The nature of the relationship between nature and man has changed over the course of history. For the first time, people began to seriously think about rational nature management somewhere in the middle of the 20th century. It was at this time that anthropogenic pressure on the environment became maximum. What is rational environmental management and what are its principles - this will be discussed in this article.

The essence of the concept of "nature use"

This term has two interpretations. According to the first, nature management is understood as a set of measures for the use of natural resources in order to meet economic, industrial, health-improving or other human needs.

The second interpretation provides for the definition of the concept of "nature management" as a scientific discipline. That is, it is, in fact, a theoretical science that studies and evaluates the process of human use of natural resources, as well as developing ways to optimize it.

Today it is customary to single out rational and irrational nature management. We will talk about them further, focusing on the first type. To fully understand what environmental management is, one should also understand what types of natural resources are.

Classification of natural resources

Natural resources are understood as those objects (or phenomena) not created by man, which are used by him to satisfy a number of his needs. These include minerals, soils, flora and fauna, surface waters, etc.

All natural resources according to the nature of their use by man can be divided into the following classes:

• industrial;
• agricultural;
• scientific;
• recreational;
• medicinal, etc.

They are also divided into two large groups:

• inexhaustible (for example, solar energy, water);
• exhaustible (oil, natural gas, etc.).

The latter, in turn, are divided into renewable and non-renewable natural resources.

It should be noted that it is possible to attribute a particular resource to a certain group only conditionally. After all, even our Sun is not eternal and can "extinguish" at any time.

Rational nature management provides for the protection and competent use of all types of natural resources and components.

History of nature management

Relationships in the "man - nature" system were not always the same and changed over time. There are five periods (or milestones) during which the most important changes in this system of relations took place:

1. 30,000 years ago. At this time, a person completely adapted to the reality around him, being engaged in hunting, fishing and gathering.
2. About 7000 years ago - the stage of the agricultural revolution. It was at this time that the transition of a person from gathering and hunting to cultivating the land and cattle breeding begins. This period is characterized by the first attempts to transform landscapes.
3. The era of the Middle Ages (VIII-XVII centuries). During this period, the burden on the environment increases markedly, crafts are born.
4. About 300 years ago - the stage of the industrial revolution that began in Britain. The scale of human influence on nature is increasing many times, he is trying to fully adapt it to his needs.
5. The middle of the twentieth century is the stage of the scientific and technological revolution. At this time, relations in the "man - nature" system are qualitatively and strongly changing, and all environmental problems are becoming more acute.

Nature management rational and irrational

What does each of these concepts mean and what are their fundamental differences? It should be noted that rational and irrational nature management are two antipodes, terms. They completely contradict each other.

Rational nature management implies such a way of using the natural environment, in which the interaction in the "man - nature" system remains maximally harmonized. The main features of this type of relationship are:

• intensive management;
• application of the latest scientific achievements and developments;
• automation of all production processes;
• introduction of waste-free production technologies.

Rational nature management, examples of which we will give below, is more typical for economically developed countries of the world.

In turn, irrational nature management is understood as unreasonable, unsystematic and predatory use of that part of the natural resource potential, which is the most accessible. This behavior leads to the rapid depletion of natural resources.

The main features of this type of nature management are:

• lack of systematic and comprehensive development of a specific resource;
• a large amount of waste during production;
• extensive management;
• great harm to the environment.

Irrational nature management is most typical for the countries of Asia, Latin America and for some states of Eastern Europe.

A few examples

First, let's look at a few measures that can describe the rational use of natural resources. Examples of such activities include the following:

• recycling of waste, creation and improvement of non-waste technologies;
• the creation of natural reserves, national parks and nature reserves, in which the protection of the flora and fauna of the region is carried out at full speed (not in words, but in deeds);
• reclamation of territories that have suffered from the industrial development of subsoil, the creation of cultural landscapes.

In turn, we can give some of the most striking examples of the irrational attitude of man to nature. For example:

• mindless deforestation;
• poaching, that is, the extermination of certain (rare) species of animals and plants;
• release of untreated sewage, deliberate pollution of water and soil by industrial or domestic waste;
• predatory and aggressive development of available subsoil, etc.

Principles of rational nature management

For many decades, scientists and ecologists have been developing those principles and conditions that could help optimize the relationship between man and nature. The foundations of rational nature management lie, first of all, in efficient management, which does not provoke deep and serious changes in the environment. At the same time, natural resources are used as fully and systematically as possible.

It is possible to single out the main principles of rational nature management:

1. Minimum (so-called "zero level") human consumption of natural resources.
2. Correspondence of the volume of natural resource potential and anthropogenic load on the environment for a particular region.
3. Preservation of the integrity and normal functioning of ecosystems in the process of their production use.
4. The priority of the environmental factor over economic benefits in the long term (the principle of sustainable development of the region).
5. Coordination of economic cycles with natural ones.

Ways to implement these principles

Are there ways to implement these principles? Is it possible to solve all the problems of rational nature management in practice?

Ways and means of implementing the principles of nature management actually exist. They can be summarized in the following theses:

• deep and comprehensive study of the features and all the nuances of the development of natural resources;
• rational placement on the territory of industrial enterprises and complexes;
• development and implementation of effective regional management systems;
• determination of a set of environmental measures for each region;
• monitoring, as well as forecasting the consequences of a particular type of human economic activity.

Economics and ecology: correlation of concepts

These two concepts are closely related to each other. It is not for nothing that they have one root - "oikos", which means "house, dwelling" in translation. However, many still cannot realize that nature is our common and the only one house.

The concepts of "ecology" and "rational nature management" are almost identical. The so-called paradigms of ecological nature management can reveal them most intelligibly. There are three in total:

1. Minimization of human impact on nature in the process of using natural resources.
2. Optimal (full) use of a particular resource.
3. Making the most of a particular natural resource to improve the well-being of society.

Finally

Rational use of natural resources and nature protection are concepts that have become extremely important on the threshold of the new millennium. For the first time, mankind seriously thought about the consequences of its activities and about the future of our planet. And it is very important that theoretical principles and declarations do not diverge from real deeds. For this, it is necessary that every inhabitant of the Earth is aware of the importance of correct and rational environmental behavior.

nature management- 1) the use of the natural environment to meet the environmental, economic, cultural and health needs of society; 2) the science of the rational (for the corresponding historical moment) use of natural resources by society is a complex discipline that includes elements of the natural, social and technical sciences.

Nature management is divided into rational and irrational.

With rational nature management, the fullest possible satisfaction of the needs for material goods is carried out while maintaining the ecological balance and the possibilities of restoring the natural resource potential. The search for such an optimum of economic activity for a particular territory or object is an important applied task of the science of nature management. The achievement of this optimum is called "".

With irrational nature management, the ecological degradation of the territory and the irreversible exhaustion of the natural resource potential occur.

View document content
"Rational and irrational nature management"

Presentation prepared

biology teacher

MOU "Secondary School No. 5", Vsevolozhsk

Pavlova Tatyana Alexandrovna

• nature management is a set of measures taken by society to study, develop, transform and protect the environment.
• nature management- is the activity of human society, aimed at meeting their needs through the use of natural resources.

• According to the estimates of leading international organizations, there are about 10,000 large protected natural areas of all kinds in the world. The total number of national parks was close to 2000, and biosphere reserves - to 350.
• Taking into account the peculiarities of the regime and the status of nature protection institutions located on them, the following categories of these territories are usually distinguished: state nature reserves, including biosphere reserves; National parks; natural parks; state nature reserves; monuments of nature; dendrological parks and botanical gardens; health-improving areas and resorts.

Syktyvkar State University

Institute for the Humanities

Faculty of International Relations

Test

Discipline: "Ecology"

Topic: "Differences between rational and irrational nature management"

Completed by: Popov A.N., group 517

Checked by: Dorovskikh G.N.

Syktyvkar, 2014

Introduction

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

From the very first appearance, man began to develop natural resources in the context of his needs, whether it be animal or plant species. As man developed, he moved from an appropriating economy to a producing economy, that is, instead of being engaged in hunting or gathering, he discovered some patterns and subsequently, following these phenomena, began to produce means for his existence. Thus, man was able to domesticate a few animal species and cultivate many varieties of plants. It was from that moment that people began to provide their livelihood on their own.

However, in view of the depletion of soils, man faced the need to develop new fertile territories that would provide him with the same yield and feed for livestock as before. In connection with the emerging need, people began to move in search of favorable lands. Having found them, he faced another problem: now he needed to somehow protect himself from external conditions and adapt to environmental conditions, for which he needed to build a dwelling. This led to the massive development of forest resources. Wooden houses began to be built, which provided relative protection from the outside world and kept warm. But as a result, the large-scale use of wood as a resource also had a negative impact on the natural environment. It led to the problem of deforestation, which is still relevant today. However, the use of wood for construction was gradually reduced due to the introduction of various new materials such as stone or brick. But at the same time, wood was still widely used as a fuel for stoves. In rural areas, firewood is still the main source of heating, especially in winter.

Later, during the XVIII century. In connection with the intensive development of technology and the transport system in society, it became necessary to switch to qualitatively new resources, such as coal, natural gas and oil. This transition was marked by the fact that as these resources were developed, the further environmental situation in the world began to deteriorate, which in turn caused a number of problems in the environment. This was explained by the fact that at that time the level of scientific development was not high enough to organize ecological non-waste production, therefore, industrial and agricultural resources still remained not fully developed and could not be processed. In addition, due to the lack of processing, a person had to constantly develop more and more new deposits and deposits. Thus, the undeveloped resources accumulated over many years began to have a direct impact on the surrounding world of our planet.

The constant use of natural resources by man often had a negative impact on the environment and caused many environmental problems. In addition, wildlife for many centuries has been suffering from pollution by surplus that has not been processed and not included in production. And, although scientific progress has already reached sufficient development in the development of non-waste industries, many difficulties arise in the re-equipment of enterprises. The main reason for not implementing high-tech environmental production is the lack of adequate financial resources, thanks to which it would be possible to re-equip the plants. However, thanks to investment, one can already notice how such productions are being actively introduced, which makes it possible to rationally and more efficiently use natural resources.

Rational nature management

To consider all aspects of this concept, first you need to try to explain it. So, what is sustainable environmental management and what does it consist of?

Rational nature management is a production activity aimed at meeting human needs through the full exploitation of extracted resources: restoration of renewable natural resources is ensured and production waste is used, which in turn allows saving the environment. In other words, rational nature management is a non-waste, environmentally safe production aimed at meeting the needs of society.

The main goal of rational nature management is the scientifically based efficient use of natural resources, which contributes to the preservation of the natural environment to the maximum extent and to the minimum degree violates the ability of biogeocenoses to self-recovery. Therefore, rational nature management should be extremely beneficial both to the person himself and to all living things around. Firstly, it saves the environment from unprocessed excess production and the release of harmful substances into it, which is important for the health of any living organism; Fourth, it encourages the development of science and the emergence of new technologies.

So, rational environmental management allows you to protect nature from the negative impacts of production factors. How does it happen? In order to protect the external environment from the harmful effects of enterprises, it is necessary to optimize production and find such types of resources that could be used to the maximum by man and would cause relatively little damage to nature.

Relatively environmentally friendly nuclear power plants can serve as one of the examples of nature management. Unlike thermal power plants, nuclear power plants do not emit harmful substances into the atmosphere. The second advantage of nuclear power plants may be the lack of oxygen consumption, while thermal power plants consume about 8 million tons of oxygen per year for fuel oxidation. In addition, coal-fired power plants emit more radioactive substances into the environment than nuclear power plants. Another advantage of nuclear power plants is the removal of energy for heating and hot water supply of cities, which also makes it possible to reduce unproductive heat losses.

In addition, wave power plants can be another example. This type of power plant can serve as wave suppressors, protecting ports, coasts and harbors from destruction. In addition, wave power plants also save resources and are more profitable than wind power plants. They also protect the environment from harmful emissions.

Another type of ecological power plants is solar. Their main advantages, first of all, are the availability and inexhaustibility of an energy source in the face of a constant rise in prices for traditional types of energy carriers. In addition, at the current level of consumption, absolute safety for the outside world is an exceptional advantage.

Also, waste-free production can be the repeated use of water taken from rivers, lakes, boreholes and other sources in the technological process, since the used water is purified and re-participates in the production process without harming the environment.

Irrational nature management

Irrational nature management is a system of production in which easily accessible natural resources are developed on a large scale, while their rapid depletion occurs due to incomplete processing. Thus, a large amount of waste is distributed and environmental pollution occurs.

Such nature management is typical for the rapid development of the economy in the absence of a sufficiently developed scientific and technical potential, and although at first such activities can give good results, later they still lead to detrimental consequences in relation to the ecological environment.

An example of irrational use of natural resources is the campaign for the development of virgin lands in the USSR in 1955-1965. The reasons for the failure of this company were a number of factors: the development of virgin lands began without preparation in the absence of infrastructure - there were no roads, no granaries, no qualified personnel. The natural conditions of the steppes were also not taken into account: sandstorms and dry winds were not taken into account, there were no methods of soil cultivation and varieties of grain adapted to this type of climate.

It should be noted that the plowing of land was carried out at an accelerated pace and at huge costs. Thanks to such a colossal concentration of funds and people, as well as natural factors, the new lands in the early years gave super-high yields, and from the mid-1950s - from half to a third of all grain produced in the USSR. However, stability was never achieved: in lean years, it was hardly possible to collect a seed fund in the virgin lands. In addition, due to the violation of the ecological balance and soil erosion in 1962-1963. there were dust storms. One way or another, the development of virgin lands entered the stage of crisis, and the efficiency of cultivation decreased by 65%.

All these data only indicate that soil development took place in an extensive way, but, nevertheless, this way did not lead to an effective result. On the contrary, the structure of the soil began to collapse, the level of the harvest decreased markedly, and the funds did not justify their investment. All this, of course, indicates an inefficient use of resources in an attempt to quickly and immediately solve all agricultural problems, without having as a firm basis neither science, nor high-quality technologies, nor an appropriate level of infrastructure, due to which the outcome could be very different.

Differences between rational and irrational nature management

Having previously compared the two concepts of rational and irrational nature management and illustrating them with examples, we can correlate their meanings, compare and identify fundamental differences between them. These differences can be essentially designated as two ways of development: intensive and extensive.

The first way is fully consistent with rational nature management. It points to the efficient use of resources, which makes a tangible contribution both to production in general and to high-quality waste-free technologies, thereby making production environmentally friendly and not harmful to nature. In addition, the intensive path often fully satisfies the cultural and material needs of society.

The second way, on the contrary, is applicable to irrational use of natural resources. Its main features are a disproportionate ratio between the resources expended and the result, a focus on spatial (quantitative) rather than high-tech (qualitative) value, and, most often, failure to meet social needs. And, finally, the extensive route causes enormous damage to nature through actions that are not based on any scientific developments or technologies, emissions of chemically harmful and hazardous substances, and other production wastes into the environment. Including sometimes this damage can reach an ecological catastrophe and be the causes of negative global processes and phenomena occurring around the world.

rational irrational nature management

Conclusion

Summing up, it is necessary to note the priority importance of the future development of rational nature management in order to ensure the once disturbed ecological balance. The development of science in this area will allow efficient use of resources with minimal damage to ecosystems, which will restore some balance that existed long before the advent of industrial production. And although it will hardly ever be possible to completely normalize the ecological situation in the world, perhaps, thanks to a new path of development, we will be able to avoid some world problems and cataclysms, and then the environment will begin to regenerate again. We must not repeat past mistakes and understand the full responsibility for our actions. It is also necessary to educate ecological consciousness and instill love for the world around us, and, consequently, to support it, and, first of all, to protect the nature of our homeland.

Bibliography

1.IN AND. Korobkin, L.V. Peredelsky - "Ecology"

2.S.I. Kolesnikov - "Ecology"

3.

https://ru. wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power plant

https://ru. wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_Power Plant

https://ru. wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power plant

https://ru. wikipedia.org/wiki/Development of virgin lands

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

It is clear that resources are indeed limited and should be treated sparingly. With the irrational use of resources, it is necessary to talk about the problem of their limitations, because if you do not stop the waste of a resource, in the future, when it is needed, it simply will not exist. But, although the problem of scarcity of resources has been clear for a long time, in different countries one can see vivid examples of wasting resources. For example, in Russia, at present, the state policy in the field of energy conservation is based on the priority of the efficient use of energy resources and the implementation of state supervision over this process. The state insists on the obligatory accounting by legal entities of the energy resources produced or consumed by them, as well as accounting by individuals of the energy resources they receive. The state standards for equipment, materials and structures, vehicles include indicators of their energy efficiency. An important area is the certification of energy-consuming, energy-saving and diagnostic equipment, materials, structures, vehicles and, of course, energy resources. All this is based on a combination of interests of consumers, suppliers and producers of energy resources, as well as the interest of legal entities in the efficient use of energy resources. At the same time, even on the example of the Middle Urals, 25-30 million tons of reference fuel (tce) is consumed annually in the region, and approximately 9 million tce is used irrationally. It turns out that imported fuel and energy resources (FER) are mainly spent irrationally. At the same time, about 3 million tce can be reduced through organizational measures. Most energy saving plans have exactly this goal, but so far have not been able to achieve it.

Also an example of the irrational use of minerals can be an open pit for coal mining near Angren. In addition, at the previously developed deposits of non-ferrous metals Ingichka, Kuytash, Kalkamar, Kurgashin, losses during the extraction and enrichment of ore reached 20-30%. At the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, several years ago, such accompanying components as molybdenum, mercury, and lead were not completely smelted from the processed ore. In recent years, due to the transition to the integrated development of mineral deposits, the degree of non-production losses has significantly decreased, but it is still far from full rationalization.

The government approved a program aimed at halting soil degradation, as a result of which the annual damage to the economy is more than 200 million USD.

But so far, the program is only being introduced into agriculture, and at present, 56.4% of all agricultural land is affected by degradation processes of varying degrees. According to scientists, the processes of soil degradation have intensified in recent decades as a result of the irrational use of land resources, a decrease in the areas of protective forest plantations, the destruction of anti-erosion hydraulic structures, and natural disasters. Financing of the program for hydro-reclamation anti-erosion work is planned to be carried out at the expense of extra-budgetary funds of interested ministries and departments, funds from the sale and purchase of public property lands, from the collection of land tax, at the expense of economic entities and the state budget. According to experts involved in agricultural support programs, the problem of soil degradation is aggravating every day, but the implementation of the state program is more than problematic in the face of financial deficit. The state will not be able to raise the necessary funds, and the economic entities of the agricultural sector do not have the funds to invest in soil protection measures.

Russia's forest resources make up one fifth of the planet's forest resources. The total stock of wood in the forests of Russia is 80 billion cubic meters. meters. The environmentally safe development of the economy and society largely depends on the level of preservation and completeness of the realization of the richest potential of biological resources. But forests in Russia are constantly suffering from fires and damage by harmful insects and plant diseases, which is mainly a consequence of the low technical equipment and limited funding of the state forest protection service. The volume of reforestation work has been reduced in recent years and in a number of regions it no longer meets forestry and environmental standards.

Also, with the transition to market relations, the number of forest users has significantly increased, which in a number of places has led to an increase in violations of forest and environmental legislation when using forests.

A fundamentally important property of biological resources is their ability to self-reproduce. However, as a result of the ever-increasing anthropogenic impact on the environment and overexploitation, the raw material potential of biological resources is declining, and the populations of many plant and animal species are degrading and endangered. Therefore, in order to organize the rational use of biological resources, it is necessary, first of all, to provide environmentally sound limits for their exploitation (withdrawal), which exclude depletion and loss of the ability of biological resources to reproduce themselves. In addition, prices for forest resources are extremely low in Russia, so forests are cut down and are not considered of great value. But having cut down all the forest wealth, we risk losing a lot of money for the purchase of wood in other countries, as well as destroying the natural air purifier. Fedorenko N. To assess the effectiveness of the use of Russia's national resources. // Questions of Economics.-2005-№8-p. 31-40.

nature management

nature management - a set of human impacts on the geographic shell of the Earth, considered in a complex

There are rational and irrational nature management. Rational nature management is aimed at ensuring the conditions for the existence of mankind and obtaining material benefits, at the maximum use of each natural territorial complex, at preventing or minimizing the possible harmful effects of production processes or other types of human activity, at maintaining and increasing the productivity and attractiveness of nature, ensuring and regulating an economical development of its resources. Irrational nature management affects the quality, waste and exhaustion of natural resources, undermines the restorative forces of nature, pollutes the environment, reduces its health and aesthetic qualities.

The impact of mankind on nature has changed significantly in the process of the historical development of society. In the early stages, society was a passive consumer of natural resources. With the growth of productive forces and the change of socio-economic formations, the influence of society on nature increased. Already under the conditions of the slave-owning system and feudalism, large irrigation systems were built. The capitalist system with its spontaneous economy, the pursuit of profits and private ownership of many sources of natural resources, as a rule, severely limits the possibilities of rational environmental management. The best conditions for rational use of natural resources exist under the socialist system, with its planned economy and concentration of natural resources in the hands of the state. There are numerous examples of the improvement of the natural environment as a result of a comprehensive consideration of the possible consequences of certain transformations of nature (success in irrigation, enrichment of the fauna, the creation of shelter forest plantations, etc.).

Nature management, along with physical and economic geography, is closely connected with ecology, sociology, economics, and especially with the technology of various industries.

Rational nature management

Rational nature management is a system of nature management in which:

Extracted natural resources are used quite fully and, accordingly, the amount of consumed resources decreases;

The restoration of renewable natural resources is ensured;

Production waste is fully and repeatedly used.

The system of rational nature management can significantly reduce environmental pollution. Rational nature management is characteristic of an intensive economy, that is, an economy that develops on the basis of scientific and technological progress and better organization of labor with high labor productivity. An example of sustainable use of natural resources would be waste-free production or a zero-waste production cycle in which waste is fully utilized, resulting in reduced consumption of raw materials and minimizing environmental pollution. Production can use waste from both its own production process and waste from other industries; Thus, several enterprises of the same or different industries can be included in the non-waste cycle. One of the types of non-waste production (the so-called circulating water supply) is the multiple use in the technological process of water taken from rivers, lakes, boreholes, etc.; the used water is purified and re-used in the production process.

The components of rational nature management - protection, development and transformation of nature - are manifested in various forms in relation to various types of natural resources. When using practically inexhaustible resources (energy of solar and underground heat, high and low tides, etc.), the rationality of nature management is measured primarily by the lowest operating costs, the highest efficiency of mining industries and installations. For resources that are drawn and, at the same time, non-renewable (for example, mineral), the complexity and cost-effectiveness of extraction, the reduction of waste, etc. are important. The protection of resources that are renewable in the course of use is aimed at maintaining their productivity and resource turnover, and their exploitation should ensure their economical, integrated and waste-free extraction and be accompanied by measures to prevent damage to related types of resources.

Irrational nature management

Unsustainable nature management is a system of nature management in which the most easily available natural resources are used in large quantities and usually not completely, which leads to the rapid depletion of resources. In this case, a large amount of waste is produced and the environment is heavily polluted. Irrational nature management is typical for an extensive economy, that is, for an economy that develops through new construction, the development of new lands, the use of natural resources, and an increase in the number of employees. An extensive economy at first brings good results with a relatively low scientific and technical level of production, but quickly leads to the exhaustion of natural and labor resources. One of the many examples of irrational nature management is slash-and-burn agriculture, which is also widespread in Southeast Asia today. Land burning leads to the destruction of wood, air pollution, poorly controlled fires, etc. Often, irrational nature management is a consequence of narrow departmental interests and the interests of transnational corporations that locate their hazardous industries in developing countries.

Natural resources

The geographic envelope of the earth has huge and diverse reserves of natural resources. However, the resources are unevenly distributed. As a result, individual countries and regions have different resource availability.

Resource availability is the ratio between the amount of natural resources and the amount of their use. The resource availability is expressed either by the number of years for which these resources should be enough, or by the resource reserves per capita. The indicator of resource availability is influenced by the wealth or poverty of the territory in natural resources, the scale of extraction and the class of natural resources (exhaustible or inexhaustible resources).

In socio-economic geography, several groups of resources are distinguished: mineral, land, water, forest, resources of the World Ocean, space, climatic and recreational resources.

Almost all mineral resources are classified as non-renewable. Mineral resources include fuel minerals, ore minerals and non-metallic minerals.

Fuel Minerals are of sedimentary origin and usually accompany the cover of ancient platforms and their internal and marginal bends. More than 3.6 thousand coal basins and deposits are known on the globe, which occupy 15% of the earth's land area. Coal basins of the same geological age often form coal accumulation belts stretching for thousands of kilometers.

The bulk of the world's coal resources are in the northern hemisphere - Asia, North America and Europe. The main part lies in the 10 largest basins. These basins are located in the territories of Russia, the USA and Germany.

More than 600 oil and gas basins have been explored, another 450 are being developed, and the total number of oil fields reaches 50 thousand. The main oil and gas basins are concentrated in the northern hemisphere - in Asia, North America and Africa. The richest are the basins of the Persian and Gulf of Mexico and the West Siberian basin.

Ore minerals accompany the foundations of ancient platforms. In such areas, large metallogenic belts (Alpine-Himalayan, Pacific) are formed, which serve as raw material bases for the mining and metallurgical industries and determine the economic specialization of individual regions and even entire countries. The countries located in these belts have favorable prerequisites for the development of the mining industry.

Are widespread non-metallic minerals , whose deposits are found both in platform and folded areas.

For economic development, territorial combinations of minerals are most beneficial, which facilitate the complex processing of raw materials and the formation of large territorial production complexes.

The earth is one of the main resources of nature, the source of life. The world land fund is about 13.5 billion hectares. In its structure, cultivated lands, meadows and pastures, forests and shrubs, unproductive and unproductive lands are distinguished. Of great value are cultivated lands, which provide 88% of the food necessary for mankind. Cultivated lands are mainly concentrated in the forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones of the planet. Of considerable importance are meadows and pastures, which provide 10% of the food consumed by humans.

The structure of the land fund is constantly changing. It is influenced by two opposite processes: the artificial expansion of land by man and the degradation of land due to natural process.

Every year, 6-7 million hectares of land fall out of agricultural circulation due to soil erosion and desertification. As a result of these processes, the load on the land is constantly increasing, and the availability of land resources is constantly falling. The least secured land resources include Egypt, Japan, South Africa, etc.

Water resources are the main source of meeting human needs for water. Until recently, water was considered one of the free gifts of nature, only in areas of artificial irrigation, it has always had a high price. The water reserves of the planet are 47 thousand m3. Moreover, only half of the water reserves can actually be used. Fresh water resources make up only 2.5% of the total volume of the hydrosphere. In absolute terms, this is 30-35 million m3, which is 10 thousand times more than the needs of mankind. But the vast majority of fresh water is conserved in the glaciers of Antarctica, Greenland, in the ice of the Arctic, in mountain glaciers and forms an "emergency reserve" that is not yet suitable for use. River waters (“water rations”) remain the main source of meeting the needs of mankind in fresh water. It is not so significant and you can actually use about half of this amount. The main consumer of fresh water is agriculture. Almost 2/3 of water is used in agriculture for land irrigation. The constant increase in water consumption creates a threat of fresh water scarcity. Such a shortage is experienced by the countries of Asia, Africa, Western Europe.

To solve the problems of water supply, a person uses several ways: for example, he builds reservoirs; saves water through the introduction of technologies that reduce its losses; carries out desalination of sea water, redistribution of river runoff in moisture-rich areas, etc.

River flow is also used to obtain hydraulic potential. There are three types of hydraulic potential: gross (30-35 trillion kW/h), technical (20 trillion kW/h), economic (10 trillion kW/h). The economic potential is a part of the gross and technical hydraulic potential, the use of which is justified. The countries of foreign Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia have the greatest economic hydraulic potential. However, in Europe this potential has already been used by 70%, in Asia - by 14%, in Africa - by 3%.

The biomass of the Earth is created by plant and animal organisms. Plant resources are represented by both cultivated and wild plants. Among the wild vegetation, forest vegetation predominates, which forms forest resources.

Forest resources are characterized by two indicators :

1) the size of the forest area (4.1 billion hectares);

2) standing wood reserves (330 billion hectares).

This reserve increases annually by 5.5 billion m3. At the end of the XX century. forests began to be cut down for arable land, plantations and construction. As a result, the area of ​​forests is reduced annually by 15 million hectares. This leads to a reduction in the woodworking industry.

The forests of the world form two huge belts. The northern forest belt is located in the temperate and subtropical zones. The most densely forested countries of this belt are Russia, USA, Canada, Finland, Sweden. The southern forest belt is located in the zone of the tropical and equatorial belts. The forests of this belt are concentrated in three areas: in the Amazon, in the Congo basins and in Southeast Asia.

Animal resources are also classified as renewable. Together, plants and animals form the genetic fund (gene pool) of the planet. One of the most important tasks of our time is the preservation of biological diversity, the prevention of "erosion" of the gene pool.

The oceans contain a large group of natural resources. First, it is sea water, which contains 75 chemical elements. Secondly, these are mineral resources, such as oil, natural gas, solid minerals. Thirdly, energy resources (tidal energy). Fourth, biological resources (animals and plants). Fourthly, these are the biological resources of the World Ocean. The biomass of the ocean has 140 thousand species, and the mass is estimated at 35 billion tons. The most productive resources of the Norwegian, Bering, Okhotsk and Japanese seas.

Climate resources - this is the solar system, heat, moisture, light. The geographical distribution of these resources is reflected in the agro-climatic map. Space resources include wind and wind energy, which is essentially inexhaustible, relatively cheap and does not pollute the environment.

Recreational resources are distinguished not by the peculiarities of origin, but by the nature of use. These include both natural and man-made objects and phenomena that can be used for recreation, tourism and treatment. They are divided into four types: recreational and medical (for example, treatment with mineral waters), recreational and health-improving (for example, bathing and beach areas), recreational and sports (for example, ski resorts) and recreational and educational (for example, historical monuments).

The division of recreational resources into natural-recreational and cultural-historical sights is widely used. Natural and recreational resources include sea coasts, banks of rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, outcrops of mineral springs and therapeutic mud. Cultural and historical sights are monuments of history, archeology, architecture, art.