Natural resource management

1. Natural resource management - ways in which societies manage the supply of or access to the natural resources upon which they rely for their survival and development. Insofar as human collectives are fundamentally dependent on natural resources, ensuring the ongoing access to or a steady provision of natural resources has always been central to their organization. Historically, that access has been organized through a range of schemes varying in degrees of formality and involvement from the central authorities (or state).

3. A “natural” resource is one that is afforded by nature without human intervention; hence, the fertile lands or the minerals within them, rather than the crop that grows on them, constitute a country’s natural resources. Although what is considered a “resource” (or, for that matter, “natural”) has varied over time and from one society to another, resources are, ultimately, riches provided by nature from which can be derived some form of benefit, whether material or immaterial. However, only those natural resources that can renew themselves and whose exploitation relies on their regenerative capacities properly necessitate management. For example, oil is not considered a subject of natural resource management, whereas forests are. Management seeks to balance the demands of exploitation with a respect for regenerative capacities.

4. Thus, natural resource management, in its generic sense, bespeaks the degree to which societies are embedded in the natural environment, and what is being managed is that basic dependency as much as the resources themselves. More specifically, however, the term natural resource management has historically coincided with the increasing formalization of those schemes of access to natural resources that accompanied the rise of the modern bureaucratic state. The most fundamental challenge to natural resource management was posed by the encounter with Earth’s limits—the realization, in other words, that natural resources, contrary to implicit assumptions, are not in endless supply.

VIII. Answer the questions:

1. What is called a “natural” resource?

2. Is oil a subject of natural resource management?

3. What has the term natural resource management coincided with historically?

Variant VI

I. Complete the sentences (1- 9) with the words (a-i):

A) population b) wealth c) membership d) recessions e) certificate