Category: Society
Israel Natural Resources: Offshore Gas, Potash and Desalination
Israel’s natural resources center on major offshore natural gas discoveries in the Levant Basin, valuable evaporite minerals from the Dead Sea, and cutting-edge water reclamation technology. Commercial gas fields Tamar (online 2013) and Leviathan (~620 billion m³ recoverable, online 2019) produce over 21 billion m³ annually, powering ~70% of domestic electricity and supplying exports to…
Saudi Arabia Natural Resources: Oil Giant with Vast Solar Potential
Saudi Arabia’s natural resources are dominated by petroleum, holding the world’s second-largest proven crude oil reserves at approximately 267 billion barrels (EIA / OPEC 2024) and pumping 10.95 million barrels per day in 2021 as a global export titan anchored by the giant Ghawar field. Beyond oil, the Kingdom ranks 8th in world natural gas…
Iran Natural Resources: Gas, Oil and Mineral Wealth
Iran’s natural resources center on vast fossil reserves, ranking second globally in proven natural gas reserves (~34 trillion cubic meters) and third in crude oil (~209 billion barrels), with annual gas production reaching 256.7 billion cubic meters and oil output averaging 2.5 million barrels per day (2022). Strategic minerals include iron ore (77,000 thousand tonnes…
Why Natural Resources Matter: Uses and Conservation
Natural resources are the physical backbone of human civilization: they supply 100% of human food, over 90% of raw industrial materials, and nearly 80% of global primary energy through fossil fuels alone. Beyond direct commodities, natural ecosystems provide irreplaceable life-support services—such as the Amazon rainforest absorbing up to 2 billion tonnes of CO₂ a year…
Oceania Natural Resources: Iron, Lithium and Coral Reefs
Oceania holds some of the most strategic natural resources on the planet: Australia produced around 930 million tonnes of iron ore in 2024 and was the world’s largest lithium producer with 88,000 tonnes, while the region is home to close to 185 million hectares of forest and to the Great Barrier Reef, covering some 344,400…
Latin America Natural Resources: Copper, Lithium and Oil
Latin America is one of the richest regions on Earth in natural resources: it holds the world’s largest tropical rainforest (the Amazon, home to at least 10% of all known species), the largest proven oil reserves (Venezuela, some 303 billion barrels), more than half of the world’s identified lithium resources in the Chile-Argentina-Bolivia “triangle”, and…
North America Natural Resources: Oil, Silver and Forests
North America holds exceptional natural wealth: Mexico is the world’s largest silver producer with 6,300 tonnes in 2024 (USGS), the United States leads global oil production at 13.2 million barrels a day (EIA) and Canada holds 369 million hectares of forest, close to 9% of the world total (NRCan). Add the Great Lakes, which hold…
Sustainable Consumption: What It Is and Real Examples
Sustainable consumption is the use of products and services with the least possible impact on the environment, also called responsible or conscious consumption. What is sustainable consumption in practice? According to the UN (2011), it seeks to minimize the negative effects of consumption and production while improving quality of life, taking the product’s whole life…
Europe Natural Resources: Forests, Gas and Minerals
Europe holds around 25% of the world’s forest area, the largest share of any region (FAO 2025), is home to the planet’s largest natural gas reserves in Russia, and protects more than 1.29 million km² through the Natura 2000 network. Its natural resources span strategic minerals, North Sea hydrocarbons, rivers such as the Volga, and…
Asia Natural Resources: Oil, Rare Earths, Rice and Water
Asia, the largest continent on the planet with its 48 countries, holds the world’s greatest concentration of natural resources: close to 48% of oil reserves (Saudi Arabia alone accounts for 267 billion barrels) and more than 50% of natural gas reserves, it produces around 70% of the world’s rare earths and grows more than 90%…
