Is Wildlife a Natural Resource?

What are your thoughts on, should wildlife be classified as a natural resource?

What is a natural resource?

These are resources that exist without any actions of humankind.

They can either be biotic or abiotic, depending on their origin. The biotic ones include forests, wildlife, and fossil fuels. While abiotic include land, air, earth elements, metals, among others. The main difference here is, biotic comes from living and organic materials and abiotic comes from non-living and non-organic materials.

What we are most used to when it comes to natural resources classification, is based on their recovery rate. That is, renewables and non-renewables.

• Renewable natural resources have the ability to recover naturally
• Non-renewable natural resources don’t give us many options. They either form really slowly or involve a process that does not naturally form in the environment.

So, Wildlife is a natural resource

It is important to note that both renewable and non-renewable natural resources are at risk of extinction if our consumption exceeds their replenishing rate. Also, the conditions we subject them to plays a big role.

Understanding how privileged we are to have these natural resources, and truly embracing sustainability. We should not have a problem with over-exploitation. But greed and too many thoughts on profits, have made us take more than we should.

The problem here is that we will end up losing everything. And deny future generations an opportunity to have their hands on the current natural resources.

Sustainability is the key

Lately, everyone especially brands continue to market their products as sustainable and eco-friendly. This is as people continue to include climate change awareness in our lifestyle.

Sadly, it has also promoted green-washing. Where whatever is being demonstrated is far from the truth, and doing more harm to our planet.

Nature does heal itself when allowed time and the needed conditions. But it can also lose a lot if we continue to subject it to negative human activities.

Think of it as a wound. A wound will only heal if you simply allowed it a conducive environment and some medications. If you have a good immune system and take care of yourself. Some wounds may end up healing themselves. Our body will work it out. You just have to keep the wound clean, and no further damage.

How do we protect Wildlife from disappearing?

Just like other natural resources, wildlife is not immune to extinction.

As land-use keep changing, urbanization spreading towards national parks, wildlife corridors disappearance, and not forgetting the unresolve human-wildlife conflicts. More people are slowly losing meaning in helping wildlife thriving.

Local communities living within wildlife spaces are key. They are the real wildlife heroes, who have been and continue to share their living spaces with wildlife. But this may not translate to all of them.

Just the other day, some people residing along a wildlife corridor said that they preferred farming and not other forms of land use that allow the existing relationship with wildlife.

Most if not all wildlife corridors and dispersal areas fall under private land. Where owners have the freedom to do what they want on their land, without necessarily thinking of how it affects wildlife living arrangements.

Human-wildlife conflicts continue to hurt both humans and wildlife. Wildlife continues to die in big numbers, or transferred to other conservation areas for being troublesome to the neighbors. Which also leaves some negative impacts on the transferred wildlife. The compensation process is tiresome, and long where people get frustrated. To a point of people taking action, or protesting, but still not getting what they are requesting.

To be able to save wildlife, we need such issues resolved and taken seriously.

Conclusion

We need wildlife, and it needs us to ensure it survives extinction.