Resources and Development

Everything available in the environment that can be used to satisfy human needs can be termed as a Resource, provided it meets three specific criteria:
- Technologically Accessible: The technical knowledge and tools required to extract and utilize the resource must be available.
- Economically Feasible: The economic cost of extracting and using the resource must yield viable benefits.
- Culturally Acceptable: The resource and its extraction methods must be accepted by society.

Human beings interact with their environment through an essential triangular relationship involving three interconnected elements:
- Physical Environment (Nature): The primary source of natural materials and raw elements.
- Technology: The mechanisms, techniques, and tools applied to convert natural materials into useful forms.
- Institutions: The structured organizations created to systematically harness technology and drive economic development.
Human Beings serve as the central connecting force that interacts with nature using technology to establish institutions.

Classification on the Basis of Origin:
- Biotic Resources: Resources that possess life.
- Abiotic Resources: Resources that do not possess life.
Classification on the Basis of Exhaustibility:
- Resource categories organized according to their potential for depletion or renewal.