Editing Natural resource (section)

===Renewability/exhaustibility===
* '''[[Renewable resources]]:''' These resources can be replenished naturally. Some of these resources, like [[solar energy]], air, wind, water, etc. are continuously available and their quantities are not noticeably affected by human consumption. Though many renewable resources do not have such a rapid recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use. Resources from a human use perspective are classified as renewable so long as the rate of replenishment/recovery exceeds that of the rate of consumption. They replenish easily compared to non-renewable resources.
[[File:Waters of the Victoria Nile in the Murchison Falls National Park.jpg|alt=Victoria Nile waters as one of Uganda's key natural resources|thumb|The waters of the [[White Nile]] River are a key natural resource for [[Uganda]].]]
* '''[[Non-renewable resources]]:''' These resources are formed over a long [[Geologic time scale|geological time]] period in the environment and cannot be renewed easily. Minerals are the most common resource included in this category. From the human perspective, resources are non-renewable when their rate of consumption exceeds the rate of replenishment/recovery; a good example of this is [[fossil fuels]], which are in this category because their rate of formation is extremely slow (potentially millions of years), meaning they are considered non-renewable. Some resources naturally deplete in amount without human interference, the most notable of these being radio-active elements such as uranium, which naturally decay into heavy metals. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by [[recycling]] them,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.science.org.au/nova/newscientist/027ns_005.htm?id=mg19426051.200&print=true |title=Earth's natural wealth: an audit |publisher=Science.org.au |date=May 23, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720095945/http://www.science.org.au/nova/newscientist/027ns_005.htm?id=mg19426051.200&print=true |archive-date=July 20, 2008 }}</ref> but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/27/peak-everything |title=Peak Everything? |publisher=Reason.com |date=April 27, 2010 |access-date=May 5, 2010 |archive-date=January 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101131819/http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/27/peak-everything |url-status=live }}</ref>