This document discusses natural resources and rural livelihoods. It defines natural resources and describes the main types as renewable (e.g. forests) and non-renewable (e.g. fossil fuels). The five most important natural resources are identified as air, water, soil, iron, and forests. Rural livelihoods are mainly based on small-scale farming, fishing, and livestock. Improving access to education, skills training, and diverse income sources is needed for sustainable rural livelihoods. The importance of rural livelihoods includes addressing global poverty and supporting national economies through markets, tax revenue, and employment.

1. NATURAL RESOURCES
AND RURAL
LIVELIHOOD: FROM
APPLICATION TO
DEVELOPMENT
PREPARED BY:
BERMUDO, MHIKE MIKKO
T.
CONTE, FRANCIS LlYOD
LACSON, GABRIEL
PENALOSA, BRYAN

2. WHAT ARE NATURAL RESOURCES?
• Natural resources can be defined as
the resources that exist (on the
planet) independent of human
actions.
• Natural resources are naturally
occurring materials that are useful to
man or could be useful under
conceivable technological, economic
or social circumstances or supplies
drawn from the earth, supplies such
as food, building and clothing
materials, fertilizers, metals, water
and geothermal power. For a long
time, natural resources were the
domain of the natural sciences.

3. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF
NATURAL RESOURCES?
Renewable: resources that are available in infinite
quantity and can be used repeatedly are called
renewable resources.
Examples: Forest, wind, water, etc.
Non-Renewable: resources that are limited in
abundance due to their non-renewable nature
and whose availability may run out in the future
are called non-renewable resources.
Examples: include fossil fuels, minerals, etc.

4. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RENEWABLE
AND NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES

5. THE 5 MOST IMPORTANT NATURAL
RESOURCES ARE:
1. Air
Clean air is important for all the plants,
animals, humans to survive on this planet.
So, it is necessary to take measures to reduce
air pollution.

6. 2. Water
70% of the Earth is covered in
water and only 2 % of that is
freshwater. Initiative to educate
and regulate the use of water
should be taken.
Water is indeed essential for
all life on, in, and above the Earth.
This is important to us because
we are made up mostly of water

7. 3. Soil
Soil is composed of various particles and
nutrients. It helps plants grow.

8. 4. Iron
It is made from silica and is used to build
strong weapons, transportation and buildings.

9. 5. Forests
As the population increases, the demand
for housing and construction projects also
increases. Forests provide clean air and
preserve the ecology of the world.

11. RURAL LIVELIHOOD
In most rural areas of
the world, approximately
90 % of the population is
involved in farming as a
way of earning a living.
Small-scale farming,
fishing, raising livestock
and non-farm activities
are some of the common
livelihoods that these
populations survive on.

12. Rural livelihood poses a great challenge as these
populations are often in a state of poverty where they
lack the basic necessities for survival . A rural
household with diverse sources of income earning
activities has better chances of survival financially than
a household which has only one source. Delivery of
quality education and training in a variety of skills in
rural areas is therefore needed to attain sustainable
rural livelihoods . In order for a rural population to
strive there is need for livelihoods that would sustain
and support their households and communities.

13. WHAT IS A LIVELIHOOD?
A Livelihood can be defined as
the activities, the assets and the
access that jointly determine the
living gained by an individual or
household (Ellis 1998). When it
comes to an individual, a
livelihood is the ability of that
individual to obtain the basic
necessities in life, which are food,
water, shelter and clothing.
Therefore all activities involved in
finding food, searching for water,
shelter, clothing and all necessities
required for human survival at
individual and household level are
referred to as a livelihood.

14. Rural livelihoods as a source of income. Rural livelihood
is a complex structure comprising of mostly agriculture, with part
of the population diversifying into non-farm activities in order to
attain a sustainable livelihood to get better income for their
households

15. Due to variations in ability to access the basic
necessities, there are people who are rich, able to
acquire all their basic necessities without difficulty and
those that are poor, and lack one or more of the their
basic necessities. The livelihood of the poor is grueling
as they find themselves in a state of poverty and lack
basic necessities . Therefore to address the issue of
poverty and its eradication , a concept called
sustainable livelihood was proposed by Chambers and
Conway (1991).

16. LIVELIHOOD DETERMINANTS
Livelihoods are determined by several factors which include (Ellis 2000;
Fabusoro et al. 2010; Khatun and Roy 2012);
Unintended birth into a predisposed livelihood; a designated system
which defines an individual’s livelihood, example the caste system in
India.
Gender ; where a livelihood is determined by the gender of an individual.
Inherited livelihoods; where an individual takes up a livelihood that has
been passed on in the family , for example cultivation, pastoralists ,
fisherman, shopkeeper, artisanal work, etc.
Spontaneous livelihoods; that are taken up due to desperate situations
where what an individual does is in principle determined by social
economic and ecological situation.
Education and migration; where qualifications determine which field of
work an individual can exploit . People move to new areas in search for
work and a better life, this migration determines the choice of
livelihoods.

17. Those with wealth have a wider choice of a
livelihood than those without. This is because
with more resources one is able to afford an
education or training which can complement or
augment their skills thereby widening their
livelihood capabilities, which is not the case for
those without resources. A wider economic
growth of a household or community creates a
wider choice of livelihoods .

18. WHAT IS A HOUSEHOLD ?
A household can be defined as
human groups which share the
same roof and resources.
Categories of a household include:
People—that is, the individuals and
their livelihood capabilities.
Activities—which encompass what
they do.
Assets or possessions—this is what
they own be it food, property,
clothing, houses, livestock, stocks
and all things that provide material
and social income.
Gains and outputs—These are the
resources derived from what they
do that allows them to earn a living.

19. SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES THAT FALL
UNDER RURAL LIVELIHOOD INCLUDE:
• Agriculture (Cultivation,
farming);
• Animal herding including
livestock farming ;
• Hunting and gathering
• Wage labor
• Trading and hawking
• Artisan work , for example,
weaving and carving;
• Providing services in
transport and other available
services;
• Fetching and carrying;
• Bakery;
• Basket weaving

20. THE IMPORTANCE OF RURAL
LIVELIHOODS
Between one-quarter and one-fifth of the world's
population derive their livelihood from small-scale
agriculture. Most of these people are members of what
we call peasant farm households or are dependent
upon the activities of peasant farm households. The
large number of rural people and their involvement in
peasant agriculture and other activities makes the
understanding of rural people, peasants, and their
livelihoods important for many reasons.

21. • In global terms, poverty is predominantly a rural
phenomenon (as noted earlier although there are large and
increasing numbers of urban poor people, a greater
proportion of poor people in the world live in rural areas
and poverty tends to be more severe in rural areas).
• Many of the rural poor depend directly or indirectly upon
peasant livelihoods.
• Peasant agriculture is significant in both national
economies and the world economy in terms of
– its contribution to production of livestock and of food, beverage
and industrial crops
– its effect on the environment and scarce natural resources
(peasant agriculture is an important form of land use often
found in marginal areas where land is vulnerable to degradation
and subject to competing uses and other natural resources,
such as water, may be scarce)

22. • Poor rural people's livelihoods are significant in
national economies and the world economy in
terms of
– the potential market for increased demand for
consumer goods and services if rural people become
more wealthy
– their potential contribution to, or drain on, resources
either as a dynamic and growing part of national
economies generating employment, tax revenues, and
so on, or as a stagnant sector demanding welfare
support for a poor and large part of the population

23. NATURAL RESOURCES AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD:
FROM APPLICATION TO DEVELOPMENT
The awareness has
now spread to the
developing countries of
the world where
resources have yet to be
developed to bring
about an improvement
in standards of living
especially for rural
populations, as well as a
general improvement in
the quality of life for the
people.

24. The improvement of
data base for resource
planning would go a long
way to ensure more
knowledge about natural
resources in developing
countries and better use
and management of the
available resources.
There are economic,
technological and
environmental
difficulties to be
overcome before more
efficient natural resource
utilization in these
countries could be
achieved.

25. The role of population growth in
resource realization is still clouded
with an inconclusive debate. But
even more important is the need
for technological assistance and
the application of modern
technology to food and
agriculture and to other resources
to ensure a better life for the
populations of developing
countries. Developments in
agriculture will need the greatest
attention since it is a primary
resource which provides
employment for large proportions
of the population, food for the
rural and urban populations and
exportable surpluses required for
the purchase of industrial goods
for use in the other sectors of the
economy.

26. Finally, new developments
in the natural resources
debate concerned with the
sharing of the resources of
the oceans as seen in the
Law of the Sea Conference
are a pointer to a more
equitable approach to the
use of global resources for
the continued development
of the developed as well as
the developing countries of
the world.