A nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself

Franklin Roosevelt

3. Natural Resources

The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for
everyone's greed
M K Gandhi
 Natural Resources
We will discuss and learn in this unit about:
Ø Natural resources: definition, concept and types
Ø Land resources
Ø Forest resources
Ø Water resources
Ø Food resources
Ø Energy resources
v Syllabus of this Unit as per CD is:

Ø Natural resources: Land resources and land use change, land degradation,
soil erosion and desertification.

Ø Deforestation: causes and impacts due to mining, dam building on

environment, forests, biodiversity and tribal population.

Ø Water Resources: Use and over-exploitation of surface and groundwater,

floods, drought, conflicts over water (international and inter-state).

Ø Heating of earth and circulation of air; air mass formation and precipitation.

Ø Energy resources- renewable and non-renewable energy sources, use of

alternate energy sources, Growing energy needs, Case studies.
Ø Life on the earth depends upon a large number of things and services which are
provided by nature and are, thus, known as Natural Resources.
• Water,
• Air,
• Soil,
• Minerals,
• Coal,
• Forests,
• Crops and
• Wildlife.
Ø Natural resources vary in their nature, origin, availability, exhaustibility, extent,
etc. Some natural resources, like air, solar energy, etc. are inexhaustible and thus
can be used unlimitedly while as others exhaustible resources get consumed on
being used and require judicious utilization.
Ø Renewable resources have the capability to renew themselves if used within
certain limits.
• All natural resources, however, demand a proper and clever use.
• Reckless and injudicious utilization of natural resources is bound to lead
us to an era full of all sorts of crises.
• Reckless use not only leads to the acute shortage of resources but may also
result in generation of unmanageable wastes and contamination of our
environment which is a storehouse of all the resources.
• There must be sustainable use of natural resources in order to safeguard
our own persistent survival.
3.1. Introduction:
Ø Any material which is naturally available and can be used or transformed to be used
in any way by man for his well being is called a Natural Resource.
• Thus a natural resource is anything that we can use and which comes from nature.
Air, water, sun, wood, oil, iron, and coal etc are all examples of natural resources.
Ø Natural resources, thus, must:
• Be naturally occurring on the earth.
• Useful to man in any way that is either directly in its original form or indirectly after
certain modification.
• Accessible to man. If something very useful to man is known to occur somewhere but
is out of human reach or we do not have appropriate tools and technology to extract
or use it, it is not a natural resource for us.
• Modifiable or convertible to more useful products. It means we should have
appropriate technology to make use of a natural resource.
Ø Refined oil and hydro-electric energy are not natural resources because people
make them.
Ø The earth is seemingly an inexhaustible storehouse of innumerable natural
resources.
Ø Although there are vast treasures of different resources on the earth, they are
not unlimited or inexhaustible. Some resources are renewable while others are
not. Man has been exploiting major groups of resources including land, fossil
fuels, forests, wildlife, etc.
Ø Which have now been depleted to an irreparable extent. We need to switch over
to alternative and nonconventional resources in order to avoid problems
associated with scarcity of resources.
3.2. Classification of Natural Resources:
Ø There are numerous natural resources required and utilized by man in his day-to-day life.
Ø There are various basis of classifying natural resources into various groups.
These bases include
ü On the basis of origin
• Biotic such as forest, coal, food, etc
• Abiotic such as water, air, land, minerals, etc
ü On the basis of nature
• Organic such as coal, oil, etc
• Inorganic such as coal, mica, gold, etc
ü On the basis of renewability
• Renewable such as forest
• Non-renewable such as coal
 ü On the basis of exhaustibility
• Exhaustible such silver, gold, forest, oil, coal, etc
• Inexhaustible such as wind, solar energy, etc
ü On the basis of tradition/convention
• Conventional such as oil, coal, etc.
• Non-conventional such as wind, tidal energy, solar energy, etc.

We often hear there are two kinds of natural resources:

• Renewable resources and Non-renewable resources.

ü A renewable resource grows again and comes back again after we use it.
For example, soil, sunlight, water and wood are renewable resources.
ü A non-renewable resource is a resource that does not grow and come back,
or a resource that would take a very long time to come back.
• For example, coal is a non-renewable resource. When we use coal, there
is less coal afterward. One day, there will be no more of it to make goods.
• The non-renewable resource can be used directly (for example, burning
oil to cook), or we can find a renewable resource to use (for example,
using wind energy to make electricity).
Ø Most natural resources are limited. This means they will eventually run out.
Ø A perpetual or endless resource has a never-ending supply. Some examples of
perpetual resources include solar energy, tidal energy, and wind energy.
Ø It is very important to protect and conserve our natural resources and use them in
a judicious manner so that we do not exhaust them.
Ø It does not mean that we should stop using most of the natural resources. Rather,
we should use the resources in such a way that we always save enough of them
for our future generations.

In the coming slides we ‘ll discuss some important natural resources such as
forest resources, water resources, food resources, energy resources and land
resources in detail
3.3. Land Resources:
Ø Land in general refers to any piece or entire of the terrestrial earth but as a
natural resource it means that component of the earth which is of direct economic
use for the human population living on it.
Ø In fact land is one of the most important natural resources upon which we depend
for our
• food,
• fibre and
• fuel wood, the basic amenities of life.
Ø But this resource is not infinite. There are limited land resources available for direct
human use.
• It is the top soil or the uppermost portion of the earth crust that actually forms
useful land resource.
Ø Land is classified as a renewable natural resource because it is continuously
regenerated by natural process though at a very slow rate.
Ø But, when rate of erosion is faster than rate of renewal, the soil becomes a non-
renewable resource.
Ø It is said that about 200-1000 years are needed for the formation of one inch of
soil.
Following are some important factors which affect or decide the value of land as a
significant natural resource:
• Soil and terrain conditions ü Thus, natural resources, in the context
of “land”, are taken to be those
• Freshwater conditions
components of land units that are of
• Climatic conditions, and direct economic use for human
• Biotic(vegetation and animal life) population living in the area, or
conditions expected to move into the area.
The basic functions of land in supporting human and other terrestrial ecosystems
are:
• Land is a store of wealth in its own.
• Land is a storehouse of minerals and raw materials for human use.
• Land helps in the production of food, fibre, fuel, etc.
• Land is the biological habitat for many plants, animals and microorganisms.
• Land regulates flow of surface water and stores groundwater.
• Land enables or hampers movement of people and animals between one place to
another.
• Land is a buffer, filter or modifier for chemical pollutants.
• Land is co-determinant in the global energy balance and the global hydrological
cycle, which provides both a source and sink for greenhouse gases.
 • Land is the physical space for settlements, industry and recreation.
• Land stores and protects evidence of past climates, archaeological remains from
the historical or prehistorical record.
1. Texture, Structure and Composition of Soil:
Ø Soil is an uncemented aggregate of mineral grains and decayed organic matter with
water and air occupying the void spaces between particles.
Soil Texture:
Ø Soil texture refers to the size distribution of soil particles and the relative percentage
of sand, silt and clay in a soil.
• Three sizes of particles are recognized in soil. These are tabulated below:
The relationship between particle size and class names is:

• It is to be noted that a clay soil remains clay and a sandy soil remains sandy
because the size of particles in the soil is not subject to ready change.
Ø Soil texture controls the following properties of soil with respect to plant
growth:
• aeration,
• availability and movement of water,
• content of plant nutrients, and
• workability.

ü For instance, movement of water in various soil-textured types is illustrated

Water drainage from various types of soils
Soil Structure:

Ø Soil structure refers to the arrangement of soil particles into groups or aggregates.
Ø The peds are natural, fairly water stable aggregates; and clods are artificial, water
unstable aggregates. Ploughing of wet clay soil makes the soil cloddy.
• Soil structure is divided into the following groups:
(a) Types of soil structure.
Examples: Platy, spheroidal, etc
(b) Class of soil structure.
Examples: Fine, medium, coarse, etc.
(c) Grades of soil structure.
Examples: Weak, strong, etc.
Soil Composition:
ü Four major components of soils are mineral materials, organic matter, water and air.
• Approximate composition of soil is given below:

(i) Mineral Materials

(a) Mineral materials are elements (Si, Fe, O, Mg, Al, Ca, Na and K), finely
divided quartz (SiO2), iron-silicates and aluminium silicates.
(b) They are derived from the underlying bedrock or from
materials transported and deposited by surface run-off, wind fl
ow, etc.
(c) Secondary minerals (viz., Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, H+, NH+4) are held at
the surface of all the silicate clays. These are not leached by water and
are exchanged. Thus, they are available as plant nutrients.
(ii) Organic Matter
(a) Organic matter can be crop residues, weeds, grasses, bacteria, fungi, other
microorganisms and animal manures.
(b) They come from the residues of plants and animals.
(c) Functions
• They provide food for microorganisms, other nutrients to plants. Thus, soil
productivity is controlled by them.
• They provide a storehouse for nutrients.
• They increasing water holding capacity of soil.
(iii) Water
It is a good solvent for many nutrients which move into plant roots. Water is also
important to maintain the proper form and position of leaves and new shoots for
capturing sunlight and satisfactory growth.
(iv) Air
Soil air encourages optimum rate of the essential metabolic processes of various
organisms.
Land Resources
Ø Land is very basic requirement of man for various types of life-related activities.
As a valuable resource land is, used for:
• building houses, constructing roads and railways, installing industries and
developing towns and cities on it.
• cultivating food and fodder for humans and their livestock
• production of raw materials for industries
• raising forests and other industrial woodlands
• damping of waste generated during domestic and industrial processes
• In addition, we have to conserve wilderness area in forests, grasslands,
wetlands, mountains, coasts, etc. to protect our vitally valuable biodiversity.
This use of land is equally important.

Ø It demands a rational use of land resources, and it can be achieved through careful
planning.
Ø Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or
wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as
arable fields, pastures, and managed woods.
Ø Land use planning refers to policy of using a portion of land strictly for the purpose it
is suitable.
Ø Different types of land are classified into various categories. Each category is assigned
a suitable type of use and it should be utilized for the purpose fixed for it.

3.3.2. Global Land Use Patterns:

Ø Though the earth is a vast planet with huge surface area but 71% of it is under oceans.
Ø The Earth’s total land area is 148,939,063.133 km².
Ø Out of this terrestrial surface very limited land area is effectively useful or accessible
for man.
Ø A large proportion of it is either inaccessible or unfit for any cultivation or residential
uses.
Ø About 15.46% of the land occurs in the cold tundra zone, which is not easily
amenable to normal agriculture.
Ø Land which is capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops is called arable land.

Major categories of land include:

• Urban or Built-up Land • Degraded Land
• Agricultural Land • Tundra
• Rangeland • Perennial snow or ice
• Forest Land
• Wetland
• Barren Land
Landform Types
According to Buringh (1989)
• 11 to 12 % of the land surface is generally suitable for food and fiber
production,
• 24 % is used for grazing,
• forests occupy about 31 % and
• the remaining 33 % has too many constraints for most uses.
Ø Land is being put to varied types of uses worldwide.
Ø With increase in human population and advancement in the technology, more and more
land had been brought under various types modifications.
Ø Now more land is required to be used for agricultural purposes to meet the growing
needs of food production.
Ø With his economic developmental activities gaining momentum, man put land to various
other uses including establishment of industrial areas, mining, transportation,
urbanization, etc. As a result:
 • Agricultural lands are expanding
• More and more land has been brought under industrial or urban setup
• Forest lands, grasslands and wetlands has been cleared of their natural cover
• Large portions of land are rendered degraded due to overexploitation
• Soil is dumped with various kinds of wastes and toxic materials
3.3.3. Land Degradation:
Ø Land degradation means reduction in the quality or value of land.
Ø When land is put to extensive use or over exploitation its quality degrades.
Sometimes land is put to uses which are not suitable for that piece of land. It also
degrades the land.
Ø Farmland is under serious threat due to more and more intense utilization. Every
year, between 5 to 7 million hectares of land worldwide is added to the existing
degraded farmland.
Some factors responsible for degradation of land include:

• Dumping of harmful wastes on land

• Over irrigation of farmland that leads to salinization
• Pollution of land due to use of fertilizers and pesticides
• Unsuitable land use
• Soil erosion and landslides
• Wrong agricultural practices
• Deforestation
Ø Mechanisms that initiate land degradation include physical, chemical, and
biological processes.
ü Physical processes:
Decline in soil structure leading to crusting, compaction, erosion, desertification,
anaerobism, environmental pollution, and unsustainable use of natural resources.
ü Chemical processes:
Acidification, leaching, decrease in cation retention capacity, and fertility
depletion.
ü Biological processes:
Reduction in total and biomass carbon, and decline in land biodiversity. Soil
structure is an important property that affects all three degradative processes.
Sustainable Land Management
Land Resource Management
3.3.4. Soil Erosion:
Ø Soil erosion is the most common form of land degradation. It is the removal of
outer layer of soil. It is defined as the movement of soil components, especially
surface-litter and top soil from one place to another.
Ø Besides causing pollution in water bodies, soil erosion badly affects soil fertility. It
is the top layer of soil that contains most nutrients and if most fertile. When this
layer gets eroded it results in the loss of fertility.
Ø Almost one third of the world’s cropland is affected by soil erosion.
Ø Soil erosion is a natural process but it gets accelerated due various human activities.
Ø Deforestation, mining, overgrazing, cultivation, etc enhances the rate of soil
erosion.
Causes of soil erosion:
Ø Various human activities like
• mining,
• deforestation,
• farming,
• overgrazing, etc are the major causes responsible for soil erosion.
Ø Due to these processes the top soil is disturbed or rendered devoid of vegetation
cover. So the land is directly exposed to the action of various physical forces
facilitating erosion.
Ø Overgrazing is responsible for 35% of the world’s soil erosion while 30% of the
serious soil erosion has been caused by deforestation. Unsustainable methods of
farming cause 28% of soil erosion.
Mechanism of soil erosion:
Ø There are two main agents which cause soil erosion. These are water and wind.
Ø Water erodes soil by washing its particles along with its flow.
Ø Wind also detaches and removes the soil particles and causes their movement from one
place to another.
ü Soil erosion caused by water is of following types:
• Sheet erosion: when there is uniform removal of a thin layer of soil from a large
surface area, it is called sheet erosion. This is usually due to run-off water.
• Rill erosion: When there is rainfall and rapidly running water produces finger
shaped grooves or rills over the area, it is called rill erosion.
• Gully erosion: It is a more prominent type of soil erosion. When the rainfall is very
heavy, deeper cavities or gullies are formed on the ground.
• Slip erosion: This occurs due to heavy rainfall on slopes of hills and mountains.
 • Stream bank erosion: During the rainy season, when fast running streams take a
turn in some other direction, they cut the soil and make caves in the banks.
ü Soil erosion caused by wind is of following three types:
• Saltation: This occurs under the influence of direct pressure of stormy wind and
the soil particles of 1-1.5 mm diameter move up in vertical direction.
• Suspension: Here soil particles of small size suspended in the air are kicked up
and taken away to distant places.
• Surface creep: Here larger particles (5-10 mm diameter) creep over the soil
surface along with wind.
Preventing Soil Erosion
Ø Preventing soil erosion requires political, economic and technical changes.
Ø Political and economic changes need to address the possibility of incentives to
encourage farmers to manage their land sustainably.
ü Aspects of technical changes in agriculture that could substantially contribute to the
prevention of soil erosion are:
• Use of contour ploughing and wind breaks
• Leaving unploughed grass strips between ploughed land
• Making sure that there are always plants growing on the soil, and that the soil is
rich in humus (decaying plant and animal remains). This organic matter is the
“glue” that binds the soil particles together and plays an important part in the
prevention of erosion
• Avoiding overgrazing and the over-use of crop lands
• Allowing indigenous plants to grow along the river banks instead of ploughing
and
• planting crops right up to the water’s edge
• Encouraging biological diversity by planting several different types of plants
together
• Conservation of wetlands.
3.3.5. Land Slides:

Ø Geologists use a variety of classification schemes to describe the causes of

landslides.
Ø Because of wide variety of causes, no single scheme has yet been developed that
addresses or describes all types of landslides.
Ø Even the terms assigned to types of landslides are undergoing standardization
among geological and scientific international agencies.
Ø The major causes of landslides can be classified into two groups, namely external
and internal as illustrated below:
Ø All the major causes of landslides point towards some or other form of human
activity and hence it is essential to be discreet about developmental activities in
areas prone to landslides.
3.3.6. Desertification:

Ø Desertification is a form of land degradation occurring particularly, but

not exclusively, in semi-arid areas.
Ø While there is a clear distinction between ‘soil’ and ‘land’ (the term land
refers to an ecosystem comprising land, landscape, terrain, vegetation,
water, climate), there is no clear distinction between the terms ‘land
degradation’ and ‘desertification’.
Ø Desertification refers to land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and sub-
humid areas due to anthropogenic activities.
Causes of Desertification:
• Natural causes of desertification:
ü Decreased rainfall
ü Increased temperature
ü Lowering of water table
ü Soil erosion
ü Soil compaction
• Human-aided desertification:
ü Overgrazing
ü Destruction of forest belts (Deforestation)
ü Salinization
ü Exhaustion of the soil by intensive cultivation without restoration of fertility