Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Natural resources are resources which are natural in nature and their occurrence is not facilitated by mankind. Natural resources make natural environment which is important to the livelihood of humans and animals. Natural resources is divided into two sub-divisions; living and nonliving resources. Living resources comprises of living things which include forests, animals and fossil fuels which are products of dead living things. On the other hand, nonliving natural resources are those nonliving things which are part of the environment and they include, water, land and air.
Energy is an important factor to the livelihood and economic growth and development of a country in the world of today. Natural resources are the key sources of energy. In relation to energy, natural resources can also be categorized into two groups which are either renewable or nonrenewable sources of energy. Renewable sources of energy refer to the sources of energy which after the generation of energy can be reused to generate more energy whereas nonrenewable sources cannot be reused once energy is generated.
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2. Discuss one management practice for sustainability and conservation of natural resources in the forest ecosystem
In addition, natural resources can fully be exploited by human activities thus their existence depends on the human practices of conserving their sustainability. For instance, forest ecosystem is an important resource to the livelihood and has to be conserved and well managed in order to main its sustainability. One management practice for the management and conservation of forest ecosystem is tree planting practice and campaigns.
In the recent years, governments and nongovernmental organizations, which are involved in the management practices of the forests, have been campaigning for the tree planting practices to increase the forest cover in our countries. Tree planting ensures that the forest is not decreased by human activities such as cutting down of trees for economic benefits. The practice is normally done in the man made forests which are made for economic benefits. Human activities in the natural forests are restricted but illegal human activities also lead to the tree planting practices into those forests (Schroth, 2004).
3. Identify and discuss the effects that a growing human population may have on that ecosystem's resources, including loss or harm to populations of wild species.
The increase in human population leads to congestion in the human settlement areas thus demand for land increases. The increased demand leads to the encroachment into the forest ecosystem. This encroachment leads to the human activities which are harmful to the forest ecosystem. Harmful human activities include, cutting down of trees for the purpose of, setting up shelters, increasing the sizes farming fields and economic purposes. Farming practices in the forest ecosystem where there are wildlife lead to the conflict between the humans and animals thus population of wildlife decreases as a result of human protection to the farms and also poaching for meat and economic benefits.
4. Identify the risks and benefits of extracting or using one type of nonrenewable and one type of renewable energy resource from that ecosystem, or in areas near that ecosystem.
One major nonrenewable source of energy is the nuclear power. This source has great benefits to both the human lives and the economic growth and development of a country. This is because it is the most powerful source of energy which in most cases produces more than enough energy for a country. This makes it a reliable source of energy by industries thus has an economic benefit and also surplus supply makes it cheap.
On the other hand, it is the most dangerous source of energy if it is either mishandled or affected by external forces. The leakage of nuclear deposits leads to loss of lives and increases the affection of chronic diseases which are heritable. It is also expensive to set up a nuclear power plant thus also expensive to repair it incase of destruction. Therefore, nuclear source of energy has both high benefits and risks to the human lives and economic lives as well (Murray, 2009).
Also, another major renewable source of energy is the geothermal heat which generates the geothermal power. This power has great benefits to the human live and so to the economic growth and development. The benefits of this source of energy are that it produces cheap energy because it is natural and also reliable energy since it is not renewable. However, the reliability of the energy depends on its capability which cannot be adjusted.
On the other hand, geothermal source also has some risks that are attached to it for instance, in case of earth movements which may affect its production capability, the source cannot be repaired thus its reliability is also risky. The setting up of geothermal plants is also costly which implies that its repair is also costly thus has both benefits and risks factors to the livelihood.