From the week ending April 25, 1997
Topic Essay: Renewable and Non-renewable Resources
Liam Carr - University of Southern California
Quick! Think of as many renewable and non-renewable resources as you can.
Time's up. How many did you think of? I hope you all said oil and gas were
non-renewable resources. As for renewable resources, some of you probably
came up with water, trees, food. Did you say any others? Did any of you say
coral reefs?Believe it or not, almost anything can become a resource. It all
depends on whether or not humans have a need or use for it. Gas for cars,
food for the table, and water are all resources. Here on South Caicos, one of
the biggest resources is coral reefs. But is it renewable or non-renewable?
Well, consider the facts: coral reefs are made up of coral animals capable of
reproducing; coral grows incredibly slowly; coral are only found in tropical and
sub-tropical waters; and damage done by humans on reefs from diving, boating
accidents, and fishing can last for decades.So do you think that coral reefs are
renewable or non-renewable? Actually, they are both! Coral reefs are
considered a "potentially renewable" resource. Given proper care and
conservation, humans can use the reefs for whatever they want for as long as
they want. But because of their slow growth, corals are susceptible to
permanent damage. With misuse, a coral reef can die without any chance of
recovering. With the loss of the corals themselves, all the plants and animals
that live on the reef would die too. And considering that coral reefs are called
the "rain forests of the oceans," such a loss would be devastating to the marine
world. Also, given their limited distribution throughout the world, when the
coral lose a place to live, they have no place to go.Here at The Center for
Marine Resource Studies, we spend a lot of time thinking about the impacts
that humans have on reefs and how to minimize their damage. It takes a big
effort to conserve coral reefs when they are so sought after for so many
reasons.
Faculty Essay: Renewable and Non-renewable Resources
Tomas Vergel C. Jamir - Field Director, SFS Center for Marine
Resource Studies
A natural resource is usually classified as renewable or non-renewable. This
depends on whether it can regenerate itself and be harvested at a sustainable
level or not. A non-renewable resource is fixed in quantity. Renewable
resources can be harvested in a sustainable manner for indefinite periods of
time if managed properly.
Renewable does not mean inexhaustible. For example, fishery resources can be
exhausted if they are not managed in a sustainable manner. Suppose 100 fish
are in a pond where 10 fish are added per year. Harvesting 10 fish each year
will still maintain stock levels to 100 fish. Ten fish are the sustainable yield of
this fishery. Catching more than this will exceed the natural rate of replacement
and the pond eventually will be emptied of fish.
The concept of sustainable yield does not apply to non-renewable resources.
Estimates of resource amounts, extraction rates and length of extraction time
are what’s important. The current issue over non-renewable resources center
on whether there are limits to growth or whether resources are infinite. In
general, prices increase as resources get scarce. This encourages the
development of new and more efficient processing methods, better utilization of
resources and development of substitute materials. As a result, the length of
time until exhaustion is pushed further back making resources virtually infinite.
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