Operations research in the natural resource industry

Abstract

Operations research is becoming increasingly prevalent in the natural resource sector, specifically in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mining. While there are similar research questions in these areas, e. g., how to harvest and/or extract the resources and how to account for environmental impacts, there are also differences, e.g., the length of time associated with a growth and harvesting or extraction cycle, and whether or not the resource is renewable. Research in all four areas is at different levels of advancement in terms of the methodology currently developed and the acceptance of implementable plans and policies. In this paper, we review the most recent and seminal work in all four areas, considering modeling, algorithmic developments and application.