The document discusses various types of natural resources including forests, water, minerals, energy, food, and land. It provides details on each type of resource, including definitions, classifications, locations, uses, and issues related to exploitation and management. Specifically, it covers the importance of forests and trees in regulating climate, supporting biodiversity, and providing economic goods. It also notes that deforestation due to logging, agriculture, and other human activities has led to many environmental and economic problems globally.
2. Life on this planet earth depends on a variety of goods and
services provided by the nature, which are known as Natural
Resources.
Any stock or reserve that can be drawn from nature is a Natural
Resource
Natural Resources of two Types:
• Renewable Resources- they are in exhaustive and can be
regenerated in a given span of time. E.g. Forests, wildlife,
wind, biomass, tidal, hydro energies etc.
• Non-Renewable Resources- they are exhaustive and
cannot be regenerated. E.g. Fossil fuels- coal, petroleum,
minerals, etc.
4. Forests is green blanket covering the Earth
About 1/3rd of the world’s land area is forested
which includes closed as well as open forests.
But the forest cover is depleting. Greatest losses
have occurred in Tropical Asia, where one third
of the forest is destroyed.
Current Forest area of India: 24.1% (FSI report
2013)
5. Sr.No Commercial Uses Ecological Uses
1. Wood: timber Regulates water cycle
2. Firewood Produces Oxygen
3. Pulpwood Absorbs Pollutants
4. Food items Act as a sink of CO2 (Reduce
Global Warming)
5. Gums, resins Driving Energy flow and Nutrient
Cycling
6. Fibres, canes, fodder Habitat for wildlife
7. Medicines and drugs Conservation of Soil
8. Worth: Rs.30,000/year by one
typical tree
Worth:1,00,000/year by typical tree
6. Over – Exploitation: Rapid & Excessive use of
forest to meet human demands
Deforestation: clearance or clearing is the
removal of a forest or stand of trees where the
land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use.
7. Due to wood cutting & large scale logging for
raw material
Deforestation due to road construction
Forest clearing to convert it to Agricultural Land
to meet food demands
Encroachment of Forests
Heavy grazing
Mining activities
Hydropower projects
8. Fuel Requirement
Raw material for industries
Shifting cultivation
Development projects –dams
Growing food needs
Overgrazing
Forest fires
9.
10. Existence of Species is affected- Natural Habitat
Biodiversity is lost
Hydrological cycle affected
Soil erosion
In hilly areas – Landslides
Increase in Carbon levels…….Global
Warming………
11.
12. Advantages Disadvantages
Checks Floods, famine Loss of Forest area
Generate Electricity Large land under submergence
Reduce water & power shortage Relocation of many tribal, communities,
people, farmers.
Provide Irrigation water to low areas Local Riots, abuse
Promote fisheries Flash Floods
Employment Seismic changes
Siltation & Sedimentation Problem
Micro-Climate Change
Breeding of Vector & Spread of disease
Society now moving towards construction of small dams or mini- hydal projects.
14. Water is known as LIFE
Nearly 80% of body composition
Water is a chemical substance, a liquid at ambient
conditions, often co-exists on earth with its solid state i.e
ice, and gaseous state i.e water vapor or steam.
Properties:
• Universal solvent- so it can be nutrient carrier,
• High surface tension- so it can rise easily at great heights,
• Anomalous expansion- it freezes, it expands instead of
contacting.
15. World oceans cover about 3/4th of earth’s surface.
Fresh water constitutes a very small proportion of this enormous quantity.
About 2.7 % of the total water available on the earth is fresh water of which
about 79 % lies frozen in polar regions and another 20% is present as
ground water.
The rest is available in lakes, rivers, atmosphere, moisture, soil and vegetation
16. Sr.No Uses
1. Agriculture-
2. Drinking
3. Washing
4. Transportation
5. Chemical uses
6. Fire Extinguish
7. Recreation
8. Water Industry
9. Food Processing
10. Industrial Application
19. Water which percolates or infiltrates down in the
ground
Huge source of fresh water.
Layer of sediment or rock that is highly permeable
and contains water is an AQUIFER
• Confined- Which are sandwiched between two
impermeable layers of Rock/Sediments, Recharged
where it intersects the land surface and
• Unconfined aquifers- which are overlaid by permeable
earth materials, recharged by water seeping down form
surface.
20.
21. Subsidence
• When groundwater withdrawal is more than its recharge
rate, the sediments in the aquifer get compacted, a
phenomenon known as “groundwater subsidence”.
Lower of Water Table
• Mining of water is done extensively in arid & semi-arid
regions, which leads to lowering of water table.
Water Logging
• When irrigation is done with Brackish water, water table
level increases leading to logging
Water Pollution
• Discharge and dumping of waste in water resources
22. Heavy Rainfall causes floods in low-lying areas
coastal areas.
Prolonged downpour cause overflow of rivers,
lakes leading to floods.
Anthropogenic Activities- Deforestation,
overgrazing, mining, rapid industrialization.
It is very regular feature in some North Eastern
Parts of India & Bangladesh
23.
24. When annual rainfall is below normal and less
than evaporation, drought conditions are
created.
Meteorological Phenomenon
Anthropogenic Causes:Grazing, deforestation,
mining.
Leads to desertification
Proper crop plantation is a
remedial measure.
25. Unequal distribution is the major cause
Cauvery water dispute:
• Cauvery River is contention between Karnataka & Tamil Nadu,
and the problem is hundred years old.
• The upstream is in Karnataka & downstream is in TN.
• The TN people wants water-use regulated in Upstream,
whereas the Karnataka people claims primacy over it.
• June 2, 1990- Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal was set up.
Indus the water treaty-
• established in 1960
• The Jhelum ,Chenab & Indus itself given to Pakistan while The
Sutlej, Ravi & Beas to India
Sutlej-Yamuna link canal dispute
• Issue between Punjab & Haryana
26. Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic,
crystalline solids having a definite chemical
composition & characteristics properties.
Composition of Mineral:
• Silicon, oxygen, iron, magnessium, calcium, aluminium,
etc.
• Some common minerals like quartz, feldspar, biolite,
dolomite, calcite, laterite, etc.
27. Minerals classified based on their properties are
of two types:
• Metallic
• Non-Metallic
Minerals are also classified as :
• Critical – Essential for economy of Nation
e.g. Iron, Aluminium, Gold, Copper, etc.
• Strategic – Essential for defence of Country
e.g. Manganese, Cobalt, Platinum, Chromium, etc.
28.
29. Sr.
No
Mineral Uses
1. Aluminium Packaging food items, transportation, utensils, electronics
2. Chromium For making high strength steel alloys, textile/tanning ind.
3. Copper Electric & Electronic Goods, building, construction, vessels
4. Iron Heavy machinery, steel production, transportation means
5. Lead Gasoline, car batteries, paints, ammunition
6. Manganese Making high strength, heat resistance steel alloys
7. Gold Ornaments, medical use, use in aerospace
8. Silver Jewellery, photography, electronics
9. Nickel Batteries
10. Platinum Automobiles, catalytic convertors, jewellery, medical use
30. Sr.
No
Mineral Uses
1. Silicate Sand & gravel for construction, bricks, paving, etc
2. Limestone Used for concrete, building stone, used in agriculture for
neutralizing acid soils, used in cement industry.
3. Gypsum Used in plaster wall-board, in agriculture
4. Potash,
phosphorite
Used in fertilizers
5. Sulphur
pyrites
Used in medicine, car battery, industry
31. Mining
Surface- shallow
Deposits
Open – Pit Mining –
Machines dig holes
Dredging-chained
buckets & draglines are
used
Strip Mining
Ore is stripped by using
bulldozers, power
shovels& stripping
wheels
Sub-surface- deep
deposits
32.
33.
34.
35.
36. Devegetation and defacing of landscape
Subsidence of land
Ground water contamination
Air pollution
Surface water pollution
Occupational health hazards
38. Reduce, reuse, recycle
New and improved mining technologies
MICROBIAL LEACHING TECHNIQUE
Restoration of mined lands
Revegetation and stabilization.
39. The most important natural resource, upon which all
human activity is based since time immemorial, is land.
Land resource is our basic resource.
Throughout history, we have drawn most of our
sustenance and much of our fuel, clothing and shelter
from the land.
It is useful to us as a source of food, as a place to live,
work and play. It is a productive economic factor in
agriculture, forestry, grazing, fishing and mining.
It is considered as a foundation of social prestige and is
the basis of wealth and political power.
40. Out of the total land area, as many as 175 million hectares suffer
from degradation.
Land degradation is caused largely by soil erosion, but also by
water logging and excessive salinity.
Most serious threat deforestation.
The exponentially growing population ----immense pressure
The high degree of degradation of existing land resources, the
changing climate and increasing diversion of land from
agricultural to non-agricultural uses have aggravated the problem.
The productivity of land has suffered to a great extent, beyond
repair
India, being a large agrarian society, has, therefore, an enormous
task to meet the growing demands for food, fuel, fiber together
with environmental security for its people in the coming years.
42. Means wearing of soil
Defined as “the movement of soil components,
especially surface-litter and top soil from one
place to another.”
It leads to loss of fertile soil layer
43. Two types of Soil Erosion:
• Normal or geologic Erosion: Removal of top soil by
natural processes- physical, biological & hydrological
activities
• Accelerated Erosion : mainly caused by anthropogenic
activities like overgrazing, deforestation, mining.
Two factors :
• Climatic Agents- Water & wind
• Biotic Agents- Excessive grazing, deforestation, mining.
44. Sheet Erosion: Uniform removal of thin layer of soil
from large surface area.
Rill Erosion: Due to rainfall finger like grooves or rills
are formed, it is called rill erosion
Gully Erosion: it is prominent in heavy rainfall, where
deeper cavities or gullies are formed of U /V shaped.
Slip Erosion: this occurs due to heavy rainfall on slopes
of hills & mountains
Stream bank Erosion :in rainy season, when fast
running streams take a turn in some direction, they cut
the soil and make caves in the banks.
45. Saltation: This occurs due to direct pressure of
stormy wind and the soil particles of 1-1.5 mm
diameter move up in vertical direction.
Suspension: Here fine soil particles (less than 1
mm dia) which are suspended in air are picked
and taken away to distant places.
Surface Creep: Here larger particles (5-10 mm
dia) creep over the soil surface along with wind.
47. Tillage is the agricultural preparation of the soil by
mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging,
stirring, and overturning.
Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand
tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoeing, and
raking.
Examples of draft-animal-powered or mechanized work
include ploughing, etc
48. On gentle slopes horizontal rows of plants
Helps slow down run off
49. Done on steep slopes
Extremely efficient to prevent run off.
Good in high rainfall areas
50. Alternate strips of crops with grasses or
grass legume mixture
Run off is retained by strip cover
Also helps nitrogen fixing
51. Alley Cropping is planting rows of trees at wide spacing with a
companion crop grown in the alleyways between the rows. Alley
cropping can diversify farm income, improve crop production
and provide protection and conservation benefits to crops.
52. It is a plantation
usually made up of one
or more rows of trees
or shrubs planted in
such a manner as to
provide shelter from
the wind and to protect
soil from erosion. They
are commonly planted
around the edges of
fields on farms.
53. Result of excessive irrigation
Pore spaces filled with water
Roots cannot breath
Make continuous column with water
When evaporates leaves behind a white crust of
salt
Extremely high sodium quantity.
Precious LAND RESOURCE IS WASTED
54. In this huge masses of land slide down
destroying anything in its path.
Various developmental activities like large dams,
reservoirs, construction of roads etc require
large scale deforestation.
This increases chances of landslides
55. Process of conversion of productive land to arid or
semi arid lands
10-25% drop in productivity in moderate desertification
More than 50% in serious desertification
Creates gullies or sand dunes
Leads to depletion of ground water, salinization
Causes are deforestation, overgrazing and mining
Areas include Saharan Africa, Middle East, Western
Asia, parts of central and south America.
Domino effect
56. Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support
for the body.
It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential
nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or
mineral.
Out of thousands of edible plants and animals around 3 dozen
types form major food of humans
Agriculture is the source of majority of food components
58. Minimum caloric intake should be 2500 calories /day
If less than 90% of this amount: Undernourished
If less than 80% : Seriously undernourished
Deficiency or lack of nutrition causes:
MALNUTRITION.
Last 50 years food production…tripled
Population growth rate also high…..
Every year 40 million people die of MALNUTRITION
and UNDERNOURISHMENT
300 million Indians are UNDERNOURISHED
Food production in 64 developing countries….lagging
behind population growth rate……
61. Grazing on grasslands or pastures.
Available areas under decline
Exceed the CARRYING CAPACITY
Impacts:
Land degradation
Soil erosion
Loss of Useful Species
62. Necessary as it’s the major source of food
It dates back to as long as humans exist
Hunter gatherer-----------civilized by agriculture
Slash and burn traditional technique used.
63. Traditional agriculture and its impacts:
Forest clearing , Soil erosion and Depletion of
nutrients
Modern Agriculture and its Impacts:
Impacts of HYV(high yield varieties)
Fertilizer related problems
Pesticide related problems
Water logging
Salinity problem
64. Deforestation due to Slash and burn technique
Clearing of forests for new land area
Depletion of Nutrients
65. Impacts of High yield
varieties
Encourage MONOCULTURE
These crops demands controlled
irrigation.
These crop should be irrigated
at right time as per the schedule
and in right quantity.
Most of the HYV seeds are
dwarf varieties.
They need higher doses of
fertilizer.
HYV crops are highly
susceptible to pests.
66. N, P, K are essential macronutrients
Highly used to get boost in production
They cause MICRONUTRIENT IMBALANCE
Eg: Punjab and Haryana soils suffer from severe deficiency of
Zinc.
Nitrates pollute ground water. Conc more than 25
mg/l….causes Blue Baby Syndrome
Eutrophication
68. Over irrigation is the major cause
Inadequate drainage leads to high
water column
Pore spaces drenched with water
No adequate gaseous exchange
69. 1/3rd of cultivable land affected by salts caused by
excess irrigation
Accumulation of salts like NaCl, sodium sulphate,
calcium and magnesium chloride
High electrical conductivity and high sodium
percentage
Water evaporates and leaves behind a white crust of
salt
Punjab and Haryana face problem