The New Concept of Natural Resource and Its Derivations

Abstract

As the real world changes faster than the theoretical concepts formulated to explain it, after a certain elapsed time these concepts lose accuracy. They start gradually lagging behind the facts they once explained until they became rather narrowed and imprecise. Considering that, concepts have to be reviewed periodically to incorporate new facts and perspectives in order to converge their meanings to the new realities. This research aimed to reveal faults and inaccuracies concerning the concept of natural resources and its derivations. Additionally, we intended to update and expand them in order to recover their weakened explanatory power. Methodologically, this research undertook a conceptual revision based on authors of various backgrounds. Then, these concepts were confronted to new facts to corroborate their current inaccuracy. Thus, we drew some conclusions that allowed us to present a new definition of natural resources. To replace the dualist definition of renewable X non renewable resource, we proposed a new classification considering durable and exhaustible resources, being the first divided in four subcategories: renewable, reproducible, naturally recyclable and inexhaustible. The exhaustible resources, by their turn, were divided in two subcategories: finite and renewable badly used.

Keywords

• natural resource,renewable,reproducible,exhaustible,inexhaustible,naturally recyclable

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