Environmental Science & Sustainability: Natural Resources, Exploitation, and Food Systems

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering natural resource depletion, forest and mineral exploitation, dams, impacts on tribal communities, food security statistics, and the ecological consequences of modern agriculture.

Natural Resources

Essential physical and biological materials derived from the environment—including water, forests, land, minerals, and fossil fuels—that sustain human life and socioeconomic development.

Deforestation

The clearing and permanent conversion of forested ecosystems for agriculture, industry, road construction, and human settlements, leading to habitat loss and disturbed water cycles.

Global Forest Area (FAO 2025)

The total global forest coverage estimated at $4.14\text{ billion hectares}$, representing approximately $32\%$ of the Earth's total land area.

Primary Forest Management Objectives (FAO 2025)

The primary management designations assigned to global forests: production ($29\%$), biodiversity conservation ($12\%$), soil and water protection ($9\%$), and social services ($5\%$).

Global Annual Deforestation Rate Trend

The worldwide deforestation rate that declined from $17.6\text{ million hectares per year}$ in 1990–2000 to $10.9\text{ million hectares per year}$ in 2015–2025, with a net annual forest loss of $4.12\text{ million hectares}$.

Over-Exploitation of Forest Resources

The unsustainable extraction of timber, fuelwood, and non-wood products at a pace faster than natural regeneration, causing ecosystem degradation, soil erosion, and diminished carbon storage.

Timber Extraction

The harvesting and collection of trees from forests to produce commercial wood products, including timber, paper, furniture, fuelwood, and building materials.

Mining

The process of extracting valuable, non-renewable minerals and geological ores—such as coal, iron ore, bauxite, and copper—from the Earth's crust via surface (open-cast) or underground operations.

Bauxite

A mineral ore mined primarily to extract aluminium, which is used in manufacturing aircraft, beverage cans, and electrical cables.

Acid Mine Drainage

The outflow of highly acidic, contaminated water from abandoned or active mining sites into nearby rivers and water supplies, devastating aquatic life.

Sinkholes (Mining Impact)

Sudden ground collapses triggered when subsurface cavities formed by underground mining weaken and destabilize the overlying land.

Dams

Engineered barriers built across rivers to store or control water for irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, municipal drinking supplies, and flood control.

Tribal Displacement

The forced relocation of indigenous forest communities due to large dams, timber logging, and mining projects, disrupting their cultural heritage and access to traditional resources.

Sustainable Development

An approach to resource management that meets the economic and survival needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Food Security

A state in which all individuals have regular physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to maintain a healthy life.

Four Pillars of Food Security

The critical dimensions of food systems: Availability (sufficient supply), Access (affordability and distribution), Utilization (nutritional value and safety), and Stability (consistent availability over time).

Global Hunger (2025)

The estimated $645\text{ million}$ people worldwide facing chronic undernutrition and food deprivation.

Global Food Insecurity (2025)

The estimated $2.1\text{ billion}$ people globally who experience moderate or severe difficulty accessing adequate food.

Global Food Waste (2022)

The $1.05\text{ billion tonnes}$ of food wasted at the retail, food-service, and consumer household levels, equating to nearly one-fifth of all consumer-ready food.

Overgrazing

An unsustainable agricultural practice where livestock feed on grassland faster than the vegetation can regenerate, exposing loose topsoil to compaction and erosion.

Modern Agriculture

Advanced agricultural practices that use high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, mechanized machinery, and precision irrigation to maximize crop production.

Monocropping

The repeated commercial cultivation of a single crop species across large farm areas, which depletes specific soil nutrients and reduces ecological biodiversity.

Eutrophication

Water pollution caused when excess chemical fertilizer nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) wash into waterways, inducing dense algal growth and suffocating aquatic life.

Pest Resistance

The acquired biological ability of crop-damaging insects and weeds to survive chemical pesticide treatments after repeated, long-term exposure.