Natural Resource Depletion: A Growing Concern

Natural resource depletion is a significant environmental issue caused by factors such as overpopulation, pollution, land deterioration, deforestation, industrial and technological advancements, overconsumption, and natural calamities. The depletion of renewable resources like food crops and timber can be replenished, while non-renewable resources like coal and minerals cannot. To mitigate this issue, sustainable energy sources like hydropower, solar systems, wind power, biogas, and geothermal energy can be used, and conservation methods such as minimizing consumption and decreasing waste can be employed.

Natural Resource Depletion: Natural resources are formed by various biotic and abiotic factors in the
environment and are utilized by the human for various purposes. There are two kinds of natural
resources are present one is renewable resources that can be produced after use like – food crops,
timber, paper etc. and other is non-renewable resources which can’t be created once used up such as –
coal, minerals, water, natural gas, etc.
Natural resource depletion is a significant current environmental issue. The rapid increase of world
population eventually causes greater requirement for natural resources. The consumption of natural
resources has increased enormously due to the extensive use of natural resources by emerging
countries for the development of advanced industries worldwide. The basic reasons for natural
resource depletion are as follows-
 Overpopulation
 Environmental pollution
 Land deterioration, soil erosion and loss of nutrient cycle.
 Deforestation and devastation of ecosystems promoting loss of biodiversity.
 Industrial and technological advancement.
 Overconsumption and untenable utilization of resources.
 Mining of fossil fuels and minerals.
 Natural calamities like drought and flood.
Non-renewable energy source utilization brings about the discharge of greenhouse gasses, which is
liable for climate change and global warming (15 Current Environmental Problems That Our World is
Facing - Conserve Energy Future, 2014)
Several countries are presently creating more sustainable and renewable energy resources, for
example- hydropower, solar system, the wind, biogas and geothermal energy, etc. which are natural
resources but won’t pollute the environment. Some conservation methodologies can be taken such as
minimization and control the consumption and decrease wastes, modification of lifestyle, upgrade

recuperation and reuse of resources (Depletion of Natural Resources, 2017 and Cause of depletion of
natural resource | teenstudents, 2017).
References:
1. Cause of depletion of natural resource | teenstudents. (2017). Teenstudents.wordpress.com.
Retrieved 5 May 2017, from https://teenstudents.wordpress.com/tag/cause-of-depletion-of-
natural-resource/
2. Depletion of Natural Resources. (2017). The World Counts. Retrieved 5 May 2017, from
http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/Depletion-of-Natural-Resources
3. 15 Current Environmental Problems That Our World is Facing - Conserve Energy Future.
(2014). Conserve Energy Future. Retrieved 5 May 2017, from http://www.conserve-energy-
future.com/15-current-environmental-problems.php