| The "best" use of natural resources -- using them where they are needed the most and can provide the greatest return to society with respect to economic, political, and environmental standards -- is a basic question facing our society. It is a question that has received more and more attention in recent years, as an acute awareness of ecological problems has developed in the industrialized portion of the world. The problem has also become more complex as more and more natural resources are subjected to more intensive multiple uses. Conflicts arise between the users of such resources when the actions of one user encroach upon the use of the resource by another. Usually such conflicts can only be resolved by limiting one or more uses. In the case of... |
