por What are extractive activities?
The extractive activities They are all processes that involve the extraction of raw materials from the earth to be used by consumers. They consist of any operation that removes metals, minerals and aggregates from the earth.
Examples of extractive activities are the exploration and discovery of mineral deposits, the extraction of oil and natural gas, and mining.
Non-renewable mineral resources play a dominant role in 81 countries, which together account for a quarter of the world’s GDP, half of the world’s population and almost 70% of those living in extreme poverty.
At the national level, if properly managed, revenues from extractive activities can have a substantial impact on income and prosperity, while respecting the needs of the community and the environment.
Generally, the products of extractive activities come in raw form and are used by the manufacturing and construction industries to make finished products.
In general, extractive activities are considered to have unacceptable impacts on the environment. By their very nature, these activities use energy and disturb the land when the resource being developed is extracted.
Characteristics of extractive activities
They are characterized by the unequal distribution of natural resources in different regions and countries, together with the high capital intensity that these activities require, as well as the long development times and extraction life cycles.
Generally, they are carried out by large corporations that often violate the principle of permanent sovereignty over the natural resources of a given country.
Significant long-term investments must be made to exploit such resources.
There may be conflicting relationships between investors, the host country, local communities and the investing company’s home country, or other importing countries.
Its execution habitually harms the environment. If they are done indiscriminately, resources can be depleted.
Guys
The products of extractive activities in most cases are passed to processing. The extractive industry is an important base for obtaining food and raw materials for the industry.
The level of development of the extractive industry is a function of natural conditions and, especially, of the socioeconomic conditions of a country.
Renewable resource extraction activities
The target of these extractive activities are natural resources that can grow again naturally, without being depleted. For example, fishing, the capture of marine animals and whales, or hunting.
It is essential to be able to differentiate them from agriculture or livestock, because the latter guarantee that the resource has continuity through planting or breeding.
At present, due to the existing overpopulation and the excessive use of natural resources, there are few extraction activities that are truly renewable, since the reproduction rate of the resource should be greater than the consumption rate.
Non-renewable resource extraction activities
They are those activities that obtain resources that could be manufactured again, but at a significantly slower rate than they are consumed, or that definitely cannot be created again.
For example, the main sectors of this industry are the extraction of mineral products such as coal, oil, natural gas, iron ore, non-ferrous, rare and precious metal ores.
examples
Examples include oil and gas drilling, mining, dredging, and quarrying.
Fishing
This is one of the oldest activities. It extracts both different types of fish and other marine organisms. Fishing as an extractive activity can be:
Of survival
This type of fishing is not used for commercialization, but exclusively for own consumption.
handmade
A community fishes in an artisanal way to trade, either with nearby populations or within the same community.
Industrial
It is a massive fishing that requires certain technology to increase profitability, and thus be able to obtain a high amount of prey.
Mining
It is the extractive activity of minerals found in the subsoil or in the soil. This accumulation of minerals is called deposits or mines.
Although mining has existed since prehistory, it is currently part of a great debate. This is because the technologies used to extract these minerals have proven to be extremely harmful to the environment. Mining can extract:
metals
The extraction of metals such as gold, copper, aluminum, silver, mercury, iron, lead, among others, is carried out. These metals are raw materials required by a large number of industrial products.
No metals
They are usually called quarries. Quartz, clay, emerald, sapphire, mica, marble, granite, among others, are extracted from there. They are used for construction, ornamentation and jewelry.
fuels
Minerals that produce energy, such as coal (hydrocarbons), oil or natural gas, are extracted from these deposits.
Wood industry
Although a part of the timber industry is in charge of processing the raw material, thus belonging to the secondary sector, in its form of extraction it belongs to the primary sector.
Most of the timber industry is based on extractive activities. However, at present there are plantations of trees to be used later. In these cases they would become part of the agricultural sector.
These new forms of planting have come as a response to the dizzying decline of forests on our planet.
This seeks to ensure that the timber industry becomes sustainable, also avoiding the destruction of natural ecosystems and thus conserving biodiversity.
Other examples
The extraction of palms to obtain hearts of palm. The extraction of medicinal plants to manufacture medicines. Harvest of wild honey (which does not use domesticated honeycombs). The hunting of animals, especially for the consumption of autochthonous and native communities. The collection of wild mushrooms or truffles.
References
Extractive industry. Retrieved from businessdictionary.com.
Extractive industries. Retrieved from e15initiative.org.