Resource depletion

Resource depletion is most commonly used in reference to farming, fishing, mining, water usage, and the consumption of fossil fuels.

[10] Resource extraction industries make up a large part of the economic activity in developing countries.

This, in turn, leads to higher levels of resource depletion and environmental degradation in developing countries.

[11] Measurement of social value is sought through ecosystem services, which are defined as the benefits of nature to households, communities and economies.

[9] Some economists want to include measurement of the benefits arising from public goods provided by nature, but currently there are no market indicators of value.

A United States Geological Survey (USGS) study found a significant long-term trend over the 20th century for non-renewable resources such as minerals to supply a greater proportion of the raw material inputs to the non-fuel, non-food sector of the economy; an example is the greater consumption of crushed stone, sand, and gravel used in construction.

Technological improvements have allowed humans to dig deeper and access lower grades and different types of ore over that time.

Deforestation also leads to extinction of animals and plants, changes to the local climate, and displacement of indigenous people who live in forests.

The role of forests in capturing and storing carbon and mitigating climate change is also important for the agricultural sector.

[36] The reason for this linkage is because the effects of climate change on agriculture pose new risks to global food systems.

[45] Regions particularly susceptible to overfishing include the Arctic, coastal east Africa, the Coral Triangle (located between the Pacific and Indian oceans), Central and Latin America, and the Caribbean.

[46] The depletion of fish stocks can lead to long-term negative consequences for marine ecosystems, economies, and food security.

Habitat degradation is caused by the depletion of resources, in which human activities are the primary driving force.

This occurs mainly because, due to overfishing, many fish species are unable to naturally sustain their populations in these damaged ecosystems.

[59] Some loss of wetlands resulted from natural causes such as erosion, sedimentation, subsidence, and a rise in the sea level.

[58] In some countries ranchers have also moved their property onto wetlands for grazing due to the nutrient rich vegetation.

Groundwater supplies wells and aquifers for private, agricultural, and public use and is used by more than a third of the world's population every day for their drinking water.

[65] Groundwater is considered to be a non-renewable resource because less than six percent of the water around the world is replenished and renewed on a human timescale of 50 years.

[68] Overusing groundwater, old or young, can lower subsurface water levels and dry up streams, which could have a huge effect on ecosystems on the surface.

This is in part from induced leakage from the land surface, confining layers or adjacent aquifers that contain saline or contaminated water.

[68] Worldwide the magnitude of groundwater depletion from storage may be so large as to constitute a measurable contributor to sea-level rise.

[68] Artificial recharge of storm flow and treated municipal wastewater, has successfully reversed groundwater declines.

[68] In the future improved infiltration and recharge technologies will be more widely used to maximize the capture of runoff and treated wastewater.

EOD is calculated by the Global Footprint Network, and organization that develops annual impact reports, based on data bout resource use in the previous year.

[69] World biocapacity refers to the total amount of natural resources that Earth can regenerate in a year.

[69] According to The World Counts, a source which collects data from a number of organizations, research institutes, and news services, and produces statistical countdown clocks that illustrate the negative trends related to the environment and other global challenges, humanity is in trouble if current consumption patterns continue.

[72][73] Researchers who produced an update of the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth report find that many people deny the existence of the problem of scarcity, including many leading scientists and politicians.

[74] This may be due, for example, to an unwillingness to change one's own consumption patterns or to share scarce natural resources more equally, or to a psychological defence mechanism.