Natural resources are those means of subsistence, without which human life is impossible. These areas include plants, soils, minerals, animals. They are necessary for man for energy, shelter, fuel, raw materials for various industries. It is natural resources that mankind needs to create medicines, vehicles, household items.
Resource classification
Depending on the method of application and on the basis of genesis, there are:
- water;
- recreational;
- resources of the oceans;
- biological;
- land.
Depending on prevalence, in nature there are exhaustible and inexhaustible resources.
By destination, they are classified by industry: for the color, black, chemical industries.
Description of the natural resources of Russia
Large natural areas of Russia confirm the country's high resource potential. On the territory of the Russian Federation there are about 200 different types of natural resources. In their diversity and volume, Russia leads. According to the results of numerous studies conducted on the territory of our country, scientists have found out that the reserves of potassium salts, iron ores, phosphate raw materials, coal, in the country will be enough for the next two or three centuries.
The country's population does not exceed 2.4 percent of the total population of the planet, despite the fact that it is precisely the share of the Russian Federation that accounts for almost 10% of the entire land area. In Russia, there are about half of all world gas reserves, 13% of oil, about 23% of natural coal. The “green wealth” of the country is forests. Bauxite, nickel compounds, diamonds, gold, platinum are found in the Earth’s interior. Most of the natural resources are in Siberia. The harsh climate, as well as the remoteness of this region, all this negatively affects the extraction and transportation of minerals, reduces the economic profitability of their processing and consumption.
Water resources
Many natural areas of Russia are rich in water resources. The country’s territory is washed by the waters of 12 seas that belong to three oceans, as well as the waters of the Caspian (inland) sea. The country has more than 2.5 million rivers of various sizes, about 2 million lakes, hundreds of thousands of other bypass facilities. The maximum amount of water resources is located in the lower reaches of large rivers.
Natural areas of Russia, such as forest and tundra zones, have a high level of water resources.
The maximum indicators are typical for the following constituent entities of the Russian Federation: Krasnoyarsk Territory, Jewish Autonomous Region, Sakhalin Region. The maximum deficit in water resources is experienced by Rostov Region and Kalmykia.
Groundwater resources are estimated at 790 km3 / year. Almost a third of potential resources are located in the European part of our country.
Land resources
All natural areas of Russia have a certain land fund. As of January 2010, these resources were estimated at 1,709.8 million ha. It is these resources that are considered a natural force for the manufacture of various agricultural products.
What are the main agricultural natural areas of Russia? The list can be started from the Central Black Earth, Volga-Don Interfluve, steppe Trans-Urals. It is here that the high productivity lands used for agricultural purposes are concentrated.
Satisfactory potential from an agricultural point of view possess the lands of the Far East, southern Siberia, Yakutia.
The land of Rostov, Samara regions, Moscow region, Kuzbass is currently being used in insufficient volume. Many natural-economic regions of Russia specialize in supplying food to large industrial centers, for example, the center of the country.
Hydropower resources
It is Russia that possesses a huge amount of hydropower resources. Currently, they apply only to 20 percent of the total. The bulk of these natural resources are in Siberia and the Far East. The maximum number of hydropower minerals is located in the basins of the Lena, Yenisei, Ob, Amur, Irtysh, and Angara rivers. It is the rivers that are of particular importance for the formation and improvement of intraeconomic and inter-district relations.
Those natural areas and geographical areas of Russia in which these energy resources are concentrated have excellent opportunities for accommodating large industrial facilities. It is in Russia that the largest river network in the world is located. The average length of river shipping routes is estimated at 400 thousand kilometers.
Fuel resources
The specifics of the location of fuel resources in Russia lies in their remoteness from consumption centers. This negatively affects the cost of fuel resources, reduces the efficiency of their use within the Russian Federation.
The main natural and economic regions of Russia, on the territory of which there is a significant amount of fuel resources: Volga-Ural oil and gas province - Udmurtia, Tataria, Orenburg region, as well as the Republic of Komi, Yakutia, Kuzbass.
In those fields where intensive mining is carried out, there is a significant decrease in the amount of natural resources.
Biological resources
The plant world is represented in the Russian Federation by 11,400 species of vascular plants, 9,000 algae, 1370 bryophytes, about 30,000 species of mushrooms. Wild plants make up about half of all biological resources. Animals the world of Russia is striking in its versatility and species diversity. In the Russian Federation there are about 320 species of mammals, 732 species of birds, 29 species of amphibians, 80 species of birds, 343 species of freshwater fish. Invertebrate fauna, there are about 150,000 species, almost 97% of which are insects.
Forest resources
It is Russia that is considered a large forest country. The area of the forest fund is 1180 million ha. A fifth of all these resources are concentrated precisely on the territory of our country, therefore, the Russian Federation is rightly considered a monopolist of this type of natural resources.
Describing the natural regions: geographical and economic regions of Russia, we note that the forest fund can rightfully be considered a national treasure of our country. They stretch along the pine forests of the Curonian Spit on the shores of the Baltic to the birch groves of Kamchatka, spruce forests of Sakhalin. The average forest cover of Russia is estimated at 45.3 percent.
Mineral resources base
The boundaries of the natural regions of Russia are associated with minerals located in the bowels of the earth. The mineral resources that are extracted from the bowels, as well as the products of their subsequent processing, provide the heavy industry with sufficient energy.
The mineral resource base of Russia is complex. It includes ferrous metals, fuel and energy resources, rare and non-ferrous metals, as well as non-metallic minerals.
Comparison of the natural resource capital of different regions of Russia showed that most of the resources are located in Eastern Siberia. Significant resources are located under the waters of the external and internal seas of Russia, as well as in their bottom and coastal deposits.
Recreational resources
They include cultural, historical and natural elements and complexes. Recreational resources are a combination of biological, physical, energy, informational fragments and forces of nature used in the process of development and restoration of a person’s spiritual and physical forces, his health, and his ability to work.
Almost all natural resources have tourism and recreational potential, but the degree of its application is different, associated with the specialization of the region.
In our country, there are areas where recreational activity is the determining industry.
It includes a network of organizations and enterprises. The maximum wealth in this regard is represented by forest-steppes and mixed forests.
Of interest from the mountainous regions is the Caucasus, Altai Territory, and mountainous eastern regions.
Distribution of natural resources on the territory of the Russian Federation
The uneven distribution of resources is due to differences in tectonic and climatic processes that occur on Earth, as well as different conditions for the formation of basic minerals.
Territories that are of national importance are called natural bases.
On the territory of the Russian Federation there are several such bases:
- South Siberian.
- Seaside.
- Northeast.
- Seaside.
- Ural-Volga region.
- North European.
- Central.
The main types of resources are in the eastern regions, and the main consumers are the European parts of the Russian Federation. This causes serious problems associated with the transport of resources.
Conclusion
Currently, there is a significant depletion of many natural resources. The reason for this phenomenon lies in their irrational use for many decades. This is relevant for the forest resources of the European North, gas and oil reserves of the North Caucasus and the Volga region. In recent years, indicators of steppe chernozem soils have significantly decreased.
Almost 70 percent of the total Russian oil reserves are located in Eastern Siberia. They are considered deposits - giants, therefore, they are included in the ten largest deposits of this energy resource in the world.
Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk Oblast, Novgorod, Kostroma Oblast possess maximum forest resources.
To the south and north of the central forest zone, there has been a serious decrease in timber stocks. The most forest-deficient Russian regionals consider the tundra and the steppe part of the Russian Federation.
All major natural complexes of the country are single geostructural areas of substantial size, which have characteristic climate parameters defined by the soil and vegetation cover.
The East European Plain occupies about 26 percent of the entire territory of Russia. A flat relief prevails here. It is on this territory that the main mineral resources of the Russian Federation are located. Iron, copper, aluminum, nickel ores are far from the entire list of resources that have been discovered on this plain.
It is the East European Plain that is the most populated zone of the Russian Federation, therefore the main industrial enterprises are concentrated here.
By the number of various resources, including minerals, biological resources, the Russian Federation is in significant competition to other major world powers.