A natural resource is a material or substance occurring in nature that can be used for economic gain or human survival. The importance of any resource is measured by its necessity for basic human survival, its scarcity, and its role in enabling broader economic or societal activity. While countless resources contribute to modern life, the concept of the “most important” rests on those non-negotiable requirements that underpin all human civilization. The following three resources stand out due to their universal necessity and profound impact on global stability and development.
Water: The Essential Basis for Life
Water is the most important natural resource because it directly relates to the biological survival of every living thing. The human body is composed of approximately 60% water, and an individual can only survive for a few days without it. Beyond direct consumption, water is the medium for all essential cellular and metabolic processes, making it necessary for health and sanitation.
Water’s importance is magnified by its role in global food security, as agriculture accounts for roughly 70% of worldwide freshwater withdrawals. Producing the food consumed daily requires thousands of liters of water, demonstrating its massive consumption footprint.
Despite the planet being mostly covered in water, only about 2.5% is freshwater, and much of that is locked away in glaciers and ice caps. This scarcity of usable freshwater elevates its status to a global concern. Approximately half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, underscoring the pressure on this finite, life-sustaining resource.
Land and Soil: Sustaining Civilization
Land provides the physical foundation for human habitation, infrastructure, and ecosystems. It is the geographic space upon which all cities, industries, and transportation networks are built. Equally important is the thin upper layer known as soil, which acts as the medium necessary for agriculture and forestry.
Soil is the basis for nearly all food production, generating an estimated 95% of the global food supply. It functions as a complex ecosystem, providing nutrients, filtering water, and offering a habitat for microorganisms that drive essential cycles. The health of this topsoil is directly linked to the success and collapse of historical civilizations.
Creating just a few centimeters of fertile topsoil can take hundreds to thousands of years, classifying it as non-renewable on human time scales. Human activity continually threatens this resource through degradation caused by erosion, salinization, and development. The finite nature of arable land makes its stewardship fundamental to long-term human prosperity.
Energy Sources: Powering Modernity
Accessible energy is the resource that separates modern industrial civilization from all prior human history. Energy is the engine that enables all large-scale economic and societal activities, including transportation, manufacturing, and communication. It transformed the capacity for human labor, shifting from reliance on muscle power to the harnessing of vast mechanical and electrical forces.
Energy sources, whether fossil fuels or renewables like solar and wind, provide the ability to generate heat, light, and power. This power is necessary to run hospitals, operate global supply chains, and manufacture every product used in daily life. Without a reliable and affordable energy supply, no country can develop much beyond a subsistence economy.
The global economy is fundamentally reliant on energy to process raw materials, purify water, and distribute food across continents. The continuous need for more energy to support a growing and developing world population makes this resource a permanent fixture in global policy and economic stability. Energy’s function is foundational to maintaining the speed and scale of modern human existence.
Contextualizing Resource Importance
While water, land, and energy are foundational to survival, resource importance is not absolute and depends on context. The relative value of a resource is influenced by geography, technological advancement, and specific societal needs. For instance, a country with abundant rainfall may prioritize energy access, while a desert nation focuses on water management.
Other resources are also important, though their necessity may be concentrated in specific sectors. Key metals like copper and lithium are essential to modern electronics and the transition to renewable energy technologies. Maintaining biodiversity is necessary for ecological stability, supporting ecosystem services like pollination and climate regulation.