Pakistan is a country that is blessed with enormous natural resources. The natural assets in the country play a vital role in contributing to the whole economy of Pakistan. It is used for the economic consumption or production. However, the utilization of natural resources effectively is required to grow the country’s economy and to improve development.
Other countries like China is also highly concerned to invest in Pakistan as to gain profits by utilizing the natural resources of Pakistan and this step is also beneficial for Pakistan as the investment done in the country increases the job opportunity that lead the employment growth and the right use of the natural resources also helps to boost the overall economy, according to the official reports.
Natural resources referred to as the ones that exists without any kind of humankind’s actions. Water, land, atmosphere, sunlight, vegetation and much more is included in it; however, the major subdivision includes four categories that are energy and mineral resources, water resources, biological resources, and soil resources.
Huge projects are under construction in Pakistan where the natural resources are utilizing in the projects efficiently. CPEC- China Pakistan Economic Corridor is one of its example where the coal, power plants, water, energy, etc. all are used to build this project.
Pakistan- An Ideal Country
Pakistan is a blessed land where enormous natural resources are present and the location of the country is ideal that can be an economic hub for other neighboring countries also to do trade as well as to use the resources of our land.
Pakistan is an Islamic Republic State that is located in the South Asia and also has 650 miles coastline on an Arabian Sea and also on the Gulf of Oman. The west side of the country is bordered by the country, Afghanistan and also Iran. However, India is at the east side and China is in the northeast side of the country.
Pakistan is an ideal country in terms of its location because it is strategically located in between Central Asia, South Asia and Middle East. Moreover, the land has the valuable natural resources in various parts of the country.
The natural resources almost every naturally existing resource that does not have any human contribution for making it; however, its proper utilization makes many mankind inventions. The resources also includes the natural gas supply, oil, coal, hydro power potential, iron ore, salt, limestone and copper.
The Agricultural products that also includes on the vegetation side of nature includes wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane, fruit, eggs, milk, vegetables, meat of mutton and beef.
However, according to the sources the primary industry for natural resources to get them utilized to their full extent in a beneficial way includes the textiles, pharmaceuticals, food processing, construction materials, paper products and fertilizer as well as much more.
Mining
An industry or a process to obtain the minerals or coal from mine is what mining mean. However, in Pakistan it is an essential step that helps the economy to boost due to the natural resources. Coal, copper, salt, gold, chromite, and many more minerals, ores, etc. are mined in Pakistan along with the stones also like emerald, ruby, etc.
The import and export also increases due to this and other natural power resources. Meanwhile, the main exports of the country are rice, textiles, leather items, and carpets, sports items, and chemicals, etc. However, the import of machinery, petroleum, plastic, steel, tea, paper, plastic, iron, oil also helps the economy to grow.
Pakistan has a large copper and gold ore deposits at the Saindak. There are other large deposits of the rock salt as in the Pothohar Plateau also. Mineral resources of Pakistan include the reserves of limestone, gypsum, chromites, rock salt, silver, iron ore, precious stones, marbles, gems, tiles, fire clay, sulfur, silica sand, etc.
List of Natural Resources of Pakistan
There are many natural resources found in Pakistan and these benefits in many ways; however, the list of the most common power natural resources available in Pakistan are:
- Coal
- Mineral oil
- Natural Gas
- Forest
- Land
- Uranium
- Water
- Air
- Gypsum
- Iron Ore
- Copper
- Chromite
- Salt
- Marble
- Limelight
Coal
Coal a one of the major players as a natural resource in Pakistan. In spite of being a current player in the domain of energy in Pakistan, Coal is considered as a major part of generation mix. The past two years saw an increase where 19% of the overall power generation Pakistan recorded as coming from 4 coal-fired power plants of CPEC.
Pakistan had previously discovered low to medium type quality of coal seams in Punjab. Whereas, this resource is surely beneficial for the low sulfur coal and it was reported at Baluchistan and also near Islamabad. The Bituminous as well as sub-bituminous, along with lignite coal is also available in Pakistan.
Coal reserves in the country are estimated at a value of 185 billion tons. It also equates to a value of 628 billion of barrels like of crude oil. This natural resource is very beneficial for the country to contribute to its economy.
Oil and Gas
The value of oil reserves in 2020 was at 0.34 billion barrels, however, the government of the country had set a fixed like for producing about 31.12 million barrels of the oil as well as 1.58 trillion cubic feet gas during the current fiscal year of 2020-2021.
The production of natural gas is high in Pakistan. However, Gas field is expected to last like for another couple of decades.
According to the reports, Sui gas is the largest field as it accounts a huge portion of gas production in Pakistan. Daily production was recorded 19 million cubic meters as per day. It is also reported that under the Balochistan’s barren mountains and the sands of the Sindh there are reserves for oil and gas.
Forestry
Forests are also considered as a very useful resource that provides many main sources that contributes to our daily life and for making other goods. Trees in the forests also make the environment fresh by providing fresh oxygen.
Forests are just limited to about 4% of the land of Pakistan; however, these are the major source of lumber, food, paper, fuel wood, medicine, latex, etc. These are also useful for the wildlife conversation as well as ecotourism.
Land
Land is also a natural resource because it can be utilized in many ways to like for cultivation, agriculture, etc. According to the source, about 28% of the total area of land in Pakistan is under cultivation.
Pakistan is considered to be one of the largest systems of irrigation in the world. According to report, the most significant crops that are produce in Pakistan are cotton, rice, wheat, sugarcane, sorghum, maize, millets, oil seeds, pulses, fruits and vegetables, barley, that together accounts for over 75% of total crop value output
The fertile lands of Punjab are feeding the whole nation where the basic crops and vegetables are grown.
Uranium
Pakistan has a previous history of exporting a very small amount of uranium. Tons of uranium is produced in Pakistan. However, regionally the uranium deposits in Pakistan are located in the southern as well as the central part of Pakistan like in Sulaiman Range, Bannu Basin, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kirther Range, and Issa Khel, Mianwali District.
Water
Water is one of the major blessing of nature and Pakistan is blessed with many rivers as well as the oceans are also meeting the ends in the country.
However, fishing industry plays a vital role in Pakistan’s national economy. The coastline is of 814km and the overall fishery resources also have a room to grow more. Fishing in one of the major sources of export for Pakistan’s earning.
Pakistan is very rich in the diverse natural resources. Human resources of the Pakistan include the population of the intelligent youngsters and also a burgeoning of urban middle class.
The culture, wealth, knowledge, and the infrastructure are also sure to grow as well as to improve in the upcoming future. This will surely lead to make the nation proud.
Other Natural Resources
Ministry of petroleum and natural resources Pakistan ensures the supply like the availability of gas and oil. However, the other natural resources and minerals are also ensured by them as they are properly utilized or not.
Natural and mineral resources of Pakistan also help to boost the economy of Pakistan. Country is still trying to utilize all the resources more effectively to get more advantages from it as it also helps in generating revenue in the economy.
In the upcoming years China will be among the top investors who will use the natural resources of Pakistani land. Many projects are under construction whereas it is expected to be a boon for the economy and it will highly benefit the China also.
In the upcoming 5 years many areas of Pakistan will be developed with the technological use also; however, solar installation also require sunlight and in Pakistan it is also a blessing to have natural sunlight available to make the solar panels work effectively.
According to the reports, Pakistan has good ties with the other countries by the trading of its natural resources in which the food as well as the cotton, mineral, stones, etc. are also included and it is expected to build more strong ties with the countries.
