Russia is a beautiful country with a large territory. It includes several time zones and climatic zones. The natural resource potential of Russia is also rich and diverse. Thanks to this, it can secure all the resources necessary for domestic consumption and use them for export. Russia ranks first in the number of many minerals in the world ranking. It is rich in deposits of coal, gas, some non-ferrous metals, ore and almost all wood, water and land resources.
The natural resource potential of Russia includes all of their types that are currently used, and whose reserves suggest their use in the future. The allocation of resources and their quantity determines the distribution of the country's production capacities.
The resource potential of Russia changes as it is used. Some of the species tend to recover, and some are reduced. Therefore, their assessment is relevant only for some time.
Large sources are the reason for the creation of industrial centers, regions and entire economic regions. Russia's natural resource potential has a very strong influence on the country's economy and its position in the world community.
Assessment of the country's natural resources includes the influence of many factors. These may be economic, technical or social features.
A special place in the system of natural potential of any country is occupied by fuel and energy resources. In Russia, the stocks of this raw material are unevenly distributed. Many of them are concentrated in the eastern part of the country. This is about 85% of gas reserves, 93% of coal deposits and 65% of oil reserves.
Russia has impressive gas and oil resources. Their development is carried out in the West of Siberia, the Far East, the North Caucasus, in the Volga-Ural part of the country.
In terms of coal reserves, Russia is also among the leaders. About 23% of all world reserves of this raw material are located in the country. They are located mainly in the east of the country (93%) and in European regions (7%). A distinctive feature of all deposits is the relatively low cost of coal mining. It depends on the mining method, formation thickness, coal quality and other characteristics.
In the European part of the country are the main deposits of iron ore. There are deposits of brown, red ore, magnetic iron ore, etc.
Of particular importance are the resources of land, water and forest resources.
The land potential of the country includes approximately 1709.8 million hectares. Among them, the developed lands account for at least 20%. By the size of the plowed lands, the country is in third place after the United States and India. The main part of arable land is in the Urals, the North Caucasus, the Volga region and Western Siberia.
Forest resources are the basis for many industries in the country. In addition to using them as materials for production, they perform a number of other functions. This is, first of all, the human environment, which enriches the air with oxygen, purifies the water and makes the soil fertile. The presence of forest stands to some extent determines the climatic conditions. Russia has almost a fifth of all wood reserves in the world.
In Russia there are about 40 reservoirs, the volume of which is more than 1 cubic kilometer. In addition to them there are many more smaller water sources. In addition to surface waters, there are also underground waters, which are also included in the natural resource potential of Russia.
Russia has a large number of mineral resources. On its territory, more than 20 thousand deposits of various minerals have been discovered. It takes the second place in the extraction of gold and platinum, and the first in the extraction of diamonds and silver.
Due to its natural potentials, Russia is the most influential power in the world market. All this makes it possible to restrain the country's economy, especially in times of crisis.