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[1] Scarcity is the limited availability of a commodity, which may be in demand in the market or by the commons. Scarcity also includes an individual's lack of resources to buy commodities. [2] The opposite of scarcity is abundance. Scarcity plays a key role in economic theory, and it is essential for a "proper definition of economics itself". [3]
Water scarcity is an increasing problem due to many foreseen issues in the future including population growth, increased urbanization, higher standards of living, and climate change. [ 24 ] Industrial and domestic sewage, pesticides, fertilizers, plankton blooms, silt, oils, chemical residues, radioactive material, and other pollutants are some ...
Environmental resource management is an issue of increasing concern, as reflected in its prevalence in several texts influencing global sociopolitical frameworks such as the Brundtland Commission's Our Common Future, [3] which highlighted the integrated nature of the environment and international development, and the Worldwatch Institute's annual State of the World reports.
The depletion of resources hinders economic growth because growing economies leads to increased demand for natural, renewable resources like fish. Thus, when resources are depleted, it initiates a cycle of reduced resource availability, increased demand and higher prices due to scarcity, and lower economic growth. [47]
Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places. It should not be confused with green chemistry , which seeks to reduce potential pollution at its source.
Researchers predict that similar cases of resource scarcity will grow more common as the world population increases. [ 20 ] British scholar Thomas Malthus , in his seminal work published in 1798 titled An Essay on the Principle of Population , forecast the potential depletion of the world's food resources due to the growth of human population.
Water resource policy varies by region and is dependent on water availability or scarcity, the condition of aquatic systems, and regional needs for water. [5] Since water basins do not align with national borders, water resource policy is also determined by international agreements, also known as hydropolitics . [ 6 ]
Scarcity rent is one of two costs the extraction of a finite resource imposes on society. The other is marginal extraction cost--the opportunity cost of resources employed in the extraction activity. Scarcity rent is the cost of "using up" a finite resource because benefits of the extracted resource are unavailable to future generations.