Natural resource management generally refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations.
Natural resource management deals with managing the way in which people and natural landscapes interacts. It brings together land use planning,water management, biodiversity conservation, and the future sustainability of industries like agriculture, mining, tourism, fisheries and forestry. It recognizes that people and their livelihoods rely on the health and productivity of our landscapes, and their actions as stewards of the land play a critical role in maintaining this health and productivity .
The term natural resource management is frequently used when dealing with a particular resource for human use rather than managing the whole ecosystem.A main objective of natural resources management is the sustainability for future generations, which appoints ecosystem managers to balance natural resources exploitation and conservation over long-term time frame. The balanced relationship of each resource in an ecosystem is subject to change at different spatial and temporal scales. Dimensions such as, watersheds, soils, flora and fauna, need to be considered individually and on a landscape level. A variety of natural resources are utilized for food, energy and shelter.
Pakistan is one of the richest countries in the world in term of natural resources but also one of the poorest among them in their management .It has not been successful in managing its natural resources in a sustainable and equitable manner,nor has the country been able to achieve significant economic growth in its utilization of the natural resources.
It also identifies some of the obstacles which limit gender sensitivity in NRM research-for-development projects, and ways in which these obstacles might be overcome. The obstacles which have caused the poor management of natural resources include ‘political instability,political indecision making / divergence, lack of vision and planning , flawed policies , bureucratic bottlenecks and corruption, lack of human resource development ,worsened law and order situation These obstacles have led not only the poor management of natural resources but also to the poor governance of country
