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The economic problem · 14 of 14

Renewable and non-renewable resources

Tell a renewable resource from a non-renewable one and say when a stock of each runs down

Key terms
Renewable resource
A renewable resource is a natural resource with the capacity to regenerate over time, such as a fish stock or timber in a forest.
Non-renewable resource
A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that does not regenerate over any time span that matters to people, such as oil, gas, coal or metal ores.

A renewable resource runs down only when it is used faster than it regrows

Depletion is a fall in the stock of a natural resource because extraction exceeds regeneration. A fish stock or a forest grows back, so it is depleted only when the harvest is larger than its natural growth. Harvesting exactly the natural growth each year is a sustainable yield: the stock stays the same size and can be harvested for ever.

Over-fishing, or felling timber faster than it regrows, shrinks the stock. A smaller stock limits future harvests and can collapse altogether.