Natural Resource Dynamics and Environmental Challenges
Genesis of Environmental Problems
Natural Resource (RR.NN.) Offer:
- Laws and natural dynamics
- Resilience
- Adaptability
Company Demand:
- Scale of values
- Scale of ambition
- Development proposals
- Population pressure
The Environmental Offer
The Environmental Offer consists of all the natural resources (RR.NN.) that nature provides to us. This offer is defined by several key factors:
- Types or classes of resources: This includes diversity levels ranging from homogeneous to heterogeneous, and high to low diversity.
- Quantity: Resources are classified as abundant, deficient, or sufficient.
- Fitness potential (quality): The capacity of a resource to serve a purpose, which is determined by its current state and tendencies.
- Instructions for use: Potential applications such as agriculture, grazing, recreation, and more.
- Handling: The specific technologies used to exploit natural resources.
- Distribution: The spatial and temporal availability of resources.
Environmental Demands
Environmental demand represents how society acts in pursuit of its needs. Development proposals are heavily dependent on the policies of individual countries. The nature of social distribution is a function of two primary political dynamics:
- Systems where rulers act according to their own will (often seen in underdeveloped countries).
- Systems where the community commands or requests and the government provides (often seen in developed countries).
Dialectical Conflict
Conflicts often emerge from these dynamics, such as the water problems in Ica. The demand for resources is a function of the level of knowledge, technology, and population size, as well as the specific forms and types of use.
The intensity of use of a specific natural resource can generate a high demand for that resource while simultaneously wasting the potential of other environmental resources. Furthermore, demand depends on the spatial and temporal distribution of the population.
The Problem of Natural Resources (RR.NN.)
The demand for resources is a function of the level of knowledge, technology, and the number of people, as well as the forms and types of resource use. The intensity of use of a natural resource can generate a high demand for some resources while wasting the potential of other environmental resources. This demand is intrinsically linked to the temporal and spatial distribution of populations.
Classification of Environmental Problems
Environmental problems are often identified through conflict, diseases, injuries, and damage. They can be categorized as follows:
1. Exhaustion of Natural Resources
This occurs through two primary methods:
- By Process: Through the direct exploitation of minerals, oil, gas, and other materials.
- By Degradation: Through the loss of the resource's potential use.
2. Natural Disasters
These consist of various imbalances and changes that occur in nature, such as droughts, pests, landslides, and similar events.
3. Psycho-Social Predation
This factor depends on the specific areas where species live or develop.
4. Contamination
This involves negative alterations to the biological, chemical, and physical aspects of a geographical space or ecosystem. Contamination can be partial, temporary, or reversible.