal heights, where the pressure is lower than at the level of the sea, water boils at lower temperatures. When water freezes, its volume increases by more than 11%, and the expanding ice can break the tap pipes and bridge and destroy rock rocks, turning them into a loose soil. The ice density is inferior to liquid water, which explains its buoyancy.
Water also has unique thermal properties. When its temperature decreases to 0 ° C and it freezes, then 79 feces are released from each gram of water. With night freezers, farmers sometimes spray gardens with water to protect buds from frost damage. When condensation of a water vapor, each gram gives 540 kills. This heat can be used in heating systems. Due to the high heat capacity, water absorbs a large amount of heat without temperature.
Use of water resources last years Due to economic destabilization, which led to the fall of the production of industrial products, a decrease in the productivity of agriculture and a reduction in irrigated areas, in Russia there has been a decrease in water consumption volumes (for 1991-1995 fresh water - by 20.6%, marine - by 13.4 %). The structure of the use of fresh water changed: water consumption for production needs decreased by 4% (from 53% in 1991 to 49% in 1995), irrigation and flood - by 3% (from 19 to 16%), at the same time The share of economic and drinking water increased by 4% (from 16 to 20%).
By 1997, the amount of fresh water was made up in Russia, 75780.4 million m3 / year, maritime - 4975.9 million m3 / year.
3) forest resources
About 4 billion hectares of land occupied on our planet forests (about 30% sushi). Two forest belts are clearly traced: the northern (forests with the predominance of coniferous tree breeds) and the southern (97% consisting of deciduous forests are mainly wet equatorial and tropical forests of developing countries).
Over the past 200 years, the forest area in the world has decreased by 2 times. The destruction of forests with such pace will have catastrophic consequences for the whole world, as the flow of oxygen is reduced into the atmosphere, the "greenhouse effect" is enhanced, the climate on the planet changes.
The largest forest area has been preserved in Asia and South America, the smallest - in Australia. However, the size of the continents of unequal, so it is important to consider the exponentialness of the forestry (the ratio of the forestry area and the total area of \u200b\u200bthe region), as well as the size of wood reserves and the area of \u200b\u200bthe forest surface per 1 inhabitant.
According to stocks of wood, leading positions occupy Russia (75 billion m3), Brazil, Canada, USA; And in the size of wood paint areas - Russia, Brazil, Canada, USA, China, Indonesia, Colombia, India. In terms of forest science, French Guiana, Surinames (forests are common to more than 90% of the country's territory), Guyana, Gabon (over 80%), Malaysia, Japan, Myanmar, Indonesia, Ecuador, Laos (over 60%), as well as Finland, Sweden. Forestability in Russia is 45%, in Brazil - about 60%.
Countries with extensive forest arrays are located in the natural zone of tropical forests and the forests of moderate belt. The least of the whole forests among the states located between the Northern and South Forests, as well as countries characterized by an arid climate and deserted landscapes. Practically flames are Bahrain, Qatar, Libya, Chad, Egypt, UAE, etc.
A very serious global problem is the problem of reducing forest cover. The forests of the Northern Forest belt in economically developed countries were subjected to intensive destruction in the past, but then the forest cover was in more than Restored (forest stitch). In some countries where government biosphere conservation programs are conducted, the growth of wood began to exceed the volume of its deforestation. And the main cause of forest loss and reduce its quality in developed countries in recent decades has become acid rains (from air pollution). According to experts, total area The affected forests is about 30 million hectares.
In developing countries, forests are cut down under arable land and pastures, and also wood of the most valuable breeds are exported to developed countries. Wood remains also the main energy carrier - 70% of the total population of developing countries use wood as fuel when cooking 104 food and housing heating. In this case, the provision of forest resources in these countries is different and often small.
Among the main reasons for the reduction of forest resources of the world, the following can be noted:
- - Forests are cut down to expand agricultural land, as well as areas for construction industrial facilities, cities, transport communications, etc.;
- - Wood is a high-quality building material;
- - from various trees made furniture, toys, paper, pencils, matches, etc.;
- - wood is used as fuel;
- - forests are reduced and degraded from air pollution and soil.
For many centuries, the reduction of forest areas on the planet practically did not prevent the progress of mankind. However, from recently, this process began to adversely affect the economic and environmental state of many countries. And although about 30% of the sushi of the Planet Earth is still covered with woody vegetation, forest protection and reforestation work is necessary for the further existence of humanity.
4) Land resources of the world - These are agricultural land and other land (or otherwise sections of the Earth), which are used or can be used at a given level of development of the Company's productive forces in many industries (rural, forestry, water management, construction of settlements, roads, etc. d.).
Due to the rapid growth of the population and its irrational economic activities, which is an expression in the annual loss of 6--7 million ha of productive soils, the provision of human rights by land resources is rapidly decreasing. The land area per person per person is reduced annually by 2%, and the area of \u200b\u200bproductive land - by 6--7% in view of the growing anthropogenic load on land resources and degradation of soil cover.
Among land resources, three large groups can be distinguished: 1) productive lands; 2) low-productive lands; 3) unproductive. Productive land resources include arable land, gardens and plantations, meadows and pastures, forests and shrubs; To the low-productive - the lands of tundra and forest tundra, swamps, desert; A group of unproductive land is included and disturbed by man, sands, ravines, glaciers and snowballs.
Each continent and each country have its own specifics of land resources and their geography. Nowadays, the use of land is very dynamically and the overall pattern of spreading anthropogenic landscapes is constantly changing. A peculiar land use also has each landscape-geographical belt of the Earth.
To the share of the processed lands in foreign Europe There are 30% of land resources, and about 10% in the European part of Russia. In agricultural use, the soil of large forests of a moderate belt and evergreen forests of subtropics, gray forest soils and black soils of the steppes were involved.
In Africa, the main use of land uses are pastures (27% of the territory). In many parts of Africa, plow agriculture and field breeding are absent due to historical causes and colonial past. In the wet-forest belt dominates the gravy-fire system of agriculture with a honey processing of small plots. Field agricults are common on the northern and southern outskirts of Africa and in Ethiopia. Because of the presence of the Tsetz fly in Equatorial Africa, the watersheds, and the valleys, the refuge of the Tsetz fly, are almost deserted and are occupied by gallery forests. Huge territories in Africa belong to the category of other land (44%), which are represented by deserts.
Currently, the trend in changing the world's land resources, expressed in the occurrence of urban and rural territories and mining and industrial and transport complexes on arable land, which in turn expand at the expense of pastures, and the latter areas are growing at the expense of forests and deserts. In the US, for example, from expanding cities, 350 thousand hectares of Pashny is lost annually. Hence the constant reduction in forest area on Earth: over the past 300 years, a decrease in more than half. Hence the growth of the desert.
