Climate & Environment
Resource Depletion
Definition
Resource depletion is the consumption or degradation of natural resource stocks at rates exceeding their regeneration (for renewable resources such as forests, fisheries and groundwater) or entailing permanent drawdown (for non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels). It is measured through indicators such as material footprint, adjusted net savings (which deducts resource depletion from national savings), and stock assessments for specific resources.
References
Supports definition and framing.
Overview
How it is used
The concept structures natural capital accounting, World Bank adjusted net savings, planetary boundaries analysis and sustainable resource management policy.
Why it matters
Depletion is the physical balance sheet of sustainability: an economy liquidating its resource base is borrowing from the future, whatever its GDP shows.