CH-1

GEOGRAPHY
RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT
Resources- Everything in our
environment that can be used to satisfy your needs, which is
technologically accessible, economically feasible and cultural
acceptable can be termed as resources.
Types of resources-
Resources are broadly classified as natural,
human and man- made resources.
Classification of resources-
Natural resources can be classified as
follow
1. ON THE BASIS OF ORIGIN
A. Biotic resources:-
These resources are obtained from
biosphere i.e. human beings, livestock, flora and fauna
etc. coal and petroleum may be considered as biotic
resources as they are formed by decaying of life forms.
B. Abiotic resources- these resources are composed of non-
living e.g. soil, rocks, metals, winds, etc.
2. ON THE BASIS OF EXHAUSIBILITY OR LIMITATION OF USE
A. Renewable resources- The resources which can be
renewed or reproduced by physical, chemical or
mechanical processes are known as renewable or
 replenishable resources e.g. solar energy, wind energy,
forest, water, wildlife, etc. it can be further sub- divided
into two forms.
-Flow or continuous resource
These resource can be used and
replenished at the same time. It does not remain in one
location and moves about because of natural actions in the
physical environment e.g. running water, solar radiation, winds
and tides.
-Biological resource
These resources are formed by biological
process. It is further divided into two parts
-Natural vegetation [forest cover or flora]
-Wildlife [fauna]
B. Non – renewable resources-
These resources are formed
through long geological time period and cannot be renewed
e.g. minerals, metals, and fossil fuels. These resources may
further be divided-
-Recyclable metals can be recycled by technological application
so they are recyclable.
-Non recyclable-fossils fuels burn readily and cannot be
recycled so they are non recyclable.
3. ON THE BASIS OF OWNERSHIP
 A. Individual resources-
These resources are owned privately
by individuals e.g. plantation, pasture land, farmland,
water in well, pond, etc.
B. Community owned resources-
These resources are
accessible to all the members of the community e.g.
grazing grounds, burial grounds, ponds in village, public
parks, etc.
C. National resources-
These resources are under the control
of nation/country e.g. canal, coal mines, territorial sea.
[ upto 12 nautical miles from the coast]railway, etc.
D. International resources-
These resources are owned
and regulated by international institution e.g. open sea
used for peaceful navigation, open sky for flight
movements, etc. The oceanic resources beyond 200
nautical miles of the exclusive economic zone belong to
open sea.
4. ON THE BASIS OF THE STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT
A. Potential resources-
These resources are found in a region in
abundance, but have not been developed properly e.g. solar
and wind energy in Gujarat and Rajasthan , vast tidal waves in
the coasts of India.
B. Developed resources-
 These resources are surveyed and
quantified for utilization through available technology e.g.
coal, petroleum, etc. availability of technology and level of
accessibility decides the quality of developed resources.
C. Stock-
These resources have the potential to satisfy human
need, the required technical knowledge to use them is not
developed e.g. hydrogen and oxygen in water can be a
rich resource of energy. But technical know-how for this
purpose is not available.
D. Reserves-
These are specific stocks for which
appropriate technological know-how is available, but
exploration is not started yet. E.g. river water for hydel
energy or forest are reserves but still has limited
exploration.
INTERDEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURE,
TECHNOLOGY AND INSTITUTIONS
-The process of transformation of things available in our
environment involves an interactive relationship between
nature, technology and institutions. Human beings
interact with nature through technology and create
institutions to accelerate their economic development.
PROBLEMS DUE TO OVER UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES
Resources are vital for human survival as well as for
maintaining the quality of life. It was believed that
resources are free gift of nature. As the result, human
beings used them indiscriminately and this has led to the
following major problems.
1. Depletion of resources-
Due to the satisfying the greed
of the few individuals resources are depleted.
2. Economical division of society
Unequal resource
distribution which created accumulation of resources in
few hands. Which in turn divided the society into two
segments i.e. rich and poor
3. Global ecological crises
Indiscriminate exploitation of
resources has led to global ecological crises such as,
global warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental
pollution and land degradation.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
-Sustainable economic development means
development should take place without damaging the
environment, and development in the present should
not compromise with the needs of the future
generation.
RIO DE JANEIRO EARTH SUMMIT, 1992
1. In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first international
earth summit.
2. The summit was convened for addressing urgent
problems of environmental protection and
socioeconomic development at the global level.
3. The assembled leaders signed the declaration on
global climatic change and biological diversity.
4. The Rio convention endorsed the global forest
principles and adopted agenda 21 for achieving
sustainable development in the 21st century.
AGENDA 21
1. 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.
2. It aims at achieving global sustainable
development.
3. It is an agenda to combat environmental damage,
poverty, Disease through global co- operation.
4. One major objective of the agenda 21 is that every
local government should draw its own local agenda
21.
RESOURCE PLANNING
-Planning is the widely accepted strategy for
judicious use of resources. Resource planning
means identification and quantification of the
available resources along with their development.
Resource planning should match with national
development goals.
STEPS OR PROCESS OF RESOURCE PLANNING
Resource planning is a complex process which
involves:-
1. Identification and inventory of resources across
the regions of the country. This involves
surveying, mapping, qualitative and quantitative
estimation and measurement of the resources.
2. Evolving a planning structure endowed with
appropriate technology, skill and institutional
set up for implementing resource development
plans.
3. Matching the resource development plans with
overall national development plans.
India has made concerted efforts
for achieving the goals of resources planning
right from the first five year plan launched after
independence.
RESOURCE PLANNING IN INDIA
Resource planning has importance in a country
like India, which has enormous diversity in the
availability of resources. There are religious
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. Some
examples are as follows:-
-states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya
Pradesh are rich in coal and minerals, but lack
technologically and institutional support.
-Arunachal Pradesh has abundant water
resources, but lacks in infrastructure
development.
-Rajasthan is well endowed with wind and solar
energy, but lacks water resources.
-Some states like Punjab, Haryana have a poor
resource base, but they are economically
developed.
-The cold desert of Ladakh lacks natural
resources, although it has a rich cultural
heritage.
RESOURCES AND COLONISATION
1. The history of colonization reveals that rich
resources in colonies were the main
attractions for the foreign invaders.
2. It was primarily the higher level of
technological development of the colonizing
countries that helped them to exploit
resources of other regions and establish their
supremacy over the colonies.
3. Therefore, resources can contribute to
development only when they are
accompanied by appropriate technological
development and institutional changes.
4. India has experienced all this in different
phases of colonization. Therefore, in India,
development, in general, and resources
development in particular does not only
involve the availability of resources, but also
the technology, quality of human resources
and the historical experiences of the people.
CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES
1. Resources are vital for any developmental
activity. But irrational consumption and
 over utilization of resources may lead to
socioeconomic and environmental
problems.
2. To overcome these problems, resource
conversion at various levels is important.
3. This had been the main concern of the
leaders and thinkers in the past.
4. Gandhiji was very apt in voicing his concern
about resource conservation in these
words. There is enough for everybody need
and not for anybody greed. He placed the
greedy and selfish individuals and
exploitative nature of modern technology
as the root cause for resource depletion at
the global level. He was against mass
production and wanted to replace it with
the production by the masses.
5. At the international level, the club of Rome
advocated resource conservation for the
first time in a more systematic way in 1968.
6. The seminal contribution with respect to
resource conservation at the global level
was made by the Brundtland commission
report, 1987.
7. Another significant contribution was made
at the earth summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
in 1992.