Political factors include:

- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - This is a national instrument used for determining
the possible adverse environmental impacts of a proposed activity e.g. Increasing exploitation
of fisheries resource. The EIA allows public participation in informed decision making
regarding the proposed activity and it may provide information on more environmentally
sustainable alternatives to the proposed activity. Therefore, based on the EIA, the proposal to
increase fisheries exploitation can be declined and an alternative means of generating income
can be discovered or suggested.
- Governments can put policies and laws in place that can promote the sustainable increase in
exploitation of the fishing resource. These policies and laws can prohibit the increase in
exploitation of the resource beyond the Maximum Sustainable Yield as this would be
unsustainable and could jeopardize the targeted fish species as well as the ecosystem to
which they belong.
- Governments can privatize the fishing industry to allow foreign investors to finance the
increase in exploitation of the resource. These foreign investors would have the capital to bring
in bigger and more hitech fishing boats that would drastically increase the amount of fish that
can be caught. However, these foreign investors are primarily concerned with profits, and so
must be closely monitored to ensure they adhere to environmental laws and policies and do
not over-exploit the resource by overfishing.

Economic factors include:

- National debt - If a country is in great financial foreign debt (owing money to foreign countries)
this can drive desperate need to increase the exploitation of their resources in an effort to
make more money to repay their debt. This can lead to overexploitation of their resources and
run the country into environmental degradation and more economic stress in the future.
- Export of resources in their raw state (primary products*) is often not profitable as prices are
determined by the world market. So, in an effort to increase the revenue generated from these
products, countries cannot raise the price and instead, try to export more by harvesting more
of the resource which can lead to overexploitation of the resource.

*When a resource is simply harvested and sold, this raw form of the resource is called the
primary product and is less profitable. The price of these primary products are determined by
the world market and so the country cannot dictate the price. If however, the resource is
refined or processed into secondary or even tertiary products, they are worth more money and
can generate more profit. Also, countries dictate the price.
E.g. Raw/fresh fish - primary product
Salted fish / canned fish - secondary product (worth more than fresh fish)

E.g. Raw Bauxite - Primary product

Bauxite refined into Alumina - Alumina is a secondary product (worth more than bauxite)
Alumina smelted into Aluminum - Aluminum is a tertiary product (worth more than alumina)
- The need for foreign investors. Increasing resource exploitation can require capital investment
(money) to upgrade machinery or processes that a country may not have. E.g. to increase
fishery exploitation boats and fishing equipment must be upgraded. The government can then
open up the resource to privatization (Harvesting by private companies) in exchange for a fee
to the government. The country earns some revenue from the companies but these companies
are usually very profit driven and will not hesitate to harvest the resource in an unsustainable
manner. They must be closely monitored to ensure they adhere to local environmental and
natural resource policies.