The Relationship between Natural Resources and Development

The Relationship between Natural Resources and Development

Natural resources are an inevitable necessity of human growth and development. We need the environment and the natural resources within it to sustain and provide us with food, water and shelter to achieve the normative stages of human development from child to adult. But the meaning of development can be multi- layered and defined exceptionally different depending on cultural, social and economic values. Development itself can refer not only to the physiological needs and growth of people but the mental and social capabilities and achievements of people. In this case, natural resources such as food act only as a tool to keep the body intact so that the mind can develop further in social and intellectual realms. However despite the obvious differences in interpretation, development has been predominantly defined and accepted through the western world as the rate, sum and growth of consumption of commodities and n...