The notion of environment comes from the Latin term ambĭens and is linked to that which surrounds something or a context. Natural, for its part, is an adjective related to nature.
Natural environment is called the land that has not been altered by humans; that is, it is presented as it was created by nature. Since the presence of man always, in one way or another, ends up modifying the environment, the notion is often used to name a region of particular importance due to its natural characteristics.
In the strictest sense of the concept, the natural environment is an uninhabited area (or, at least, not massively inhabited), whose space is not organized. An example of a natural environment, in this way, is Antarctica. On this continent, located at the south pole, there are no cities: there are hardly any scientific and military bases installed. The people, therefore, did not substantially modify the landscape or the natural characteristics of the place.
It is important to note that the definition of a natural environment is not strict. A beach located next to a fishing village, where there are some buildings and minimal infrastructure, can be considered a natural environment. The idea does not imply the absolute absence of people or the non-existence of human works. In addition, urban development throughout the planet means that there is no totally natural place that has not received any effect from the actions of people, since the very atmosphere of planet Earth has changed over the course of history.
Two concepts that can be used as synonyms for natural environment are natural space and natural landscape . In addition to the examples presented above, we can also consider within this group certain tropical forests where humans do not use fire, although they do travel through them for food gathering and hunting, and the same occurs with some mountains.
En otras palabras, uno de los factores determinantes para saber si un ambiente es natural es cuán poblado se encuentre por asentamientos humanos: si la densidad es muy baja, o bien si las personas lo recorren pero no permanecen en él ni lo afectan de forma considerable o irreversible, entonces podemos considerarlo natural. Claro que cada vez nos acercamos más a la desaparición total de los espacios de este tipo, ya que nuestra especie avanza sin piedad sobre cada rincón del planeta en busca de recursos.
The classification of natural environment is very broad, and in it we find parks (a group in which are national, regional and natural), reserves (both scientific and comprehensive) and monuments.
There is a list of requirements that a space must meet to be considered a natural environment:
* must represent some geomorphological or natural geological formation, some ecosystem or natural landscape;
* It must play an important role in the conservation of ecosystems, guaranteeing the continuity of the evolution of the species that depend on it, as well as the balance of the environment;
* must contribute to the conservation of animal or plant communities, necessary to prevent any of their species from disappearing.