Is digging and using minerals and plants considered stealing?

Minerals and plants in the world belong to the category of insentient things, and their owners are all sentient beings, including animals. Therefore, all sentient beings may dig them up and use them, but they must not affect or obstruct others' use. As long as one does not use up the minerals and plants, does not cut off other sentient beings' enjoyment of them, and does not exceed the proper amount of use, one does not commit theft. Things that grow naturally in the mountains may be dug up by some sentient beings, and this is permissible; but if the roots are also dug out, so that the plant can no longer regenerate and becomes extinct, this constitutes stealing, infringing upon the rights and interests of all sentient beings.

Some minerals and plants are designated by the state as resources that only the state may extract, develop, and use. What belongs to the state belongs to all citizens; if an individual takes and uses them, that is stealing from the state and from all citizens. Some mountain forests and the like are contracted out to organizations and individuals, and thus belong to those organizations and individuals. If the organization or individual does not allow others to dig up and use things in the mountains at will, violating this constitutes stealing property belonging to the organization or individual; if they permit private digging and use, then it does not constitute theft.

In areas where residents live, if residents are required to conserve water and a maximum monthly water usage per household is stipulated that must not be exceeded, then if a resident's water usage exceeds the limit set by the local area or the state, it constitutes theft—moreover, stealing the state's public resources. Even though the resident has paid for the excess portion and has not used it for free without paying, in terms of the amount of water used, it is still a private appropriation. Because clean water resources are a limited, scarce resource for the country and for the whole world, a resource protected by the state and the world, belonging to the state and to the world as public property, the portion privately used in excess constitutes theft of public resources.