Grade 10 Geography

Resources and Development: Notes

Resources:

Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, provided, it is
technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable can be termed as ‘Resource’.

Resources are not free gifts of nature.

Interdependent relationship between nature, technology and institutions.

Humans make the use of nature and natural resources through advancements in technology.

Humans also create institutions that help in the economic and social development of people.

Humans are themselves a resource. They transform available materials in nature into resources and use
them. So, resources are a function/result of human activity.

(An institution is a social structure in which people cooperate and which influences the behavior of people
and the way they live. An institution has a purpose. Institutions are permanent, which means that they do
not end when one person is gone. An institution has rules and can enforce rules of human behavior.)

Development of Resources

Humans have used resources indiscriminately.

Major problems caused by exploitation of resources:

• Depletion of resources. Resource depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be
replenished.
• Accumulation of resources in a few hands has divided the society into ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’.:
widening gap between rich and poor
• Environmental pollution & land degradation
• Global warming. Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth's climate system due to human
activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in
Earth's atmosphere.
• Ozone layer depletion: is the thinning of the ozone layer present in the upper atmosphere. Causes
increased UV radiation levels at the Earth's surface, which is damaging to human health.
• Inequitable distribution of resources between countries

So Equitable distribution of resources is essential for sustainable quality of life and for world peace.

Therefore, resource planning is essential for sustainable existence of all forms of life. Only when there is
sustainable existence, can there be sustainable development.

Sustainable Development is needed to protect the earth from continued exploitation

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Meaning of Economic Development: Development should take place

• Without damaging the environment

• Development in the present should not compromise the needs of future generations

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992

• In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the first International
Earth Summit.
• The Summit was convened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-
economic development at the global level.
• The assembled leaders signed the Declaration on Global Climatic Change and Biological Diversity.
• The Rio Convention endorsed the global Forest Principles and adopted Agenda 21 for achieving
Sustainable Development in the 21st century.

Agenda 21

• It is the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• It aims at achieving global sustainable development.
• It is an agenda to combat environmental damage, poverty, disease through global co-operation on
common interests, mutual needs and shared responsibilities.
• One major objective of the Agenda 21 is that every local government should draw its own local
Agenda 21.

RESOURCE PLANNING

Definition: Resource Planning is the widely accepted strategy for judicious use of resources.

Importance of Resource Planning in India:

• India has enormous diversity in the availability of resources.

• There are regions which are rich in certain types of resources but are deficient in some other
resources.
• There are some regions which can be considered self -sufficient in terms of the availability of
resources and there are some regions which have acute shortage of some vital resources.
• For example, the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are rich in minerals and
coal deposits.
• Arunachal Pradesh has abundance of water resources but lacks in infrastructural development.
• The state of Rajasthan is very well endowed with solar and wind energy but lacks in water
resources.
• The cold desert of Ladakh is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. It has very rich cultural
heritage but it is deficient in water, infrastructure and some vital minerals.
• So balanced resource planning is needed at the national, state, regional and local levels

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Stages in Resource Planning:

Resource planning is a complex process which involves the following:

(i) identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country. This involves
surveying, mapping and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of the
resources.

(ii) Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate technology, skill and institutional set
up for implementing resource development plans.

(iii) Matching the resource development plans with overall national development plans.

The availability of resources is a necessary condition for the development of any region, but only the
availability of resources does not ensure development.

It must be accompanied with

• Technology
• Creation of institutions
• Example: There are some regions in India which are rich in resources but are economically
backward.
• Some regions are economically developed but poor in resources.
• ( Examples..)

History of colonization: Capturing rich resources was the main objective for colonization of lands.

The higher level of technological development of the colonising countries helped them to exploit resources
of other regions and establish their supremacy over the colonies.

Resources can contribute to development only when they are accompanied by technological dev and
institutional changes.

Therefore, in India, resource development involves the availability of resources, the technology, quality of
human resources and the historical experiences of the people.

Conservation of resources:

Conservation is the care and protection of natural resources like water, air, wild life, flora etc. so that it can
persist for future generations. It includes maintaining diversity of species, genes, and ecosystems, as well
as functions of the environment, such as nutrient cycling.

Why do we need to conserve our resources?

Resources are vital for any developmental activity. Irrational consumption and over-utilisation of resources
may lead to socio-economic and environmental problems.

To overcome these problems, resource conservation at various levels is important.

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In the words of Gandhiji, “There is enough for everybody’s need and not for any body’s greed.”

He was against mass production and advocated production by the masses.

He was against capital intensive factories that offered less employment to people and favoured labor
intensive economy which employed more people.

He blamed greedy and selfish individuals and exploitative nature of modern technology as the root cause
for resource depletion at the global level.

Club of Rome advocated resource conservation in 1968.

‘Small is Beautiful’: Schumacher’s book also presented Gandhian philosophy.

The Brundtland Commission Report introduced the concept of Sustainable Development for the 1 st time in
1987.

LAND RESOURCES

• land is a natural resource of utmost importance as we live on land and perform our economic
activities on land.
• It supports natural vegetation, wild life, human life, economic activities, transport and
communication systems.
• Ninety-five per cent of our basic needs for food, shelter and clothing are obtained from land.
• Land is an asset of a finite magnitude, therefore, it is important to use the available land for various
purposes with careful planning.

India has land under a variety of relief features, namely; mountains, plateaus, plains

Landform %of land area Significance

Mountain 30 Ensure perennial flow of some rivers, provide
facilities for tourism and ecological aspects.
Plain 43 Provides facilities for agriculture, industry,
Communication lines, Settlement.
Plateau 27 Possesses rich reserves of minerals, fossil fuels and
forests.

Land Use Pattern in India

The use of land is determined both by

Physical factors such as topography, climate and soil

Human factors such as population density, technological capability and culture and traditions.

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 Geographical Area Reporting Area
Total geographical area of India is 3.28 The reporting area stands for the area for
million sq. km which data on land use classification are
available.
The Survey of India is responsible for Land Use records are maintained by the
measuring geographical area in India. Land Revenue department.
Reporting area in our country is 93 per cent
of the total geographical area because the

a. land use reporting for most of the north-

east states except Assam has not been
done fully.

b. some areas of Jammu and Kashmir

occupied by Pakistan and China have also
not been surveyed.

LAND UTILISATION / Land use categories

Land resources are used for the following purposes:

1. Forests

2. Barren and waste land

3. Land under non-agricultural uses, e.g. buildings, roads, factories, etc.

4. Permanent pastures and grazing land,

5. Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area)

6. Culturable waste land (left uncultivated for more than 5 agricultural years)

7. Current fallow (left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year)

8.Fallow Other than current fallow-(left uncultivated for the past 1 to 5 agricultural years).

9.Net sown area (Net sown area is the total area sown with crops only once in a year)

Net Sown Area Gross Cropped Area

Net sown area is the total area sown with Area sown more than once in an
crops only once in a year agricultural year plus net sown area is
known as gross cropped area.

• The percentage of NSA in India including other than the current fallow lands is 54 per cent of the
total reporting area.
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 • The pattern of net sown area varies greatly from one state to another.
• It is over 80 per cent of the total area in Punjab and Haryana due to availability of fertile soil, flat
plain land and favourable climatic conditions for agriculture.
• NSA is less than 10 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Andaman Nicobar Islands
due to hilly terrain, dense forest cover and low population.
• According to National Forest Policy 33% of country’s total area should be covered by forest for the
maintenance of the ecological balance.
• The total forest cover in India is 23.3 % of the total area which is much less than the desired area.
• Waste land includes rocky, arid and desert areas.
• Land put to other non-agricultural uses includes settlements, roads, railways, industry etc.
• The land under permanent pasture has decreased. India now has to depend on fodder crop to feed
its huge cattle population which in turn has reduced land available for cultivation of food crop.

LAND DEGRADATION

Temporary or permanent decline in the productive capacity of land is termed as land degradation.

Continuous use of land over a long period of time without taking appropriate measures to conserve and
manage it, has resulted in land degradation. This, in turn, has serious repercussions on society and the
environment.

Human activities such as deforestation, over grazing, mining and quarrying have contributed significantly in
land degradation.

1. Mining sites are abandoned after excavation work is complete leaving deep scars and traces of
over-burdening. In states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha deforestation
due to mining have caused severe land degradation.
2. Overgrazing- occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time.
During the dry summer the cattle graze the grass very close to the ground, and pull the roots from
the soil. This loosens the soil and it is easily eroded away when it rains.
It reduces the usefulness, biodiversity, and productivity of the land and is one cause of desertification and
erosion.
In Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra overgrazing is one of the main reasons for land
degradation.

3.Over irrigation- In the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, over irrigation is responsible for
depletion of soil fertility. Large tract of agricultural land has lost its fertility due to alkalisation and
salinization of soils and waterlogging.

4.The mineral processing like grinding of limestone for cement industry and calcite and soapstone for
ceramic industry generate huge quantity of dust in the atmosphere. It retards the process of infiltration of
water into the soil after it settles down on the land.

5. Industrial effluents as waste have become a major source of land and water pollution in many parts of
the country. The chemicals seep into the ground water and spoil the soil as well as water bodies.

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MEASURES TO CONTROL LAND DEGRADATION

There are many ways to solve the problems of land degradation:

1.Afforestation-Afforestation is the process of planting trees in a barren land devoid of any trees to create
a forest. This reduces soil erosion, increases soil organic matter, improves the quality of soil and provides
wildlife habitat.

2. Planting of shelter belts: A windbreak (shelterbelt) is a planting 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 at the edges of fields.

3. Control on over grazing: Cattle grazing on pastures can be supplemented with stored livestock feed.

Livestock should not be allowed to graze freely when the grass is low.

4. Control over mining activities: Implementation of laws to reduce the large amount of water used by
mining industry, proper waste disposal, close and reclaim shut-down mines, replenishing the environment
and implementing strict laws to protect the environment which gets damaged by mining.

5. Proper management of wastelands: Degraded land which can be brought under vegetative cover should
be managed to make it usable, so soil management will make the environment sustainable.

6. Proper discharge and disposal of industrial effluents after treatment: untreated industrial effluents
degrade surface water and soil along with negative impact on crop, insect pests and animals, so effluents
should be treated before discharge

7. Growing thorny bushes to check spreading of desert. These bushes work like shelter belts.

SOIL AS A RESOURCE

• Soil is the loose surface material consisting of inorganic particles and organic matter that covers the
land surface.
• Soil is the most important renewable natural resource.
• Soil is the medium of plant growth and supports different types of living organisms on the earth.
• It is a living system and takes millions of years to form soil up to a few cm in depth.
• Relief, parent rock or bed rock, climate, vegetation and other forms of life and time are important
factors in the formation of soil.
• Various forces of nature such as change in temperature, actions of running water, wind and
glaciers, activities of decomposers etc. contribute to the formation of soil.
• On the basis of formation, colour, thickness, texture, age, chemical and physical properties, the
soils of India are classified as:

1. Alluvial Soil
2. Black Soil
3. Red And Yellow Soil
4. Laterite Soil
5. Arid Soil
6. Forest Soil
PLEASE REFER TO THE TEXTBOOK FOR TYPES OF SOIL

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 Soil Erosion

• The denudation of the soil cover and subsequent washing down is described as soil erosion.
• The processes of soil formation and erosion, go on simultaneously and generally there is a balance
between the two.

• Human activities like deforestation, over-grazing, construction and mining are the major causes of
soil erosion.

• Action of wind, glacier and water also lead to soil erosion.

Types of Soil Erosion

Gully Erosion
The running water cuts through the clayey soils and makes deep channels as gullies. The land
becomes unfit for cultivation due to formation of gullies and is known as bad land.
In the Chambal basin such lands are called ravines.

Sheet Erosion

Sometimes water flows as a sheet over large areas down a slope. In such cases the top soil is
washed away. This is known as sheet erosion.

Wind erosion
Wind blows loose soil off flat or sloping land known as wind erosion.

Soil erosion is also caused due to defective methods of farming. Ploughing in a wrong way i.e. up
and down the slope form channels for the quick flow of water leading to soil erosion.

Soil Conservation

Contour ploughing: Ploughing along the contour lines can decelerate the flow of water down the slopes.
This is called contour ploughing.

Terrace cultivation: Steps can be cut out on the mountain slopes making terraces. Terrace cultivation
restricts erosion. Western and central Himalayas have well developed terrace farming.

Strip cropping: Large fields can be divided into strips. Strips of grass are left to grow between the crops.
This breaks up the force of the wind. This method is known as strip cropping.

Shelter belts: Planting lines of trees to create shelter also works in a similar way. Rows of such trees are
called shelter belts. These shelter belts have contributed significantly to the stabilisation of sand dunes and
in stabilising the desert in western India.