When the renewable or non-renewable resources are been consumed faster, they tend to get scarce, leading to their depletion. The term “material depletion” is commonly used for mining, logging, water usage, fishing, etc. We have natural resources in abundance on this planet earth. Few of the natural resources that are non-renewable are likely to get scarce when consumed at a larger scale. On the other hand, renewable resources are man-made, and though their supply can be increased, they are indirectly dependent on natural resources for their production.
When a rare material is consumed at a large scale causing depletion, it is likely to experience a higher value than a natural resource available in abundance. The increase in population is a foremost reason for the depletion of scarce resources. Consequently, the eco-footprint on the planet earth is expected to be more in comparison to the availability of average consumption of resources for each individual.
We are experiencing massive increase in population across the world. The global population is more than seven billion people that make the planet “overpopulated”, and there is a consistent increase in population every day. Overpopulation has been a critical factor in accelerating the depletion of natural resources. The increasing population consumes resources at a higher pace which is making them scarce for future requirements. Hence, the awareness should be to sustain the resources. Sadly, even if everyone gets responsible towards their material consumption and reduces their standard of living, the material depletion cannot be stopped fully, but it can be slowed down.
The situation of overpopulation is leading to two major consequences – firstly, increasing the need for suitable conditions to sustain the resources; secondly, increased demand for the capital.
It has been observed that developing countries are highly using natural resources such as coal. They need the resources to accelerate growth and sustain their increasing population. Additionally, the depletion of natural resources contributes to increased ecological contamination.
The industrial revolution of 1760 has witnessed the consumption of mineral and oil on a large scale. Since then, there has been a growing need for these natural resources leading to the depletion of natural oil and minerals.
The advancements in technology, and development in research, are other major contributions toward material depletion. The humans have the necessary tools to dig deeper to access different ores. Their accessibility to higher amount of natural resources has resulted in higher consumption and depletion of such resources. For example, the excess of consumption of few minerals, such as copper, zinc, and gasoline, has witnessed a decline in their production in the next 20 years.
The upsurge in the oil-based engines has also increased the dependency on petroleum, diesel, and other oils, magnifying their depletion. When the demand for oil reaches to its maximum point, it will adversely impact the production. Many countries have already realised the issue of scarce nature of oil and are actively working on producing alternate means of fuel.
The increase in population is directly raising the demand for food, due to which humans are exploiting the land resources in all means. Over-reliance on food production is making the farmers adapt poor irrigation practices. Though, the farmers are able to reap and supply daily food requirements, but over a period of time the salinization and alkalization of the soil important for plant growth will tend to decline.
Excessive use of pesticides, fungicides, etc. impacts the fertility of the land, as it kills micro-organisms present in the soil responsible to replenish soil nutritional value. The poor soil management practice is another reason that destroys the soil structure. Due to the drastic vibrations created by heavy equipment and farming machinery, the fertility of soil gets adversely affected. Overall, irresponsible farming practices degrade the soil value and make it vulnerable to soil erosion.
The world is moving towards industrialization at a faster pace. With many countries making a breakthrough with technical advancements, there is consistent growth in the harmful and toxic bi-products released by the industries. The toxic waste from the industries eventually settles in various water bodies, including land.
The industrial bi-products may include radioactive materials, organic compounds, heavy metals, and toxic wastes. When the bi-product waste settles in water, it may affect the natural habitation of aquatic or could adversely affect the wildlife when it spreads over the land.
The advancements in the industrial and technical streams have also driven the need for research and development of virgin materials. The industrialization demands more materials leading to depletion of natural resources. Further, industrialization is destroying the natural habitat of wildlife which accelerates depletion of natural resources at a faster pace.
The World Bank reported that the net loss of global forest between 1990 and 2016 was 1.3 million square kilometers. Thereon, every year there was a gross loss of over 13 million hectares, and by July 2022, the net loss of global forest was around 17 million hectares. The destruction of flora and fauna in a large volume resulted in disappearance of many endangered species.
Humans are destroying forests and cutting down trees for various purposes, such as to increase agricultural produce, build residential or commercial complexes, etc. The consequences would be many animals and species lose their habitats.
Due to increase in population, the natural environment has been largely disturbed and is exposed to degradation. Additionally, the modern anthropogenic activities also contribute to the disposal of pollutants into natural environment. The growing pollution is killing plants and animals and causing a great imbalance to the environment, thereby, leading to natural resource depletion.
Today, the soil, lakes and seas are contaminated with factory wastes, human wastes, toxic materials, radioactive materials, etc. A lot of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, sulphur oxide, and nitrous oxide are released in the air by the manufacturing factories that degrades the ozone layer. Overall the impact of pollution can be witnessed in the form of global warming and because of which many plants and species are on the verge of extinction.
Even though we have created highly urbanised societies and have access to various resources, availability of water is still a challenge in different parts of the world. The adverse effects of deforestation and contamination of water sources has deprived a billion people with clean drinking water to make their living, contributing to famine and food shortages. The depletion of water resources is mainly due to wastage, destruction, and contamination of natural resources areas. Above that, deforestation, pollution, and poor farming practices contributing majorly to the depletion of water.
Due to lack of clean drinking water, billions of children are dying. The children are likely to be diagnosed with water-contaminated diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid.
On the other hand, the rise in population is increasing the demand for drinking water, and creating the need for solutions to provide enough water supply for everyone to sustain globally.
Oil is a natural resource and is used for plenty of purposes. With the introduction of automated technology, the dependency on oil has largely increased. It is a non-renewable resource that accounts for over 40 percent of total global energy consumption. According to one of the studies by EIA’s International Energy Outlook, due to the excess use of oil the available resource would suffice only another 25 years. The study also marked that expected volume of oil usage will be at 118million barrels per day across the world.
Oil is an essential commodity in many sectors, such as mining, manufacturing, transportation, planting, etc. Even though the requirement of oil is increasing at a rapid pace, the effort to introduce more sustainable energy that could replace the use of oil is still at a low pace.
Oil depletion is a serious issue across the world and as we are highly dependent on its supply, we are indirectly dependent on the nations who own their repositories. The adverse effects of oil depletion include uncertainty in the transport sector, fall of businesses, and high cost of living in developing countries.
There are many studies performed by different nations which show the depletion of minerals leading to their extinction. In a study by the Global Phosphorus Research Institute, it has been expected that the earth could run out of phosphorus in another 50 to 100 years; Phosphorus being an essential element for plant growth. The United States Geological Survey indicated an increase in consumption of non-renewable resource of natural minerals and construction materials such as copper, sand, gravel, and stone.
Due to increase in population, the consumption of minerals increased resulting in the rise of their cost. The exploitation of minerals such as phosphorus, gasoline, copper, and zinc, has largely increased to sustain the population globally. Though there is a substantial increase in their pricing, the economic returns are shrinking which will likely to outweigh the drastic global warming.
There is a constant rise on the awareness of depletion of forest cover and its adverse impact on the planet. Nearly 18 million acres of forest cover are destroyed annually affecting the habitats of millions of animals and plants. If we follow the figures on the amount of deforestation till now, then half of the world’s natural forest cover has been cleared and remaining is at the urge of depletion.
We are awakened to the fact that deforestation is the direct cause of global warming. Other deteriorating effects of deforestation include soil erosion, infertility of soil, etc. It has also increased greenhouse gases globally leading to loss of biodiversity, increased flooding, and drought.
Due to the depletion of forest cover, many animals, birds, and species have lost their natural habitats. They failed to survive in an unnatural atmosphere and hence, some species are going extinct. When their natural habitats are disturbed, many species of animals and plants are being endangered, or worse, extinct. Pollution and overfishing are other two causes that led the extinction of marine species such as tuna fish.
Animals that have become extinct are the Lake Lanao freshwater fish, ivory-billed woodpecker, splendid poison frog, smooth handfish, spix’s macaw, bramble cay melomys, baiji, and western black rhinoceros. Among the flora are 32 orchid species and 65 North American plants that became extinct.
There are many programs created by the World Bank, the New York Declaration on Forests, and the United Nations that are aimed at controlling deforestation and depletion of natural resources. The one such program is REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). The initiatives may also be towards encouraging conservation of forests to protect the natural habitats of many species and plants, and conserve water bodies.
There is a need for collaboration of nations having oil repositories with consumables’ regulatory bodies, the World Bank, and state to establish an international forum to discuss the means to reduce consumption of oil and minerals. Manufacturers can be trained to optimize manufacturing processes by recycling, reusing and reducing wastage. Simultaneously, consumers can be educated to adopt re-use, reducing wastage, and recycling techniques.
Where oil is non-renewable energy, sunlight and wind are renewable sources of energy which can be explored to replace with fossil fuel. Oil as a bi-product causes air pollution, global warming, and the destruction natural habitats. By exploring various renewable resources such as solar and wind power the depletion of oil can be reduced, as well as, the environment can be retained healthy. There is a lot of space for technological innovations to efficiently replace oil consumption with sunlight and wind power energy which in turn could help reduce the use of natural non-renewable resources.
Wetlands and coastal regions are vital in sustaining the food chain as they are significant to maintain water resources, minerals, and nutrients essential for plant and animal biodiversity maintenance. Wetlands are saturated with groundwater, and thus helpful in sustaining vegetation cover. A balanced ecosystem in the coastal regions aids in controlling marine overfishing and protect coral reefs.
People should be educated on living responsibly considering the existence of other species on the planet. They should be informed about the practices that strains natural resources, and contributes to resource depletion. The awareness should also educate them to make their individual efforts in restoration of natural environment and its conservation.
As we are in the digital era, the source of bringing awareness should also be in the digital platform so that it could reach to maximum audience. There are various ways to connect with people digitally. Few of the practices could be in the form of story posts on social handles, writing blogs, creating videos, photographic presentations, etc.