Geography Chapter 1 Resources and Development – Notes & Study Material

Important Terms

Resources: All the useful elements of the environment that satisfy our basic needs are called resources.

​Natural resources: A natural resource is something that is found in nature and can be used by people for economic gain. Earth’s natural resources include light, air, water, plants, animals, soil, stone, minerals, fossil fuels, etc.

Man-made resources: Man-made resources are resources that are created by humans to transform and use the gifts of nature, for example buildings; roads; vehicles; machinery, equipment, etc.

Non-renewable resources: Resources that once used, can’t be reproduced or replenished, such as fossil fuels, minerals like copper and iron ore.

Biotic resources: These are obtained from the biosphere and have a life, such as human beings, flora and fauna, fisheries, livestock, etc.

​Abiotic resources: Resources that comprise of non-living things, such as rocks, minerals, etc.

​Renewable resources: Resources which can be reproduced by physical, chemical or mechanical processes, such as: solar energy and wind energy.

​National resources: All the resources, which are present in the political boundary of a nation up to 12 nautical miles in the ocean from the coast, such as minerals, water resources, forests, wildlife, land  termed as territorial water and resources therein belong to the nation.

International resources: The resources that do not belong to any individual country.

​Potential resources: Resources which are available in a region, but have not been utilized, such as wind and solar energy in Rajasthan and Gujarat have not been developed fully.

Developed resources: Resources which are surveyed and their quantity and quality have been determined for utilization.

Stock: Materials present in the environment, which have the potential to satisfy human needs, but human beings do not have the appropriate technology to access these materials.

​Reserves: They are the subsets of the stock, which can be put into use with the help of existing technology but their use has not been started yet.

Sustainable development: It means that development should take place without damaging the environment and development in the present should not compromise with needs of future generations.

​Resource planning: It is the widely accepted strategy for the judicious use of resources.

Resource conservation: It refers to the sustainable utilisation of natural resources, such as soil, water, plants, animals, minerals. It topsoil, pasture land and minerals. It also refers to the preservation of forests, watershed areas, etc.

Gross cropped area: Area sown more than once in an agricultural year plus net sown area is known as gross cropped area.

​Fallow land: A land which is left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year for increasing its fertility is known as the fallow land.

 

Wasteland: Land which is not suitable for cultivation is known as wasteland.

​Net sown area: Area sown once in a year is known as the net sown area.

Pasture: Land covered with grass and other plants that makes it suitable for grazing animals is known as pasture.

Soil erosion: The washing away of top fertile soil by natural agents like wind, glacier and water is called soil erosion.

​Gullies: When the running water, cutting through the clayey soil creates deep channels. These deep channels are known as gullies.

Sheet erosion: When the top soil is washed away due to heavy flow of water down the slopes, it is known as sheet erosion.

​Wind erosion: When the top fertile soil blows off due to wind, it is known as wind erosion.

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

Contour ploughing: Ploughing along the contour lines is known as contour ploughing. Contour ploughing can slow down the flow of water down the slopes and prevent soil from eroding away.

Shelter belts: Sometimes, trees are planted in rows to reduce the force of wind to prevent wind erosion. Such rows of plants are known as shelter belts.

Important Notes

Resources are the means available for economic and political development, such as mineral wealth, labour force, livestock etc. In other words, everything available in the environment that can be used to satisfy our needs provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable can be called resource.

Natural endowments in the form of land, water, vegetation and minerals are called natural resources.

Even human beings are essential components of resources as they also provide services and thus contribute to the economic and political development. They convert material available in our environment into resources and use them.

Classification of Resources 

(a) On the basis of origin, we have biotic and abiotic resources.

(b) On the basis of exhaustibility, we have renewable and non-renewable resources.

(c) On the basis of ownership, there are four types of resources:

•  Individual resources
• Community-owned resources
• National resources
• International resources. 

(d) On the basis of status of development, we have again four types of resources: 

• Potential resources
• Developed resources
• Stock
• Reserves 

Resources are very important for human survival as well as for maintaining the quality of life. An equitable distribution of resources is very important for sustainable existence of all forms of life and global peace.

Resources are compulsory for human survival as well as for maintaining the quality of life. It was believed that resources are free gifts of nature.

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 generations. For a sustained quality of life and global peace, it is essential that resources should be distributed equally.

As human beings are using the resources unevenly it has led to the some major problems like

(a) depletion of resources for satisfying the greed of a few individuals

(b)  accumulation of resources in few hands and 

(c) indiscriminate exploitation of resources which has led to global ecological crises such as, global warming, ozone layer depletion etc. 

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992

In June 1992 considering the same issue more than 100 heads of states met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first International Earth Summit.

The summit was organised for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socioeconomic development at the global level. 

The Rio Convention endorsed the global forest principles and adopted Agenda 21 for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century. 

 

Agenda 21 was the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which aimed at achieving global sustainable development.

It is an agenda to fight environmental damage, poverty, disease through global cooperation on common interests, mutual needs and shared responsibilities.

One major objective of the Agenda 21 was that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21. 

Resource planning is the widely accepted strategy for cautious use of resources. In a country like India it is very important to follow and execute such planning as India has enormous diversity in the availability of resources.

Some regions are rich in certain types of resources but deficient in some other resources. 

Some regions are self sufficient in terms of the availability of resources while others have acute shortage of some vital resources.

Balanced resource planning at the national, state, regional and local levels is very important. But mere presence of resources is not enough for development. It should be accompanied by appropriate technological development and institutional changes too.

Resource Planning in India

Resource planning is a technique of proper utilization of resources.

Resource planning is a complex process which involves the following steps:

(a) Identification and keeping record of resources which involves surveying, mapping and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of the resources.

(b) Developing a planning structure with proper technology, skill and institutional set up for implementing resource development plans. 

(c) Comparing the resource development plans with national development plans.

Resource development and planning reduces wastage, keeps the environment pollution free and takes care of future needs.​The management of resources by humans is known as conservation.​Conservation of resources includes a judicious and planned use of resources. Optimum exploitation is must, but over-exploitation should be checked.

India has a variety of relief features like mountains, plateaus and plains. 43% of the country is covered with plains and they provide cultivable land for growing crops. 30% of the country is covered by mountains and they provide natural resources like forests and wildlife. 27% of the country is covered by plateaus, which contain mineral resources, forests and some arable land.

Land resources are used for the following purposes :

(1) ​Forests ​

(2) ​Land not available for cultivation

(a)​ Barren and waste land 

(b)​ Land put to non-agricultural uses, e.g. buildings, roads, factories, etc. 

(3) ​​Other uncultivated land (excluding fallow land)

(a)​ Permanent pastures and grazing land

(b)​ Land under miscellaneous tree crops groves (not included in net sown area)

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

(4) Fallow land

(a)​ Current fallow-(left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year)

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

(5) ​Net sown area

The use of land is determined by

(a) Physical factors—topography, climate, soil types. 

(b) Human factors—population density, technological capability and culture and traditions etc. 

Several steps have been taken to create awareness about the conservation of resources:

(a) For the first time in 1968, the Club of Rome supported resource conservation at an international level.

(b) In 1974, Gandhian philosophy was presented by Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful. 

(c) The influential contribution was made by the Brundtland Commission Report in 1987. It introduced the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ which was later published in the book Our Common Future.

Land supports natural vegetation, wildlife, human life, economic activities, transport and communication systems. Thus it is very important to conserve land resources with careful planning.

 

Human activities that caused degradation of  land in India

(1) Deforestation ​

2) ​Overgrazing ​

(3) Mining and quarrying

Suggestions for conservation of land 

(1) ​Afforestation 

(2) ​Proper control on grazing ​

(3) ​Planting of shelter belts of plants ​

(4) ​Stabilisation of sand dunes by planting thorny bushes ​

(5) ​Proper utilization of wasteland

(​6) Control on mining ​

(7) Discharge of industrial effluents and wastes after treatment 

Soil is the most important renewable natural resource. 

(a) It is a medium of plant growth and supports different types of living organisms on the earth and is an important living system. It takes millions of years to form soil upto a few cm in depth.

Factors that help in the formation of soil are relief, parent rock or bed rock, climate, vegetation and other forms of life and time.

Various natural forces such as change in temperature, actions of running water, etc. also contribute to the soil formation. 

Soils of India can be classified on following basis:

(1)​ Factors responsible for the formation of the soil ​

(2) ​Colour of the soil

(3) Thickness of the soil ​

(4) Texture of the soil ​

(5) Age of the soil 

(6)​ Chemical and physical properties of the soil

Different types of soil are: Alluvial soil, Black soil, Red and Yellow soils, Laterite soil, Arid soil and Forest soil.

The removal of top fertile soil cover due to various reasons like wind, glacier and water is called soil erosion. The processes of soil formation and erosion go simultaneously and generally there is a balance between the two. But sometimes, this balance is disturbed due to human activities. Natural forces like wind, glacier and water lead to soil erosion. Soil erosion is also caused due to defective methods of farming. 

Types of soil

(1) Alluvial soil  ​

(a) Widely spread in north Indian plains, alluvial soil as a whole is very fertile. ​​

​(b) It is classified as : Khadar (new alluvial) and Bangar (old alluvial). ​​​

(c) ​This soil is contains adequate proportion of potash, phosphoric acid

(d) This soil is contains adequate proportion of potash, phosphoric acid and lime. ​​​

(e) ​This soil is ideal for the growth of sugarcane, paddy, wheat and other cereal and pulse crops. ​​

(2) ​Black soil  

(a) Also called regur soil, this soil is black in colour. ​​

(b) ​This soil is ideal for growing cotton. ​​

(c) ​This soil is found in the plateaus of Maharashtra, Saurashtra, Malwa, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and extend in the south-east direction along the Godavari and the Krishna valleys. ​​

(d) ​This soil is rich in soil nutrients, such as calcium carbonate, magnesium, potash and lime, but poor in phosphorus contents. ​

(e)The black soils is made up of extremely fine i.e., clayey material. It is well-known for their capacity to hold moisture. ​​

(3) Red and yellow soil ​​​

(a) This soil develops in areas of low rainfall or crystalline igneous rocks. ​​​

(b) ​It is found in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and the piedmont zone of the Western Ghats. ​​​

(c) ​Due to the diffusion of iron in crystalline and metamorphic rocks, its colour becomes reddish. ​

(4) ​Laterite soil 

(a) This soil develops in areas of high temperature and heavy rainfall. ​​

(b) ​Humus content in the soil is low. ​​

(c) ​It is mainly found in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and hilly areas of Assam and Odisha. ​​

(d) ​It is good for tea, coffee, cashew nut, etc. ​

​(5) Arid soils 

(a) This soil is generally sandy in texture and saline in nature. ​​

(b) ​This soil lacks in humus and moisture. ​​​

(c) ​This soil is found in Western Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. ​​​

(d) The lower horizons of the soil are occupied by Kankar. ​

(6) ​Forest soils

(a) ​This soil is found in hilly and mountainous regions. ​​​

(b) This soil is loamy and silty in valley sides, while coarse grained in the

Measures for soil conservation are Contour ploughing , ​Terrace farming ​,strip cropping ​,Shelter belts of trees ​,​Plugging of gullies ​,​Afforestation ​,​Control of mining activities.

Class 10 Geography – Notes & Study Material

Chapter 1 Resource and Development Chapter 2 Forest and Wildlife Resources Chapter 3 Water Resources Chapter 4 Agriculture Chapter 5 Mineral and Energy Resources Chapter 6 Manufacturing Industries