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STUDY MATERIAL FOR COMPULSORY COURSE ON ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
Compulsory Course (AECC-I) Environmental Studies at Undergraduate Level
Teaching material - Environmental studies
Types of Material - Online / E- Resource
For session- 2019-20 (I Year, Semester- II)
Subject: Environmental science (Theory)
Paper Code: 72182801
For Undergraduate Courses / Batch:
• B.A.(H) Pol. SC. I Year Semester-II
• B.A.(H) Economics I Year Semester-II
• B.A.(H) English I Year Semester-II
• B.A. Program I Year Semester-II
Topic covered:
• Unit-3
Natural Resources
Amit K. Singh
Dr.Deepak Singh
Department of Environmental Studies
Deshbandhu College, University of Delhi
New Delhi 110067, India
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Unit 3
Natural Resources
• Land resources: Minerals, soil, agricultural crops, natural forest products,
medicinal plants, and forest-based industries and livelihoods; Land cover, land use
change, land degradation, soil erosion, and desertification; Causes of
deforestation; Impacts of mining and dam building on environment, forests,
biodiversity, and tribal communities
• Water resources: Natural and man-made sources; Uses of water; Over
exploitation of surface and ground water resources; Floods, droughts, and
international &inter- state conflicts over water
• Energy resources: Renewable and non-renewable energy sources; Use of alternate
energy sources; Growing energy needs; Energy contents of coal, petroleum,
natural gas and bio gas; Agro-residues as a biomass energy source
• Case studies: Contemporary Indian issues related to mining, dams, forests, energy,
etc (e.g., National Solar Mission, Cauvery river water conflict, Sardar Sarovar
dam, Chipko movement, Appiko movement, Tarun Bharat Sangh, etc)
Reference books were considered for preparing the study materials:
1. Gadgil, M. and Guha, R. (1993) .This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of
India. University of California Press, Berkeley, USA.
2. Mc Cully, P. (1996). Rivers no more: the environmental effects of dams, in: Silenced
Rivers: the Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, Zed Books, New York, USA.
3. Raven,P.H,Hassenzahl,D.M.,Hager,M.C,Gift,N.Y.andBerg,L.R.(2015).Environment,
9th Edition. WileyPublishing, USA.
4. Singh, J.S., Singh, S.P. and Gupta, S.R. (2017). Ecology, Environmental Science and
Conservation. S. Chand Publishing, New Delhi.
5. Kaushik, Anubha and Kaushik, C.P. (2018)Perspectives in Environmental Studies
6. Bharucha, Erach Textbook of Environmental Studies for Undergraduate
Courses(2018)
7. Sharma, P.D. Fundamentals Of Ecology
8. Biology Book 12th NCERT
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference
NOTE: The prepared study materials are indicative only. For complete coverage, please
refer to the mentioned textbooks or the basic books like “Textbook for Environmental
Studies” by Erach Bharucha”
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NATURAL RESOURCS
“Natural resources can be defined as the resources that exist (on the planet) independent
of human actions.”
These are the resources that are found in the environment and are developed without the
intervention of humans. Common examples of natural resources include air, sunlight, water,
soil, stone, plants, animals, and fossil fuels.
The natural resources are naturally occurring materials that are useful to man or could be
useful under conceivable technological, economic or social circumstances or supplies drawn
from the earth supplies such as food, building and clothing materials, fertilizers, metals,
water, and geothermal power. For a long time, natural resources were the domain of the
natural sciences.
Based on the availability are two types of natural resources:
Renewable:
Renewable resources are the ones that are consistently available regardless of their use. They
can be fairly recovered or replaced after utilization. Examples include vegetation, water, and
air. Animals can also be categorized as renewable resources because they can be reared and
bred to reproduce offspring to substitute the older animals.
As much as these resources are renewable, it may take tens to hundreds of years to replace
them. The renewable raw materials that come from living things namely animals and trees are
termed as organic renewable resources while those that come from non-living things such as
sun, water and wind are termed as inorganic renewable resources.
Non-Renewable:
Non-renewable resources are the ones that cannot simply be substituted or recovered once
they have been utilized or destroyed. Examples of such natural resources include fossil fuels
and minerals. Minerals are categorized as non-renewable because, even though they take
shape naturally through the rock cycle, their formation periods take thousands of years. Some
animals mostly the endangered species are similarly regarded as non-renewable because they
are at the verge of extinction.
It brings about the many reasons the endangered species have to be protected by all means.
The non-renewable materials that come from living things such as fossil fuels are known as
organic non-renewable resources while those that come from non-living things such as rocks
and soil are referred to as inorganic non-renewable resources.
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Renewable resource Non-renewable resource
It can be renewed as it is available in Once completely consumed, it cannot be
infinite quantity renewed due to limited stock
Sustainable in nature Exhaustible in nature
Low cost and environment-friendly High cost and less environment-friendly
Replenish quickly Replenish slowly or do not replenish naturally
at all
TYPES OF NATURAL RESOURCES
1. Land Resources
1.Forest Resources
2. Water Resources
4. Energy Resources
(I) LAND RESOURCES:
(a) Land as a resource: Landforms such as hills, valleys, plains, river basins andwetlands
includedifferent resource generating areas that the people living in them depend on. Many
traditional farming societies had ways of preserving areas from which they used resources.
Eg. Inthe ‘sacred groves’ of the Western Ghats, requests to the spirit of the Grove for
permissionto cut a tree, or extract a resource, were accompanied by simple rituals. The
outcome of achance fall on one side or the other of a stone balanced on a rock gave or
withheld permission. The request could not be repeated for a specified period.
If land is utilized carefullyit can be considered arenewable resource.The roots of trees
andgrasses bind the soil. Ifforests are depleted, orgrasslands overgrazed,the land becomes
unproductive and wasteland is formed. Intensiveirrigation leads to water logging and
salination,on which crops cannot grow. Land is also converted into a non-renewable resource
whenhighly toxic industrial and nuclear wastes aredumped on it.
Land on earth is as finite as any of our othernatural resources. While mankind has learnt
toadapt his lifestyle to various ecosystems worldover, he cannot live comfortably for instance
onpolar ice caps, on under the sea, or in space inthe foreseeable future.
Man needs land for building homes, cultivatingfood, maintaining pastures for domestic
animals,developing industries to provide goods, and supporting the industry by creating
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