Key learning points

1. The biosphere provides resources for local people.
2. The biosphere is an important source of commercial resources, such as energy, water and minerals.

Keywords

• Biosphere - the 'living' layer of Earth below the atmosphere

• Indigenous people - people who have inhabited an area from the earliest times before the arrival of colonists

• Resources - materials available in the environment (such as water, food and wood) that support our wants and needs

• Commercial exploitation - the extraction and trading of materials, such as wood, for profit

• Mineral resources - economically-valuable material concentrated in the Earth's crust, such as copper and oil

Common misconception