Availability of Natural Resources

Many of Earth's resources are nonrenewable, meaning once they are gone, they are gone for good. Nonrenewable resources vary in their availability; some are abundant and others are very rare. Materials, such as gravel or sand, are technically nonrenewable, but they are so abundant that running out is not an issue.  Some resources are truly limited in quantity and an alternative must be found to replace them. There are even resources, such as diamonds and rubies, whose value is due, in part, to how rare they are. 


Besides abundance, a resource's value is determined by how easy it is to locate and extract. If a resource is difficult to use, it will not be used until the price for that resource becomes so great that it is worth paying for. A great example is using ocean water for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses. Currently, salt water is abundant, but desalination (removing the salts) is costly, so it is only used when water is in very limited quantities. 


Politics also plays a role in the use, availability and cost of resources. Nations that have a desired resource in abundance will often export it to other countries, while countries that need that resource must import it from a country that produces it. This situation is a potential source of economic and political trouble. 


Oil is a tremendous example of this. Eleven countries have nearly 80% of the world's oil. However, the biggest users of oil, the US, China, and Japan, are all located out side of this oil-rich zone. This leads to a situation in which the availability and price of the oil is determined largely by one set of countries and has led to war, in some instances. 


The countries in green are the biggest producers of oil. Map courtesy of CK-12.


Source:  Availability of Natural Resources. Retrieved from http://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Earth-Science-Concepts-For-High-School/r16/section/12.18/ on January 3, 2014.