The term "resource provision" began to be used in connection with the development of industrial production and the increasing needs of the population in energy, water and raw materials for its further processing and transformation into various material goods.
Resource Definition
Resource provision is a quantitative relationship between the size of natural resources and the size of their consumption. The concept of natural resources refers to those components of nature that are applied or can be applied to meet various human needs. The past twentieth century is characterized by an unprecedented increase in the world's population and global social production, and the achievements of modern scientific technologies are having an ever greater impact on the environment. Since human needs for raw materials are constantly increasing, the task of rational and reasonable exploitation of all natural resources becomes more and more urgent.
General classification of world resources
Natural resources can be classified according to various criteria. The most fundamental classification is based on the genesis of resources, according to which they are divided into:
- land;
- forest;
- water;
- biological;
- mineral raw materials;
- energy;
- climatic.
Classification of resources by type of exhaustibility
All resources of nature are divided into inexhaustible and inexhaustible. The first include water and climate resources. Exhaustible natural resources are reduced in the process of their use; most of the Earth’s resources fall into this group . Another important property of exhaustible resources is their renewability. On this basis, they are divided into:
- recoverable (forests, plants, animals, etc.);
- irreparable (minerals).
Due to the limited reserves of inexhaustible resources, today more and more attention is paid to the use of resource-saving technologies and the search for alternative energy sources.
How to calculate resource availability
Resource security is usually expressed by the number of years for which consumers are provided with a certain type of resource. This indicator contains important information that allows you to plan the future use of certain natural resources. Assessment of the resource supply of renewable resources, however, is expressed by the ratio between their reserves and the amount per capita. Thus, their update is taken into account. Since literally all types of resources are raw material for various sectors of the economy, the concept of “resource supply” has social and economic significance.
How to assess resource availability?
Assessment of the country's resource supply is carried out in two ways. The first method uses the following formula:
P - resource supply in years, 3 - the number of reserves, D - the volume of production.
In this way, the availability of resources is estimated based on their annual consumption.
In the second method, the calculation is carried out according to the formula:
P - resource supply in years, 3 - the number of reserves, N - the country's population.
It is used to assess renewable resources.
The resource availability indicator is calculated relative to a specific point in time and may vary.
Value
The distribution of natural resources on Earth is associated with tectonic features of the formation of continents. Their reserves affect the indicator of the resource supply of a country or individual regions of the world. Resource provision is a factor that is of great importance for the development of the country's economy in a certain direction. Although there are no regions on Earth characterized by an absolute lack of resources. The presence of, say, energy resources is a much greater advantage than the availability, for example, of sand. This, however, does not mean that a country poor in natural resources is doomed to poverty. An example is Japan, which has limited resources, but is among the most developed countries due to the availability of capital, the working ability of the population, and the introduction of modern technologies.
The distribution of natural resources in the world
Natural resources on Earth are distributed very unevenly, not only among continents, but also between individual countries. Depending on their endowment of resources, countries are divided into:
- Endowed with rich reserves of various resources - these include Russia, the USA and China, which are almost completely provided with them. This group also includes India, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and Canada, which have a smaller, in comparison with the first three states, but quite rich variety of resources.
- Middle-resource countries - in essence, this group includes most states. Typically, such countries have an average amount of some types of resources, while other types are not represented.
- Specialized countries that are endowed with large reserves of any one important type of resource. An example is Saudi Arabia, which is the largest oil supplier in the world.
From the above classification, the regularity between the area of the territory of a certain state and the amount of wealth it possesses is clearly visible. The resource supply of the regions of the world and individual countries depends, however, not only on the amount of reserves, but also on the scale of exploration, development and extraction of resources. So, Saudi Arabia holds the palm in terms of oil production, but Iraq ranks first in terms of resource supply with these raw materials. Due to the war in the Persian Gulf in the 90s and the subsequent occupation of Kuwait by Iraq, international sanctions were imposed on the country, and now Iraq does not have a quota for oil production.
The natural potential of Russia
The total amount of natural resources that can be used in the country's economy is called the natural resource potential. The total potential is the sum of the potentials of individual types of resources.
The natural resources of Russia are distinguished by significant reserves and diversity, but uneven distribution in the country. It should be noted the insufficient knowledge of some types of resources located in sparsely populated areas with adverse climatic conditions. Well developed and developed areas are characterized by depletion of existing reserves.
How much is Russia provided with resources?
Resource provision is the ratio between the reserves of resources and the volume of their production. The basis of Russia's industrial potential is its endowment with resources. The country is ranked among the countries holding leading positions in the field of exploration and development of mineral resources. But how developed is Russia's resource supply? The country is characterized by the production and consumption of all major primary energy resources (coal, natural gas and oil). Coal accounts for the largest share, natural gas takes the second place, and oil reserves are the least. This ratio is also applicable to the situation around the world, and in the future, as the reserves are depleted, it is necessary to look for options for replacing these resources with alternative types.
The second most important place after energy is occupied by metals and ore minerals. Russia has the world's richest iron ore reserves, as well as significant quantities of copper, nickel, titanium ores, tin, tungsten and other metals. Important for the country's economy are deposits of precious metals and diamonds. In terms of their production, Russia is ranked second after South Africa. The country is a leader in terms of timber and land reserves. Based on the above, several conclusions are obvious:
- Energy resource provision is one of the most important advantages of Russia. These resources are concentrated mainly in the east.
- There is a pronounced difference between the distribution of resources in the western and eastern parts of the country. The western part is characterized by the predominance of deposits of various types of ores; it also contains the bulk of agricultural land.
The total size of potential reserves, their diversity and the nature of distribution are suitable for the development of all sectors of the economy and the integrated development of the economy in individual economic regions.
US Resource Supply
The country's territory is characterized by a variety of natural conditions and types of resources. As an advantage, excellent agro-climatic conditions should be noted - the United States has huge forest resources, large black soil areas and a mild climate. The United States, like Russia, is among the leaders in its reserves of mineral fuel - the country has about 25% of the world's coal deposits, and the country is in the top ten countries in terms of oil and gas reserves. Other types of resources that the United States possesses in significant quantities are iron ore, non-ferrous and noble metal ores, uranium, and phosphorites. The country is provided with sufficient water resources, but they are distributed unevenly on its territory. Despite the diversity of natural resources, both countries are forced to import certain types of minerals due to their absence or insufficient quantity.