NATURAL RESOURCES AND INDUSTRY INTRODUCTION TO CANADA’S RESOURCES

NATURAL RESOURCES Natural resources are components of the Earth that humans use but are not man-made. They are substances such as minerals, forests, water, fertile land, and animals that can be used for economic gain. Natural resources come in two basic categories: Renewable resources regenerate themselves naturally within approximately 100 years or less. Non-renewable resources take millions of years to regenerate.

NATURAL RESOURCES In Canada, our main renewable resources include: Agriculture (farming) Forestry (lumber) Commercial fisheries (fishing for profit) Our main non-renewable resources include: Rocks and minerals (mining) Fossil fuels (oil and gas) In addition, our freshwater is a special resource that is essential to our country!

USING OUR RESOURCES They won’t last forever, so it’s important to use our resources wisely! Mining a resource is exploiting a renewable resource in an unsustainable way (bad!) Sustained yield management is a process that ensures the amount of a resource used does not exceed how much is renewed each year (good!)

USING OUR RESOURCES The resources we harvest are used by various industries. Industry isn’t always a bad thing because industry can: Provide jobs Drive the economy Improve our standard of living

TYPES OF INDUSTRY Primary Industries: Extracting raw materials from the ground or water E.g. mining, forestry, farming, fishing

TYPES OF INDUSTRY Secondary Industries: Manufacturing products by putting things together (using the materials produced by primary industries) E.g. auto assembly plants, factories, food production

TYPES OF INDUSTRY Tertiary Industries: Providing services to others and/or selling the products produced by secondary industries. E.g. doctors, teachers, truck drivers, retail sales, etc.

Many factors affect all levels of industry in a variety of ways… …In fact, each type of industry often has a chain reaction on the others!