Table of contents

Introduction

The problem of human interaction with nature is an eternal topic and is especially relevant today. Mankind is connected with the natural environment by its origin, existence, its future. Since natural conditions have a huge impact on people's lives, let's say that a person is completely dependent on nature. For a very long time, people looked at nature as an inexhaustible source. And only after a while, they came to the need for rational use of natural resources. The development of civilization served to expand the scale of the use of natural resources. To this day, man has not learned to do without the riches of nature. Currently, there are several definitions of the concept of "natural resources". The more general of these is the following: natural resources are the components and properties of the natural environment that are used or can be used to meet the various physical and spiritual needs of human society. Natural resources exist independently of man and can be used as a means of subsistence and as a means of labor, a source of material production. This duality reflects:
1. Their natural origin (a component of nature);
2. Their economic importance in the life of society;
The age of reckless exploitation of nature by man is behind us. Today, nature needs to preserve and reproduce its resources. The main attention should be directed to what saves the resources of life - Man and Nature. The long history of the development of mankind is, first of all, the history of nature management, the development of productive forces, human knowledge of the laws of nature and society. Therefore, speaking of rational signs, it is necessary first of all: to take into account the scale and certain gaps in the organization. Today there is a need to develop the protection, extraction and rational use of natural resources. As a more advantageous option, two stages should be considered: the first one consists in analyzing the current situation, as well as in developing principles for the protection, extraction and use of natural resources; the second is in creating the concept of rational nature management as a document that defines the strategy for nature management. At the same time, it is very important to know that, in an independent form, the principles can serve as guidelines in the development and adoption of appropriate decisions.

Chapter 1Principles of protection and rational use of natural resources.

1.1 The concept of "nature management".

In his practical activity, man has always been forced to reckon with the laws of living nature. At first it happened spontaneously. Gradually, humanity realized that it is possible and necessary to manage competently on Earth. When interest in environmental problems of the relationship between nature and society began to increase significantly, they began to use the concept of nature management as a complex multicomponent system, which is characterized by many principles that are set depending on the purpose and objectives of a particular study.
Rational nature management is a system of activities designed to ensure the economical exploitation of natural resources and the most efficient regime, their reproduction, taking into account the promising interests of a developing economy and preserving people's health. From the point of view of Yu. Kurazhkovsky: nature management was considered as a special science, the task of which was to "develop general principles for the implementation of any activity related to nature and its resources" . Based on the definition, two ways of rational nature management can be distinguished:
1. The first way is a reasonable reduction in consumption in anthropogenic ecosystems and the selection of animals and plants to obtain species with a wide range of self-regulation, i.e. economical use of natural resources.
2. The second way is to increase this or that resource through environmental management, giving a new quality to the resource. For example, the lack of fertile land resources can be filled through land reclamation. The lack of thermal resources (thermal reclamation) for plants can be compensated either by placing them on the "warm" southern slopes, or by artificially heating the soil. In order to do this, it is necessary to perform a series of thought procedures to decide on the choice of a particular way to solve the problem.
Basically, two cases can arise. The first, when there is enough resource (Ri>0) and the second, when there is not enough resource (Ri<0) (см. рис1)
In the first case, it is necessary to use this resource carefully and rationally, and in the second case, to increase the availability of the resource, either by searching for new deposits or by environmental management.
Rational activities must be effective and safe. As efficiency criteria, economic efficiency and social efficiency can be chosen.

Figure 1. Decision tree for the use of natural resources.

1.2 General view of the principles of rational nature management.

Rational nature management should ensure the full existence and development of modern society, but at the same time preserve the high quality of the human environment. This is achieved through the economic exploitation of natural resources and conditions and the most effective mode of their reproduction, taking into account the promising interests of economic development and the preservation of people's health. Compliance with the principles of rational nature management will make it possible to develop measures to protect natural resources and prevent the aggravation of environmental situations.
In general, the principles of rational nature management can be formulated as follows:
1. The principle of "zero level" consumption of natural resources. This principle is used in many economically developed countries to regulate the consumption of primary natural resources on a national scale. It is called so due to the fact that the zero level is taken as the volume of primary natural resources used by the enterprise for the previous year, and for the next - exceeding this level, consumption is limited on a national scale by a clearly defined coefficient. Compliance with the coefficient is mandatory, since the violator is fined, which may exceed the profits of the enterprise.
2. The principle of correspondence between the anthropogenic load and the natural resource potential. Compliance with this principle will avoid violations of the natural balance. Such a violation of the laws of functioning of natural systems occurs in two cases:
a) for exceeding the level of anthropogenic load. This is reflected in the excessive concentration of production. For many years, the practice of territorial planning proceeded from the fact that the cost of production decreases with an increase in the concentration of production. At the same time, the limited renewing properties of the natural resource potential of the region were not only ignored; often the consumption of certain types of resources by production exceeded their availability. This is how regions of acute ecological crisis arose in the Donbass, the Dnieper region - in Ukraine, and in Russia - in the Urals, in the Volga region and Kuzbass, etc.
Especially many environmental and economic problems were caused by the concentration of production in large cities. "Economy" was calculated without calculating the cost of creating the necessary infrastructure. It was often not taken into account that the cost of infrastructure in a large city significantly exceeds its creation in a small and medium one. In addition, the costs of measures to protect the environment from pollution by production waste were not taken into account. This planning practice has led to the fact that in all large cities and industrial centers there is a strong pollution of the environment with industrial waste. Through the excessive concentration of industry, the implementation of environmental measures becomes a big problem;
b) for discrepancies between the specialization of production and the specifics of the natural resource potential.
3. The principle of preserving the spatial integrity of natural systems in the process of their economic use. This principle follows from the most important patterns of interconnectedness of changes in the components of nature under the influence of anthropogenic activity. Human influence on individual components of nature and individual types of resources is not limited to changes only in them. Changes in one of the components of a natural system lead to changes in others, and sometimes to changes in the quality of the ecosystem as a whole. An example is the drainage of swamps in the regions of Ukrainian Polissya, after which the quality of many ecosystems changed - arable land turned out to be flooded, small rivers dried up, etc.
4. The principle of preserving the naturally conditioned circulation of substances in the process of anthropogenic activity. The essence of the principle is not only to ensure that the technological processes of specific industries are limited by cyclicity, but also that cyclic processes represent a sequential series of production stages interconnected or complex processing of raw materials.
Violation of this principle has led to the formation of a large amount of waste that is not included in the natural circulation of substances and changes the properties of many ecosystems in the region.
Compliance with the principles of rational nature management is expedient in all regions, regardless of the hierarchical level. Preservation of the overall ecological balance is possible provided that the balance of the natural systems of individual regions is maintained and vice versa. In addition, the problem of rational nature management cannot be solved only within regional and even national boundaries. This is a global problem, it is inherent in the entire planet.

1.3 Principles of protection of natural resources.

Universal interrelations and interdependencies, objectively existing both in nature itself and in interaction with society, determine the basic principles of environmental protection and rational nature management.
Compliance with these principles is necessary in the performance of any economic and other activities that have an impact on ecological communities and natural resources.
1. All natural resources have multiple meanings for humans and must be evaluated from different points of view. This principle boils down to the fact that each phenomenon must be approached taking into account the interests of various branches of production and the preservation of the restorative power of nature itself.
2. When using natural resources, it is necessary to be guided by the rule of regionality. According to the rule of regionality, the treatment of the same natural resource should be different depending on the specific conditions of the area and how this one is represented in it. It consists in the need for strict consideration of local conditions in the use and protection of natural resources.
3. The rule that follows from the interconnection of phenomena in nature is that the protection of one natural object can mean simultaneously the protection of other objects closely related to it. Thus, the protection of natural resources should be considered as a complex problem, and not as the sum of separate natural components that are independent of each other.
Natural resources must be both protected and used. This is the basic principle of nature conservation - protection in the process of its use. It is not the sum of individual natural resources that should be protected, but an ecosystem that includes various components connected by natural links that have developed in the process of long historical development.
Legal bases of nature protection. The rules and principles of nature protection are carried out by people when they are of a legislative nature. Currently, the Law of the Russian Federation "On Environmental Protection" (December 19, 1991) is in force. Its basis is the recognition of nature and its wealth as "the national treasure of the peoples of Russia, the natural basis of their socio-economic development and human well-being."
The main objectives of the environmental legislation of the Russian Federation are "regulating relations in the field of interaction between society and nature in order to preserve natural resources and natural human habitats, prevent the environmentally harmful impact of economic and other activities, strengthen law and order in the interests of present and future generations of people." The law formulates environmental requirements for all economic structures. These requirements are addressed to enterprises, organizations, institutions, regardless of the form of ownership and subordination, and to individual citizens.

Conclusion

Natural resources form the basis of the country's national wealth. Widespread involvement of natural resources in economic activity with their rational use can become the most important factor in ensuring socio-economic progress. According to available forecasts, countries and regions rich in raw materials. They can take leading positions in the civilized world in the coming decades.
Coming to the conclusion of my work, I would like to say that in any case, natural resources are not unlimited and not eternal. This makes it necessary to constantly take care of their conservation and reproduction. For this, the following basic conditions exist.
First, it is necessary to carefully, rationally use what nature gives a person (especially in relation to irreplaceable resources).
Secondly, where it is available, effective measures should be taken to replenish natural resources (to restore and increase the natural fertility of the land, to plant forests, to reproduce the reserves of reservoirs).
Thirdly, recycled raw materials and other production waste should be used as much as possible.
Fourthly, it is necessary to support in every possible way the ecological purity of production and nature management.

Bibliography

1. Lectures on the basics of nature management; P.Ya. Baklanov "Regional nature management: methods of study, assessment, management". Tutorial. – M.: Logos, 2002. – 160p.: ill.
2. N.G. Komarov "Geoecology and nature management", textbook for higher. Schools; - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2003. - 192p.
3. Internet resources: msuee.ru›htm l2/books/vvedenie/stranicy/6. htm.
4. V.G. "Principles of rational nature management" - Khabarovsk, 2000. - 144p.
5. V.M. Konstantinov, Yu.B. Chelidze "Ecological foundations of nature management" studies. Benefit. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy"; Mastery, 2001. - 208s.
etc.................

Basic environmental principles of rational nature management

All of the above leads to an unambiguous conclusion: both non-renewable and renewable resources of the planet are not infinite, and the more intensively they are used, the less of these resources remain for the next generations. Therefore, decisive measures are required everywhere for the rational use of natural resources. The era of reckless exploitation of nature by man is over, the biosphere

in dire need of protection, and natural resources should be protected and spent sparingly.

The basic principles of such an attitude to natural resources are set out in the international document "The concept of sustainable economic development"

, adopted at the second UN World Conference on Environment in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (see also topic 7).

About inexhaustible resources

The "concept of sustainable economic development" of development urgently requires a return to their widespread use and, where possible, the replacement of non-renewable resources with inexhaustible ones. First of all, this concerns the energy industry.

We've talked about solar panels before. While their efficiency

not very high, but this is a purely technical task, and in the future it will undoubtedly be successfully solved.

A promising source of energy, as already mentioned, is the wind, and in the flat open coastal areas, the use of modern "windmills" is very appropriate.

With the help of hot natural springs, you can not only treat many diseases, but also heat your home. As a rule, all the difficulties in the use of inexhaustible resources lie not in the fundamental possibilities of their use, but in the technological problems that have to be solved.

With regard to non-renewable resources, the "Concept of Sustainable Economic Development" states that their extraction should be made normative, i.e. reduce the rate of extraction of minerals from the bowels. The world community will have to abandon the race for leadership in the extraction of this or that natural resource, the main thing is not the volume of the extracted resource, but the efficiency of its use. This means a completely new approach to the problem of mining: it is necessary to extract not as much as each country can, but as much as is necessary for the sustainable development of the world economy. Of course, the world community will not come to such an approach immediately; it will take decades to implement it.

For modern Russia

mineral resources form the basis of its economy. Of course, first of all, it is oil and natural gas. Russia produces more than 17% of world oil, up to 25% of natural gas, 15% of coal. The main problem in their production is incomplete extraction from the subsoil: oil is pumped out of the well by 70% at best, coal - by no more than 80%. These are production losses, followed by equally large losses during processing.

It is necessary to create and introduce new technologies to increase the share of extracted oil, coal, and metal ores. Naturally, this requires a lot of money. In our country, the number of “unpromising” flooded mines is multiplying, which, with skillful operation, could still produce products of oil wells and drilling rigs abandoned in the tundra (it’s cheaper to drill new ones in order to quickly recoup the costs and pump, pump, so that subsoil more than 30% of fossils).

The task of a more complete extraction from the bowels is adjacent to another one - the integrated use of mineral raw materials. Generally, no metal occurs alone in nature. Analysis of some Ural ores

showed that in addition to the main metal mined (for example, copper), they contain a large number of rare and trace elements, and their cost often exceeds the cost of the main material. However, this valuable raw material very often remains in dumps due to the lack of technology for its extraction.

The next environmental problem of the mining complex is that it has become one of the largest sources of pollution and environmental damage. In places where minerals are mined, as a rule, forests, grass cover, and soil suffer. If mining is carried out in the tundra (and most of our underground wealth is in high-latitude regions), then nature is forced to heal the wounds received from people for decades. So, environmental protection principles require from the user of natural resources when carrying out mining operations:

the most complete extraction of minerals from the bowels and their rational use;

complex extraction of not one, but all components contained in the ores;

ensuring the preservation of the natural environment in the areas of mining operations;

safe work for people;

prevention of subsoil pollution during underground storage of oil, gas and other materials.

Regarding Renewable Resources

The "concept of sustainable economic development" requires that they be exploited at least within the framework of simple reproduction, and that their total number does not decrease over time. In the language of ecologists, this means: how much you have taken from nature of a renewable resource (for example, forests), return so much (in the form of forest plantations). In Russia, over the past 15 years, felling volumes have increased many times over (timber is one of the revenue items of the budget), and afforestation during this period was not carried out at all. At the same time, for the restoration of forests after felling, two or three forest plantations in terms of area are required: forests grow slowly, for the full reproduction of overmature, i.e. forest suitable for industrial use takes 35-40 years.

Land resources also require careful attitude and protection

. More than half of Russia's land fund is located in the permafrost zone; agricultural land in the Russian Federation occupies only about 13% of the area, and annually these areas are reduced as a result of erosion (destruction of the fertile layer), misuse (for example, for the construction of cottages), swamping, mining (industrial deserts appear on the site of agricultural land ). To protect against erosion, use:

windbreaks;

plowing without turning over the layer;

in hilly areas - plowing across the slopes and tinning the land;

regulation of livestock grazing.

Disturbed, polluted lands can be restored, this process is called reclamation

. Such restored lands can be used in four directions: for agricultural use, for forest plantations, for artificial reservoirs and for housing or capital construction. Reclamation consists of two stages: mining (preparation of territories) and biological (planting trees and low-demanding crops, such as perennial grasses, industrial legumes).

One of the most important environmental problems of our time is the protection of water resources.

. It has already been said that in terms of volume, freshwater sources (including glaciers) make up only 3% of the hydrosphere, and 97% are in the World Ocean. It is difficult to overestimate the role of the ocean in the life of the biosphere, which carries out the process of self-purification of water in nature with the help of the plankton living in it; stabilizing the planet's climate, being in constant dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere; producing huge biomass. But for life and economic activity, a person needs fresh water. The rapid growth of the world's population and the rapid development of the world economy have led to a shortage of fresh water not only in traditionally arid countries, but also in those that were recently considered quite water-sufficient. Almost all sectors of the economy, except for maritime transport and fishing, require fresh water. Why is she missing? During the creation of reservoirs, the flow of rivers was greatly reduced and evaporation and depletion of water bodies increased. Agriculture requires large volumes of water for irrigation, while evaporation also increases; huge quantities are spent in industry; The six billionth humankind also uses fresh water for life support. Finally, one of the most important problems of our time is pollution - both of the World Ocean and freshwater sources. Currently, wastewater pollutes more than a third of the world's river flow. There is only one conclusion from all that has been said: strict economy of fresh water and prevention of its pollution are necessary.

The depletion of natural resources is one of the main problems causing the global environmental crisis.

Resources - bodies and forces of nature necessary for man for life and economic activity.

Natural resource potential of the country- the combined ability of all natural resources of the country to ensure their own and healthy reproduction and living conditions for the population. Russia's natural resource potential is enormous. In principle, Russia is a completely self-sufficient country and does not experience any dependence on other states in terms of natural resources.

There are various types of classification of natural resources. Ecological the classification is based on the signs of exhaustibility and renewability of their reserves. According to these features, resources can be divided into practically inexhaustible and exhaustible.

Inexhaustible resources- solar energy, thermal (underground) heat, tides, ebbs, wind energy, precipitation.

Depending on the geographical location, different regions of the globe are gifted in different ways. solar energy. In low-latitude countries, with sufficient irrigation, two or more crops are harvested per year. Nowadays, solar panels are used in these regions, which make a significant contribution to energy supply. Russia is a northern country, a significant part of its territory is located in middle and high latitudes, so the accumulated solar energy is practically not used.

thermal heat- where it is, it is successfully used not only for medicinal purposes (hot springs), but also for heating homes. In Russia, the largest thermal springs are located in Kamchatka (Valley of Geysers), but they are not seriously used yet, as they are quite far from large settlements.

The energy of the ocean tides also has not yet found widespread use due to technological difficulties, but it is known, for example, that two power plants operate on the shore of the English Channel on a tidal wave: one in France, the other in Great Britain.

Wind energy - new, well-forgotten old. Even in past eras, man learned to use wind energy - windmills. At the end of the twentieth century. in northern Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium), quite a lot of modern “windmills” appeared - giant units, similar to fans, raised to a height of 20–30 m. Economists in these countries calculated that such a windmill pays off in two years, and then starts generating net income. True, another environmental problem arose during operation: such "windmills" are very noisy.

All other resources on the planet are exhaustible which, in turn, are subdivided into non-renewable and renewable.

Non-renewable resources– combustible minerals (oil, natural gas, coal, peat), metal ores, precious metals and building materials (clays, sandstones, limestones).

The more humanity extracts and uses them, the less remains for the next generations.

The world's largest oil-producing region is the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Jordan, Kuwait). Russia also has significant reserves oil and natural gas located mainly in Western Siberia. A kind of "oil center" is the Tyumen region. The largest reserves of natural gas are Urengoy, Yamburg (the largest in the world). The export of oil and gas today makes a significant contribution to the Russian budget.

The depletion of oil and gas reserves is the biggest resource problem of the 21st century. Therefore, modern scientific and technical thought in this century should be directed to the development of alternative energy sources, to how humanity can learn to live without gas and oil.

world coal reserves, according to geologists, will be enough for 2-3 centuries (if the rate of its production does not increase many times due to the depletion of oil and gas flows).

Reserves of metal ores in the bowels are also not unlimited, although the situation with them is not as tense as with fossil fuels. However, both in the present and in subsequent centuries, the rate of extraction of iron and non-ferrous metals will steadily increase, which, of course, should be taken into account when assessing their reserves and the time of their use. All this applies to noble metals.

It may seem that stocks of building materials(clays, sandstones, limestones) on Earth are endless. However, despite the fact that, compared to other non-renewable resources, stocks of building materials do not yet portend a crisis, it should be remembered that the rule “the more we extract, the less remains” applies to them.

Renewable resources - soils, flora and fauna, water and air (the latter are partially renewable).

Soils- a thin (no more than 10 m deep) surface fertile layer of the lithosphere, which feeds the entire flora and fauna, including humans and livestock. Soils perform a number of ecological functions, but fertility is an integrating one. The soil is quite an inert body compared to water and air, so its ability to self-purify is limited. And anthropogenic pollution that got into it, as a rule, accumulates, which leads to a decrease and even loss of fertility. In addition to pollution, a significant factor in the loss of fertility is erosion (wind, water) as a result of illiterate plowing, deforestation, technogenesis, etc.

green plants- form the basis of the biomass of the earth, these are producers that provide nutrition and oxygen to all other living organisms on the planet. Among natural plant communities, forests (40% of the total land area) are of the greatest importance as the national wealth of any people and the lungs of the entire planet. With the beginning of agriculture, the process of deforestation of the planet began. Now there are essentially three largest forests left on earth - the Amazon jungle, the Siberian taiga and the forests of Canada. Only Canada treats its forests competently and economically. Brazil barbarously cuts down forests - its national wealth.

In Russia, the situation is also deplorable. Predatory and illiterate forests are cut down in the European part (Karelia, Arkhangelsk region) and in Siberia. Export of wood is one of the revenue items of the country's budget. New forests grow at the site of logging in at least 40 years, and the rate of destruction is much higher than the rate of natural regeneration (recovery), therefore, new forest plantations are needed to prevent forest extinction, which have not been carried out recently. Meanwhile, in addition to economic benefits (wood), forests have a colossal recreational value, which can sometimes exceed the value of the products received from them. However, another problem arises here: growing cities are exerting an increasing anthropogenic load on the surrounding forests, the townspeople litter and trample them. The occurrence of fires due to human fault is also one of the factors of forest loss.

Russian forests are of not only national but also planetary significance, supplying oxygen to Europe and exerting a global influence on general climate change. Scientists believe that the preservation of the colossal forests of Siberia will help stop the process of global warming of the Earth's climate.

Animal world- refers only to wild animals that are in a state of natural nature. Animals experience enormous anthropogenic pressure associated with the global environmental crisis (loss of biodiversity, etc.). Under these conditions, a number of European countries have introduced a ban on hunting on their territory. Russia so far only regulates it, but these restrictions are not being implemented, poaching, especially fish poaching, is flourishing.

For example, sea fish goes to spawn in fresh water, it rises up large and small rivers. Here it falls into the alignments of dams and the network of poachers. As a result, the number of sturgeon in the Caspian Sea (now there is a complete ban on catching sturgeon) and salmon in the Far East has decreased tenfold.

Partially renewable resources - air, water.

Water - On a global scale, the planet's water resources are inexhaustible, but they are distributed very unevenly and in some places turn out to be severely scarce. In nature, the water cycle is constantly going on, accompanied by its self-purification. The ability to self-purify is an amazing and unique property of nature, which allows it to withstand anthropogenic impacts. Fresh water reserves on the planet are less than 2%, clean even less. This is a serious environmental problem, especially for countries located in arid zones.

Atmospheric air - like water, it is a unique and necessary natural resource for all living beings, capable of self-purification. The World Ocean plays a huge role in this process, as well as in the water cycle. But the assimilation potential of nature is not infinite. Fresh water used for drinking, atmospheric air necessary for breathing, now need additional purification, since the biosphere can no longer cope with the colossal anthropogenic load.

Decisive measures are required everywhere for the rational use of natural resources. The biosphere needs to be protected, and natural resources need to be saved.

The basic principles of such an attitude to natural resources are set out in the international document "The Concept of Sustainable Economic Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Concept"), adopted at the Second UN World Conference on Environmental Protection in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

About inexhaustible resources The “concept” urgently calls for a return to their widespread use, and where possible, replace non-renewable resources with inexhaustible ones. For example, coal can be replaced by solar or wind energy.

In a relationship non-renewable resources in the "Concept" it is noted that their production should be made normative, i.e. reduce the rate of extraction of minerals from the bowels. The world community will have to abandon the race for leadership in the extraction of a particular natural resource, the main thing is not the volume of the extracted resource, but the efficiency of its use. This means a completely new approach to the problem of mining: it is necessary to extract not as much as each country can, but as much as is necessary for the sustainable development of the world economy. Of course, the world community will not come to such an approach immediately; it will take decades to implement it.

For modern Russia, mineral resources form the basis of the economy. Russia produces more than 17% of world oil, up to 25% of gas, 15% of coal. The main problem in their production is incomplete extraction from the subsoil: oil is pumped out of the well by 70% at best, coal is mined by no more than 80%, no less large losses during processing.

The creation and implementation of new technologies will increase the share of extracted oil, coal, and metal ores. This requires a lot of money. In Russia, the number of "unpromising" flooded mines and abandoned oil wells is increasing.

The task of a more complete extraction of minerals from the bowels is adjacent to another one - complex use of mineral raw materials. Analysis of some ores of the Urals showed that in addition to the main metal mined (for example, copper), they contain a large number of rare and trace elements, the cost of which often exceeds the cost of the main material. However, this valuable raw material remains in the dumps due to the lack of technology for its extraction.

In addition, the mining complex has become one of the largest sources of pollution and environmental disturbance. In mining areas, as a rule, forests, grass cover, soil suffer; in the tundra, for example, nature has to recover and cleanse itself for decades.

The principles of environmental protection require the user of natural resources to:

The most complete extraction of minerals from the bowels and their rational use;

Complex extraction of not one, but all components contained in the ores;

Ensuring the preservation of the natural environment in the areas of mining operations;

Safety for people during mining;

Prevention of subsoil pollution during underground storage of oil, gas and other combustible materials.

Renewable resources- The "concept" requires that their exploitation be carried out at least within the framework of simple reproduction and their total number does not decrease over time. From the point of view of environmentalists, this means: how much they took from nature (for example, forests), and return so much (forest plantations).

Forest – according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the total annual losses in the world for the first 5 years of the XXI century. amounted to 7.3 million hectares. Partially, the loss of forests in some countries is offset by an increase in their area in others. Every year, the area of ​​the Earth's forests is reduced by 6,120 million hectares (0.18%). This is somewhat less than between 1990 and 2000, when the average annual loss of the Earth's forest area was 8.9 million hectares. The maximum rate of forest area reduction is typical for South America (4.3 million hectares per year) and Africa (4.0 million hectares per year). In Oceania, the annual loss of forest area is 356 thousand hectares, and in North and Central America - 333 thousand hectares. The situation in Asia has changed significantly (excluding the Asian part of Russia). In the 1990s, the loss of forest area in Asia was about 800 thousand hectares per year, and now it has changed to an annual increase of about a million hectares. This is due to large-scale afforestation in China. In Europe (including Russia as a whole), the total forest area both increased in the 1990s and continues to increase at present, albeit at a slower rate. The average annual increase in forest area in Europe (including Russia as a whole) is for the period from 2000 to 2005. about 660 thousand hectares, and the increase in the accumulated wood reserves in these forests is about 340 million m 3 per year. It is estimated that reforestation efforts over the next half century will result in a 10% increase in forest area. However, reducing the rate of deforestation does not solve the problems already created by this process.

The rate of deforestation varies greatly by region. Currently, the rate of deforestation is highest (and increasing) in developing countries located in the tropics. In the 1980s, tropical forests lost 9.2 million hectares, and in the last decade of the 20th century. – 8.6 million hectares.

Humanity has been deforesting for a long time, using wood for construction and fuel, or reclaiming land from the forest for agriculture. Later, a person had a need to create infrastructure (cities, roads) and mining, which spurred the process of deforestation of territories. However, the main reason for deforestation is an increase in the need for land for grazing and planting crops.

Forestry is not able to produce as much food as a land cleared of trees. Tropical and taiga forests are practically unable to maintain an adequate standard of living for the population, since edible resources are too scattered. Slash-and-burn farming is used by 200 million indigenous peoples around the world to exploit the ash-rich forest soil for short periods of time.

In Russia, over the past 15 years, felling volumes have increased many times over (wood is one of the revenue sources of the budget), and forest plantations were not carried out during this period at all. At the same time, for the restoration of forests after felling, 2–3 times the area of ​​forest plantations is required, for the reproduction of a full-fledged forest, 35–40, 50 years are required.

The lack of necessary measures leads to the fact that about 1 million hectares of forests per year are currently dying due to fires, pests and diseases. Forest resources are affected by natural and anthropogenic factors. Thus, clear cuts from 1987 to 1993 were carried out on an area of ​​about 1 million hectares per year. The impact of fires is extremely noticeable: from 1984 to 1992 on 1.6 million hectares. The total damage, according to estimates for 1996, amounted to 26.5 million hectares of forests, with 99% of them in Siberia and the Far East. In Central Siberia (the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory), where a significant part of the boreal forests is concentrated (21.5% of the forest area of ​​Russia), the main exogenous factors that cause the loss of the forest fund are fires, logging, outbreaks of silkworm mass reproduction. Periodically, damage caused by fires, pests, diseases, and industrial pollution in the forest-steppe and southern taiga forests of the region affects 62–85% of their area; as a result, only 5–10% of virgin communities of mature and overmature plantations have been preserved. In recent years, negative processes in the conservation, use and reproduction of forest resources have increased. There is a decrease in the volume of timber harvesting, and at the same time, the area of ​​forests destroyed by fires is growing. So, from 1990 to 1996, forest areas were cut down on an area of ​​430 thousand hectares (21%), destroyed by fires - 840 thousand hectares (42%), silkworm - on 740 thousand hectares (37%). Gas and dust emissions from the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine killed or severely degraded about 500,000 hectares. Forest areas affected by these emissions are located up to 200 km away, and at a distance of 80–100 km, survival is almost zero. At the same time, the forest services of the Krasnoyarsk Territory are carrying out certain work on reforestation - as of January 1, 1998, the area of ​​​​reforestation lands of the forest fund amounted to 1,795.4 thousand hectares, of which 989.1 thousand hectares were naturally restored, 402 thousand hectares thanks to the promotion of natural regeneration and 4,04.9 thousand hectares - through the creation of forest plantations.

Land resources- the basis for obtaining crops, the main wealth on which our existence depends.

Essentially, soil is a “non-renewable” natural resource. To restore 1 cm 2 of soil, depending on natural and climatic conditions, from several years to several thousand years is required. However, with proper use, soil, unlike other natural resources, can not only not age, wear out, but even improve, increase, and increase its fertility.

The areas of fertile soils are catastrophically reduced all over the world: they are polluted, destroyed by air and water erosion, swampy, saline, desertified, withdrawn from agricultural use due to alienation (allocation for construction and other purposes inconsistent with their (soils) main purpose). Irreversible losses of arable land only due to soil degradation reached 1.5 million hectares per year. The monetary value of these losses is at least $2 billion.

Occupying the vast territory of Eastern Europe and all of Northern Asia, Russia has a huge land fund of 1,709.8 million hectares. Its soil cover is represented by many different types of soils - from arctic deserts and tundras, taiga podzols and swamps to forest-steppe and steppe chernozems, chestnut, brown and saline soils of semi-deserts, subtropical brown soils and red-colored terra rossa. More than half of the area of ​​Russia is occupied by various northern soils and about a third - by the soils of mountain landscapes, mostly also cold ones. Half of Russia's area is covered with permafrost. Only a quarter of the country's land fund is favorable for agriculture to varying degrees, since the northern and middle forest zones lack solar heat. The annual sum of average daily temperatures above 10 o C in these places does not exceed 1,400 degree days. In the southern continental regions, there is a lack of atmospheric moisture (less than 400 mm per year). Only 13% of the territory of Russia is occupied by agricultural land, and arable land is even less - only 7%, with more than half of the arable land concentrated on black soil. Annually, these areas are reduced as a result of erosion, misuse (construction, landfills), waterlogging, mining (open-pit coal mining).

To protect against erosion, use:

windbreaks;

plowing (without turning over the layer);

plowing across slopes and grassing (in hilly areas);

regulation of livestock grazing.

Disturbed polluted lands are restored by agricultural and forest reclamation. Land reclamation can be carried out through the creation of reservoirs, housing construction. Lands can be left for self-overgrowing.

Water resources- in terms of volume, freshwater sources (including glaciers) make up about 3% of the hydrosphere, the rest is the World Ocean. Russia has significant reserves of water resources. The territory is washed by the waters of twelve seas belonging to three oceans, as well as the inland Caspian Sea. On the territory of Russia there are over 2.5 million large and small rivers, more than 2 million lakes, hundreds of thousands of swamps and other objects of the water fund.

Self-purification of water occurs due to the plankton living in the water. The World Ocean stabilizes the planet's climate, is in constant dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere, and produces a huge biomass.

But for life and economic activity, a person needs fresh water. The rapid growth of the world's population and the rapid development of the world economy have led to a shortage of fresh water not only in traditionally dry countries, but also in those that were recently considered quite water-rich. Almost all sectors of the economy, except for maritime transport and fishing, require fresh water. Each inhabitant of the Russian Federation annually accounts for 30 thousand m 3 of total river flow, 530 m 3 of total water intake and 90–95 m 3 of domestic water supply (i.e., 250 liters per day). In large cities, specific water consumption is 320 l / day, in Moscow - 400 l / day. The average water supply of our population is one of the highest in the world. For comparison: USA - 320, Great Britain - 170, Japan - 125, India - 65, Iraq - 16 liters per day. However, compared with many other countries, fresh water is spent extremely uneconomically in our country. At the same time, in a number of regions in the south of Russia, in the Volga region and the Trans-Urals, there are difficulties in providing the population with high-quality drinking water.

During the creation of reservoirs, the flow of rivers was greatly reduced and evaporation and depletion of water bodies increased. Agriculture requires large volumes of water for irrigation, while evaporation also increases; huge quantities are spent in industry; Domestic needs also require fresh water.

Pollution of the World Ocean and fresh sources is also one of the environmental problems. Currently, wastewater pollutes more than a third of the world's river runoff, so there is a need for strict savings on fresh water and prevention of its pollution.

Previous

Every year, about one hundred billion tons of resources, including fuel, are extracted from the bowels of the Earth, ninety billion of which are subsequently turned into waste. Therefore, the issue of resource conservation in our days has become very relevant. If at the beginning of the last century only twenty chemical elements of the periodic table were used, then in our time - more than ninety. Over the past four decades, the consumption of resources has increased twenty-five times, and the amount of production waste - a hundred times.

The rational use of natural resources is the most important problem of modern society. The development of progress in science and technology is accompanied by a negative impact on nature. Natural conditions are something that a person cannot influence, climate can be cited as an example. Natural resources are natural phenomena or objects used to meet the material needs of society or for production, contributing to the creation and maintenance of the conditions necessary for the existence of mankind, as well as to improve the standard of living.

The rational use of natural resources is the result of their reasonable study, which prevents the possibility of harmful consequences of the activity of the person himself, increases and maintains the productivity and objects of nature. Natural resources can be divided into several main types: practically inexhaustible (atmospheric air, solar energy, internal heat, and so on), renewable (plant, soil), non-renewable (habitat space, river energy, and so on).

A rational renewable type should be based on balanced spending, as well as renewal, providing for their reproduction. Their reserves are usually restored faster than they are used. The rational use of natural types should be based on their economical and integrated extraction and use, as well as on the disposal of all kinds of waste. Natural resources can also be divided into potential and real. Potential resources are involved in economic turnover, while real ones are actively used. Unfortunately, today there is a problem of depletion of natural resources. Their level decreases already to such an extent when it becomes insufficient for a person. Due to the depletion of natural resources, their further development becomes more economical and environmentally inappropriate. With uncontrolled use, some may disappear, and the process of their self-renewal will stop. The recovery period of some of them is several hundred or even thousands of years.

Any human interference entails the destruction of the unity between nature itself and man. The continued existence of life on Earth will directly depend on the growth of production, which in turn depends on the depletion of natural resources. Therefore, natural resources and their rational use should be under the strict control of all mankind as a whole. It is necessary to rationally use natural resources, prevent possible harmful consequences of human activity, maintain and increase the productivity of both individual objects of nature and natural complexes as a whole.

The correct use of natural resources is the choice of a more suitable option to achieve an economic, social, environmental effect in the use of natural resources. Of particular relevance is their integrated use, which involves the use of low-waste and reuse of secondary resources. At the same time, raw materials are saved and pollution of the environment by products of production is prevented.

There are a lot of natural resources on our planet. These include water bodies and soil, air and minerals, animals and plants. All these benefits people have been using since ancient times. However, today a sharp question has arisen about the rational use of these gifts of nature, since people use them super-intensively. Some resources are on the verge of depletion and need to be restored as soon as possible. In addition, all resources are not distributed equally over the surface of the planet, and in terms of the rate of renewal, there are those that recover quickly, and there are those that require tens or even hundreds of years for this.

Ecological principles of resource use

In the era of not just scientific and technological progress, but in the post-industrial era, environmental protection is of particular importance, since in the course of development people actively influence nature. This leads to excessive use of natural resources, pollution of the biosphere and climate change.

  • accounting for the laws of nature;
  • protection and protection of the environment;
  • rational use of resources.

The basic ecological principle that all people must follow is that we are only a part of nature, but not its rulers. And this means that it is necessary not only to take from nature, but also to give, to restore its resources. For example, due to intensive cutting of trees, millions of kilometers of forests on the planet have been destroyed, so there is an urgent need to make up for the loss and plant trees in the place of cut down forests. It would be useful to improve the ecology of cities with new green spaces.

Main actions of rational use of nature

For those who are not aware of environmental issues, the concept of rational use of resources seems to be a very vague issue. In fact, everything is very simple:

  • it is necessary to reduce their intervention in nature;
  • as little as possible to use natural resources unnecessarily;
  • protect nature from pollution (do not pour pollutants into water and soil, do not litter);
  • abandon cars in favor of ecological transport (bicycles);
  • save water, electricity, gas;
  • refuse disposable devices and goods;
  • benefit society and nature (grow plants, make rational inventions, use eco-technologies).

This list of recommendations "How to rationally use natural resources" does not end there. Each person has the right to decide for himself how he will dispose of natural goods, but modern society calls for frugality and rationality so that we can leave our descendants the natural resources that they will need to live.