Climate & Environment
Resource Depletion
The drawing down of natural resource stocks — minerals, fossil fuels, groundwater, forests, fish — faster than they regenerate or can be substituted.
Definition
Resource depletion is the consumption or degradation of natural resource stocks at rates exceeding their regeneration (for renewable resources such as forests, fisheries and groundwater) or entailing permanent drawdown (for non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels). It is measured through indicators such as material footprint, adjusted net savings (which deducts resource depletion from national savings), and stock assessments for specific resources.
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