Land resources of the world and their use

The Earth is the main platform for all types of economic activity of man. Its participation in the regulation of the ecosystem is difficult to overestimate, as is the role in food provision for the population. The distinctive feature of the soil layer, in comparison with other forms of production processes, is indispensability. At the same time, the world's land resources can be regarded as an eternal tool through which a person can provide himself with the necessary raw materials and food. Unfortunately, in practice of exploitation of the land there are many problems that are still acute for agro-technical and agricultural organizations.

What are the world's land resources?

Land resources include not all of the land surface, but only that part of it that can be considered from the point of view of economic use. Nevertheless, usually the whole land fund is understood as the whole land, with the exception of the territory of Antarctica. In terms of area, the world's land resources are about 13,400 million hectares. As a percentage, this is about 26% of the total area of the planet. But this does not mean that all the land, potentially suitable for processing, is in economic circulation. To date, about 9% of the land surface is used in agricultural and other production needs. There are many reasons for such a low level of nature management, but this percentage is gradually increasing, which allows to solve problems with providing unfavorable regions with food.

Classification of land resources

Among the resources of the land fund are three broad categories. The first includes productive lands that can potentially yield high yields and generally have conditions favorable for cultivation. It is important to note that productivity is determined not only by soil properties, but also by external factors, among which climate is essential. The second category is unproductive territories. These are land resources of the world and Russia, a significant part of which is represented by tundra, forest-tundra, marshes and steppes. Theoretically, these lands can be adapted to the requirements of the agro-technical complex in terms of use for different purposes, but, again, the exploitation difficulties also arise due to indirect factors. For example, it may be difficult access or unfavorable climatic conditions. The third category is represented by unproductive land. As a rule, these are built-up areas, as well as lands with broken structure and unfavorable chemical composition.

Earth as a means of production

In one form or another, the fruits of the earth have been used by people since ancient times. The first forms of such use had the character of appropriation, but as the instruments of labor developed they began to form full-fledged features of productive activity. To date, there are several areas of such land use, including cultivation of arable land, the organization of pastures and meadows, planting of gardens and plantations. At the same time, the world's land resources and their use can also be viewed from the point of view of indirect production. This means that agriculture in one form or another can act as a link in the chain of industrial production. However, the main branches of agrotechnical activity, such as vegetable growing, floriculture, growing of cereals, melons and fodder plants, were the most widely spread.

Levels of land use

The model for structuring the world's agro-technical complex usually involves the allocation of three levels of land use. At the first, there are participants in the industry that are engaged in the production of technical means of agricultural support. Here it is necessary to note also the enterprises processing agricultural raw materials with the purpose of reception of production for the further application in branch. We can say that this is an area that serves agricultural production in terms of infrastructure. The second level is represented by individuals and enterprises that directly handle land resources. Depending on the region, the Earth may assume different forms of exploitation, but the tasks of their maintenance must necessarily provide for the receipt of a certain product. The third level of the agrotechnical complex is the industrial processing and marketing of raw materials and products obtained as a result of cultivation of the land.

Problems of land use

Although experts usually take inadequate use of available resources, many argue that the lands under development are gradually degrading. This means that even the advanced agricultural land fund may eventually become worthless as an industrial site. And by that time the interested enterprises will be compelled to master the unattractive land resources of the world. The photo below shows an example of depletion of the soil layer. It is these processes that worry many experts in the agricultural sector.

Trends in land use

The structure of land distribution is constantly changing. On the one hand, the changes are caused by the expansion of the areas of cultivated land, and on the other hand by the reorientation of the territories that were formerly in development. At the current stage of development of the land fund, the rate of processing of land is increasing. To ensure this, enterprises irrigate deserts, drain swamps and cut down forests. Such measures allow increasing the land resources of the world, suitable for productive activities. Moreover, this process is stimulated not only by the need to move to virgin areas due to unsatisfactory qualities of old lands. This is facilitated by an increase in the population - correspondingly, there is a growing demand for food.

Prospects for expanding agricultural land

It is more likely that in the coming years some parts of tropical forests and deserts will pass into agricultural processing. Modern technical means allow to conduct economic activity even in such conditions. Moreover, the world's productive land resources can be increased by expanding coastal lines. The construction of dams and canals allows to move settlements towards the sea. Similar processes are already observed in Japan, Singapore and Belgium.

Conclusion

In addition to expanding the sown areas, specialists pay much attention to the tasks of more rational and effective use of primary agricultural areas. The newest technologies of agrotechnical complexes allow more careful use of land resources of the world, without causing harm to the ecological system. There are different directions in this area, some of which are subordinated to the tasks of increasing the yield by stimulating soil fertility. At the same time, many states and international organizations are developing new concepts of rules for the regulation of environmental management, which are oriented toward optimizing the processes of exploitation of land resources.