What Is The Natural Environment?

The natural environment is the one which surrounds us. It is the sum total of all life that exists on earth and the non-living things that exist in the atmosphere. In this sense the natural environment means all living and non living things existing naturally, which means in this case of artificial neither artificially nor man made. The word is often used to describe the surface or a particular region of the earth. For instance the ocean’s depths, or the forest canopy in tropical countries, or the desert in other countries, are all part of the natural environment.

The primary aim of the natural environment is to ensure that biodiversity and the quality of the ecosystem are maintained in balance so that the functioning of ecosystems as a whole is not damaged. For this reason conservation and sustainable use of the natural resources are essential. There are numerous areas where natural resources are being depleted at an alarming rate, with many of them in conflict with one another. These include the vast forests in countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia, the huge seas filled with raw sewage, the coral reefs and the air above them all.

Many environmental policies are aimed at improving the environmental impacts of human activities. These include preventing damage caused by land and surface-based activities, including activities such as deforestation, clearing of land for agricultural or other purposes, mining, and transportation. While these activities can have a valuable resourceful effect on maintaining the natural state of the ecosystems, they are known to have serious consequences on the living organisms that depend on them for their survival. The extinction of species has become a very common phenomenon, especially in the last century and is one of the biggest challenges for mankind. The aim therefore is to ensure that the ecosystems do not lose their diversity, or the ones that have been affected are brought back to their natural conditions through sustainable use and restoration of the environment.