Managing Renewable Natural Resources In Developing Countries

Much of the improvement in material living standards in the Third World is attributable to the exploitation of nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels and metallic ores, and to the exploitation of renewable resource systems at rates that cannot be sustained. This state of affairs presents a serious problem for the future; just as may be the case for the developed regions, a long-term perspective shows clearly that Third World countries must return to a greater dependence on renewable resources while also avoiding irreversible degradation of renewable systems and learning to manage these systems more productively. The authors of this book examine major issues in the four main renewable resource sectors—fisheries, forestry, agriculture, and water—with emphasis on the problems and benefits attendant to various use patterns and management practices.

This Volumes Provides The Practitioner Access To The Most Practical And Recent Thinking On The Subject Of Natural Resource Management Including Models, Theories And Paradigms.

v. 2. Population, resources and development -- v.3. Ecological degradation of land

Natural capital constitutes a quarter of total wealth in low-income countries. This publication demonstrates that natural resources can contribute to growth, employment, exports and fiscal revenues and highlights the importance of policies encouraging the sustainable management of these resources.

Over time, scientists, technologists, and resource managers in affiuent countries have devised and institutionalized methodologies for exploiting and managing natural resources in their own environments with considerable success. In doing so, they have provided models, at least of development and affiuence, that the less developed countries seek to employ. An international symposium involving both invited and contributed papers addressing the technological and institutional challenges of sustainable development of natural resources in the Third World was staged in September 1985 in Columbus, Ohio, co-sponsored by The Argonne National Laboratory of Argonne, Illinois, The Tropical Renewable Resources Program and the School of Natural Resources of The Ohio State University, and the United States Agency for International Development. This volume presents selected papers from the symposium.

'Natural resources' are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified (natural) form. A natural resource's value rests in the amount of the material available and the demand for it. There are 2 types of natural resources: renewable and non-renewable. Natural Resources include soil, timber, oil, minerals, and other goods taken more or less from the Earth. Both extraction of the basic resource and refining it into a purer, directly usable form, (e.g., metals, refined oils) are generally considered natural-resource activities, even though the latter may not necessarily occur near the former. A nation's natural resources often determine its wealth in the world economic system. In recent years, the depletion of natural capital and attempts to move to sustainable development have been a major focus of development agencies. This is of particular concern in rainforest regions, which hold most of the Earth's natural biodiversity -- irreplaceable genetic natural capital. Conservation of natural resources is the major focus of natural capitalism, environmentalism, the ecology movement, and Green Parties. Some view this depletion as a major source of social unrest and conflicts in developing nations. This book gathers and presents important research in the field.