Our Environment Contents

4. Resources

Renewable resources are materials which can be produced or recycled naturally within normal timescales of human activity. 

Sunlight is a renewable resource

There are many examples of renewable resources, for example: wood (in forests), solar energy, and water (with the exception of groundwater, which from a practical point of view is generally considered a stock resource due to the timescales required to recharge underground aquifers). Most renewable resources lend themselves to management either in natural conditions (e.g. fish in the sea) or in artificial conditions (e.g. fish in fish farms). In order to achieve a sustainable exploitation of renewable resources, the amount harvested must not exceed the amount replenished.

Can you identify three examples of renewable resources?