Chapter-16 - Management of Natural Resources, Class 10, Science Chapter Notes PDF Download

 Page 1


 
 
Management Of Natural Resources
Resources 
A resource is any means of supply of material held in a reserve 
which can be transformed into more valuable and useful thing. 
 
Natural Resource 
Natural resource is that living or non living substance available 
in the normal environment which is being exploited for 
supporting life and meeting human requirements. Generally 
natural resources are cycled automatically by nature again and 
again and remain available to us. 
 
Example 
Soil, air, water, forests, wild life, coal and petroleum, flora and 
fauna etc. 
 
Types Of Natural Resources 
 
1. Inexhaustible 
Those resources which are present in such abundance 
that they are not likely to be exhausted or finished by 
human use are called inexhaustible resources. 
Example 
Air, clay, sand, tidal energy, rain, energy from ocean, 
wind energy, solar energy etc.. 
 
2. Exhaustible 
Those resources which are likely to be finished due to the 
continuous human use are called exhaustible resources are 
of two types.  
 (i) Renewable Resources 
Those resources which can be replenished in the nature 
again and again if used wisely are called renewable 
resources. 
Example 
Forests, crops, domestic animals, wild life etc. . 
(ii) Non Renewable 
Those resources which once used get finished and 
cannot be replenished back by the environment itself 
are called non renewable resources. 
   Example 
Metallic minerals, coal and petroleum, nuclear energy 
etc. . 
 
Environmental Problems 
We often hear or read about environmental problems. These 
are often global level problems and we feel helpless to solve 
them. Therefore for these problems there are some laws and 
also there are some international organizations working 
towards protecting our environment. Some of the common 
environmental problems are: - 
1. Pollution 
2. Global warming 
3.  Depletion of the reserves of fossil fuels 
4. Deforestation 
5.  Ozone depletion 
6.  Extinction of the wild life 
Awareness about the problems caused by unthinkingly 
exploiting our resources has been a fairly recent phenomenon 
in our society. And once this awareness rises, some action is 
usually taken. For example, the Ganga Action Plan.  
 
Ganga Action Plan 
This is a multi-crore project came about in 1985 because the 
quality of the water in the river Ganga was becoming very 
poor day by day. Coliform is a group of bacteria, found in 
human intestines, whose presence in water indicates 
contamination by disease-causing microorganisms. This act is 
continuously going on in order to protect the water of river 
Ganga from pollution. 
 
3 R’s 
As the resources are continuously getting depleted day by day 
and the demand is being increasing day by day, every person 
should take the responsibility to follow the following three 
methods meant for the conservation of the natural resources:- 
 
1. Reduce 
This means that less utilization of resources should be 
done. One can save electricity by switching off 
unnecessary lights and fans. One can save water by 
repairing leaky taps. One should not waste food. If we will 
use the resources less by not wasting them, then we will 
be able to save them. 
 
2. Recycle  
This means that we can collect plastic, paper, glass and 
metal items and recycle these materials to make required 
things instead of synthesizing or extracting fresh plastic, 
paper, glass or metal. In order to recycle, we first need to 
segregate our wastes so that the material that can be 
recycled is not dumped along with other wastes. 
 
3. Reuse 
This is actually even better than recycling because the 
process of recycling also uses some energy. In the ‘reuse’ 
strategy, one simply uses things again and again. Instead 
of throwing away used envelops, you can reverse it and 
use it again. The plastic bottles in which you buy various 
food – items like jam or pickle can be used for storing 
things in the kitchen. 
 
Why Do We Need To Manage Our Resources? 
There are three important reasons to show that the resources 
are needed to be managed: - 
 
(i)  Because the resources are not unlimited and with the 
human population increasing at a tremendous rate due to 
improvement in health-case, the demand for all resources 
is increasing at an exponential rate. 
(ii)   Because there should be an equitable distribution of 
resources so that all, and not just a handful of rich 
powerful people, benefit from the development of these 
resources. 
(iii) Another factor to be considered while we exploit these   
natural resources is the damage we cause to the 
environment while these resources are either extracted or 
 
Page 2


 
 
Management Of Natural Resources
Resources 
A resource is any means of supply of material held in a reserve 
which can be transformed into more valuable and useful thing. 
 
Natural Resource 
Natural resource is that living or non living substance available 
in the normal environment which is being exploited for 
supporting life and meeting human requirements. Generally 
natural resources are cycled automatically by nature again and 
again and remain available to us. 
 
Example 
Soil, air, water, forests, wild life, coal and petroleum, flora and 
fauna etc. 
 
Types Of Natural Resources 
 
1. Inexhaustible 
Those resources which are present in such abundance 
that they are not likely to be exhausted or finished by 
human use are called inexhaustible resources. 
Example 
Air, clay, sand, tidal energy, rain, energy from ocean, 
wind energy, solar energy etc.. 
 
2. Exhaustible 
Those resources which are likely to be finished due to the 
continuous human use are called exhaustible resources are 
of two types.  
 (i) Renewable Resources 
Those resources which can be replenished in the nature 
again and again if used wisely are called renewable 
resources. 
Example 
Forests, crops, domestic animals, wild life etc. . 
(ii) Non Renewable 
Those resources which once used get finished and 
cannot be replenished back by the environment itself 
are called non renewable resources. 
   Example 
Metallic minerals, coal and petroleum, nuclear energy 
etc. . 
 
Environmental Problems 
We often hear or read about environmental problems. These 
are often global level problems and we feel helpless to solve 
them. Therefore for these problems there are some laws and 
also there are some international organizations working 
towards protecting our environment. Some of the common 
environmental problems are: - 
1. Pollution 
2. Global warming 
3.  Depletion of the reserves of fossil fuels 
4. Deforestation 
5.  Ozone depletion 
6.  Extinction of the wild life 
Awareness about the problems caused by unthinkingly 
exploiting our resources has been a fairly recent phenomenon 
in our society. And once this awareness rises, some action is 
usually taken. For example, the Ganga Action Plan.  
 
Ganga Action Plan 
This is a multi-crore project came about in 1985 because the 
quality of the water in the river Ganga was becoming very 
poor day by day. Coliform is a group of bacteria, found in 
human intestines, whose presence in water indicates 
contamination by disease-causing microorganisms. This act is 
continuously going on in order to protect the water of river 
Ganga from pollution. 
 
3 R’s 
As the resources are continuously getting depleted day by day 
and the demand is being increasing day by day, every person 
should take the responsibility to follow the following three 
methods meant for the conservation of the natural resources:- 
 
1. Reduce 
This means that less utilization of resources should be 
done. One can save electricity by switching off 
unnecessary lights and fans. One can save water by 
repairing leaky taps. One should not waste food. If we will 
use the resources less by not wasting them, then we will 
be able to save them. 
 
2. Recycle  
This means that we can collect plastic, paper, glass and 
metal items and recycle these materials to make required 
things instead of synthesizing or extracting fresh plastic, 
paper, glass or metal. In order to recycle, we first need to 
segregate our wastes so that the material that can be 
recycled is not dumped along with other wastes. 
 
3. Reuse 
This is actually even better than recycling because the 
process of recycling also uses some energy. In the ‘reuse’ 
strategy, one simply uses things again and again. Instead 
of throwing away used envelops, you can reverse it and 
use it again. The plastic bottles in which you buy various 
food – items like jam or pickle can be used for storing 
things in the kitchen. 
 
Why Do We Need To Manage Our Resources? 
There are three important reasons to show that the resources 
are needed to be managed: - 
 
(i)  Because the resources are not unlimited and with the 
human population increasing at a tremendous rate due to 
improvement in health-case, the demand for all resources 
is increasing at an exponential rate. 
(ii)   Because there should be an equitable distribution of 
resources so that all, and not just a handful of rich 
powerful people, benefit from the development of these 
resources. 
(iii) Another factor to be considered while we exploit these   
natural resources is the damage we cause to the 
environment while these resources are either extracted or 
 
 
used. For example, mining causes pollution because of the 
large amount of slag which is discarded for every tonne of 
metal extracted. 
 
Hence, sustainable natural resource management demands 
that we plan for the judicial (wise) utilization and safe disposal 
of these wastes too. 
 
Forests And Wild Life 
Forests are ‘biodiversity hot spots’. One measure of the 
biodiversity of an area is the number of species found there. 
However, the range of different life forms bacteria, fungi, 
ferns, flowering plants, nematodes, insects, birds, reptiles and 
so on is also important.  
 
Aim Of Conservation Of Natural Resources 
It is to try and preserve the biodiversity we have inherited. 
 
Stakeholders Of The Forests  
Those people which are deeply interested in the existence of 
the forests and want the forests to remain in their 
pristine(untouched, perfect) state. 
(i) Local People: - The people who live in or around are 
dependent on forest produce for various aspects of their 
life. 
(ii) Forest Department: - The forest department of the 
government owns the land and controls the resources from 
forest and gets the revenue. 
(iii) Industrialists: – Those people who use ‘tendu’ leaves to  
make bidis to the ones with paper mills – who use various 
forest produce, but do not depend on the forest in any one 
area permanently. 
(iv) Wild Life and Nature Enthusiasts: - Those people who 
want to conserve nature in its pristine form. 
 
Uses Of Forests 
(i)  The local people get large quantities of firewood, small 
timber and thatch from forests. 
(ii)  Bamboo which is used to make slates for huts, and 
baskets for collecting and storing food materials are 
obtained from forests. 
(iii)  Implements for agriculture, fishing and hunting largely 
made of wood are obtained from forests. 
(iv)  Forests are sites for fishing and hunting.  
(v)  People gather fruits, nuts, spices and medicines from the 
forests, their cattle also graze in forest areas or feed on 
other fodder which is collected from forests. 
(vi) Several other products such as natural rubber, rudraksha, 
tendu leaves, cork, ritha, honey, camphor etc. are also 
obtained from the forests. 
 
Industries Based On Forest Produce 
Timber industry, paper industry, news print industry, sports 
equipments industry, medicine industry, rubber industry, bidi 
industry etc. 
 
How We Can Say That The Industrialists Have Only 
Temporary Interest In The Forests? 
It is because industrialists would consider the forest as merely 
a source of raw material for their factories. Since these 
industries have a greater reach than the local people, they are 
not interested in the sustainability of the forest in one 
particular area. For example, after cutting down all the teak 
trees in one area, they will get their teak from a forest farther 
away. They do not have any stake in ensuring that one 
particular area should yield on optimal amount of some 
produce for all generations to come.  
Whereas the other people like local people who live near the  
forests, the government and the nature conservationists or 
nature enthusiasts have a permanent interest in the forests. 
 
Some Instances To Show That How Local People 
Participated Traditionally For The Conservation Of The 
Forests 
 
1. Case Of The Bishnoi Community 
In Rajasthan, the bishnoi community for whom 
conservation of forest and wildlife has been a religious 
tenet, the Government of India has recently instituted an 
‘Amrita Devi Bishnoi National Award For Wildlife 
Conservation in the memory of Amrita Devi Bishnoi, who 
in 1731 sacrificed her life along with 363 others for the 
protection of ‘khejri’ trees in khejrali village near Jodhpur in 
Rajasthan. 
 
2. The Chipko Andolan 
The Chipko Andolan (‘Hug the Trees Movement’) was the 
result of a grassroot level of effort to end the separation of 
people from their forests. The movement originated from 
an incident in a remote village called Reni in Garhwal, high 
up in the Himalayas during the early 1970s. There was a 
dispute between the local villagers and a logging 
contractor who had been allowed to fell trees in a forest 
close to the village. On a particular day, the contractor’s 
workers appeared in the forest to cut the trees while the 
men folk were absent. Undeterred, the women of the 
village reached the forest quickly and hugged the tree 
trunks thus preventing the workers from felling the trees. 
Thus frustrated, the contractor had to withdraw. 
 
The Chipko movement quickly spread across communities and 
media, and forced the government, to whom the forest 
belongs, to rethink their priorities in the use of forest produce. 
Experience has taught people that the destruction of 
forests affected not just the availability of forest 
products, but also the quality of soil and the source of 
water and the life giving gas oxygen. Participation of the 
local people can indeed lead to the efficient management of 
forests. 
 
3. Replenishment Of The Sal Forests 
In 1972, the West Bengal Forest Department recognized its 
failures in reviving the degraded Sal forests in the 
southwestern districts of the state. Traditional methods of 
supervision and policing had led to a ‘complete separation 
of the people from the administration’, resulting in frequent 
clashes between forest officials and villagers. Forest and 
land related conflicts in the region were also a major factor 
in fuelling the militant peasant movements led by the 
Naxalites. 
Accordingly, the department changed its strategy, making 
a beginning in the Arabari forest range of Midnapore 
district. Here, at the instance of a far-seeing forest officer, 
A. K. Banerjee, villagers were involved in the protection of 
1.272 hectares of badly degraded sal forest. In return for 
help of protection, villagers were given employment in 
both silviculture and harvesting operations, 25 percent of 
the final harvest, and allowed to have fuel wood and 
fodder on payment of a nominal fee. With the active and 
willing participation of the local community, the sal forest 
of Arabari underwent a remarkable recovery – by 1983, a 
previously worthless forest was valued Rs. 12.5 crore. 
 
These were few instances showing that how the interference 
of the local people is helpful in the conservation of the forests. 
 
 
Page 3


 
 
Management Of Natural Resources
Resources 
A resource is any means of supply of material held in a reserve 
which can be transformed into more valuable and useful thing. 
 
Natural Resource 
Natural resource is that living or non living substance available 
in the normal environment which is being exploited for 
supporting life and meeting human requirements. Generally 
natural resources are cycled automatically by nature again and 
again and remain available to us. 
 
Example 
Soil, air, water, forests, wild life, coal and petroleum, flora and 
fauna etc. 
 
Types Of Natural Resources 
 
1. Inexhaustible 
Those resources which are present in such abundance 
that they are not likely to be exhausted or finished by 
human use are called inexhaustible resources. 
Example 
Air, clay, sand, tidal energy, rain, energy from ocean, 
wind energy, solar energy etc.. 
 
2. Exhaustible 
Those resources which are likely to be finished due to the 
continuous human use are called exhaustible resources are 
of two types.  
 (i) Renewable Resources 
Those resources which can be replenished in the nature 
again and again if used wisely are called renewable 
resources. 
Example 
Forests, crops, domestic animals, wild life etc. . 
(ii) Non Renewable 
Those resources which once used get finished and 
cannot be replenished back by the environment itself 
are called non renewable resources. 
   Example 
Metallic minerals, coal and petroleum, nuclear energy 
etc. . 
 
Environmental Problems 
We often hear or read about environmental problems. These 
are often global level problems and we feel helpless to solve 
them. Therefore for these problems there are some laws and 
also there are some international organizations working 
towards protecting our environment. Some of the common 
environmental problems are: - 
1. Pollution 
2. Global warming 
3.  Depletion of the reserves of fossil fuels 
4. Deforestation 
5.  Ozone depletion 
6.  Extinction of the wild life 
Awareness about the problems caused by unthinkingly 
exploiting our resources has been a fairly recent phenomenon 
in our society. And once this awareness rises, some action is 
usually taken. For example, the Ganga Action Plan.  
 
Ganga Action Plan 
This is a multi-crore project came about in 1985 because the 
quality of the water in the river Ganga was becoming very 
poor day by day. Coliform is a group of bacteria, found in 
human intestines, whose presence in water indicates 
contamination by disease-causing microorganisms. This act is 
continuously going on in order to protect the water of river 
Ganga from pollution. 
 
3 R’s 
As the resources are continuously getting depleted day by day 
and the demand is being increasing day by day, every person 
should take the responsibility to follow the following three 
methods meant for the conservation of the natural resources:- 
 
1. Reduce 
This means that less utilization of resources should be 
done. One can save electricity by switching off 
unnecessary lights and fans. One can save water by 
repairing leaky taps. One should not waste food. If we will 
use the resources less by not wasting them, then we will 
be able to save them. 
 
2. Recycle  
This means that we can collect plastic, paper, glass and 
metal items and recycle these materials to make required 
things instead of synthesizing or extracting fresh plastic, 
paper, glass or metal. In order to recycle, we first need to 
segregate our wastes so that the material that can be 
recycled is not dumped along with other wastes. 
 
3. Reuse 
This is actually even better than recycling because the 
process of recycling also uses some energy. In the ‘reuse’ 
strategy, one simply uses things again and again. Instead 
of throwing away used envelops, you can reverse it and 
use it again. The plastic bottles in which you buy various 
food – items like jam or pickle can be used for storing 
things in the kitchen. 
 
Why Do We Need To Manage Our Resources? 
There are three important reasons to show that the resources 
are needed to be managed: - 
 
(i)  Because the resources are not unlimited and with the 
human population increasing at a tremendous rate due to 
improvement in health-case, the demand for all resources 
is increasing at an exponential rate. 
(ii)   Because there should be an equitable distribution of 
resources so that all, and not just a handful of rich 
powerful people, benefit from the development of these 
resources. 
(iii) Another factor to be considered while we exploit these   
natural resources is the damage we cause to the 
environment while these resources are either extracted or 
 
 
used. For example, mining causes pollution because of the 
large amount of slag which is discarded for every tonne of 
metal extracted. 
 
Hence, sustainable natural resource management demands 
that we plan for the judicial (wise) utilization and safe disposal 
of these wastes too. 
 
Forests And Wild Life 
Forests are ‘biodiversity hot spots’. One measure of the 
biodiversity of an area is the number of species found there. 
However, the range of different life forms bacteria, fungi, 
ferns, flowering plants, nematodes, insects, birds, reptiles and 
so on is also important.  
 
Aim Of Conservation Of Natural Resources 
It is to try and preserve the biodiversity we have inherited. 
 
Stakeholders Of The Forests  
Those people which are deeply interested in the existence of 
the forests and want the forests to remain in their 
pristine(untouched, perfect) state. 
(i) Local People: - The people who live in or around are 
dependent on forest produce for various aspects of their 
life. 
(ii) Forest Department: - The forest department of the 
government owns the land and controls the resources from 
forest and gets the revenue. 
(iii) Industrialists: – Those people who use ‘tendu’ leaves to  
make bidis to the ones with paper mills – who use various 
forest produce, but do not depend on the forest in any one 
area permanently. 
(iv) Wild Life and Nature Enthusiasts: - Those people who 
want to conserve nature in its pristine form. 
 
Uses Of Forests 
(i)  The local people get large quantities of firewood, small 
timber and thatch from forests. 
(ii)  Bamboo which is used to make slates for huts, and 
baskets for collecting and storing food materials are 
obtained from forests. 
(iii)  Implements for agriculture, fishing and hunting largely 
made of wood are obtained from forests. 
(iv)  Forests are sites for fishing and hunting.  
(v)  People gather fruits, nuts, spices and medicines from the 
forests, their cattle also graze in forest areas or feed on 
other fodder which is collected from forests. 
(vi) Several other products such as natural rubber, rudraksha, 
tendu leaves, cork, ritha, honey, camphor etc. are also 
obtained from the forests. 
 
Industries Based On Forest Produce 
Timber industry, paper industry, news print industry, sports 
equipments industry, medicine industry, rubber industry, bidi 
industry etc. 
 
How We Can Say That The Industrialists Have Only 
Temporary Interest In The Forests? 
It is because industrialists would consider the forest as merely 
a source of raw material for their factories. Since these 
industries have a greater reach than the local people, they are 
not interested in the sustainability of the forest in one 
particular area. For example, after cutting down all the teak 
trees in one area, they will get their teak from a forest farther 
away. They do not have any stake in ensuring that one 
particular area should yield on optimal amount of some 
produce for all generations to come.  
Whereas the other people like local people who live near the  
forests, the government and the nature conservationists or 
nature enthusiasts have a permanent interest in the forests. 
 
Some Instances To Show That How Local People 
Participated Traditionally For The Conservation Of The 
Forests 
 
1. Case Of The Bishnoi Community 
In Rajasthan, the bishnoi community for whom 
conservation of forest and wildlife has been a religious 
tenet, the Government of India has recently instituted an 
‘Amrita Devi Bishnoi National Award For Wildlife 
Conservation in the memory of Amrita Devi Bishnoi, who 
in 1731 sacrificed her life along with 363 others for the 
protection of ‘khejri’ trees in khejrali village near Jodhpur in 
Rajasthan. 
 
2. The Chipko Andolan 
The Chipko Andolan (‘Hug the Trees Movement’) was the 
result of a grassroot level of effort to end the separation of 
people from their forests. The movement originated from 
an incident in a remote village called Reni in Garhwal, high 
up in the Himalayas during the early 1970s. There was a 
dispute between the local villagers and a logging 
contractor who had been allowed to fell trees in a forest 
close to the village. On a particular day, the contractor’s 
workers appeared in the forest to cut the trees while the 
men folk were absent. Undeterred, the women of the 
village reached the forest quickly and hugged the tree 
trunks thus preventing the workers from felling the trees. 
Thus frustrated, the contractor had to withdraw. 
 
The Chipko movement quickly spread across communities and 
media, and forced the government, to whom the forest 
belongs, to rethink their priorities in the use of forest produce. 
Experience has taught people that the destruction of 
forests affected not just the availability of forest 
products, but also the quality of soil and the source of 
water and the life giving gas oxygen. Participation of the 
local people can indeed lead to the efficient management of 
forests. 
 
3. Replenishment Of The Sal Forests 
In 1972, the West Bengal Forest Department recognized its 
failures in reviving the degraded Sal forests in the 
southwestern districts of the state. Traditional methods of 
supervision and policing had led to a ‘complete separation 
of the people from the administration’, resulting in frequent 
clashes between forest officials and villagers. Forest and 
land related conflicts in the region were also a major factor 
in fuelling the militant peasant movements led by the 
Naxalites. 
Accordingly, the department changed its strategy, making 
a beginning in the Arabari forest range of Midnapore 
district. Here, at the instance of a far-seeing forest officer, 
A. K. Banerjee, villagers were involved in the protection of 
1.272 hectares of badly degraded sal forest. In return for 
help of protection, villagers were given employment in 
both silviculture and harvesting operations, 25 percent of 
the final harvest, and allowed to have fuel wood and 
fodder on payment of a nominal fee. With the active and 
willing participation of the local community, the sal forest 
of Arabari underwent a remarkable recovery – by 1983, a 
previously worthless forest was valued Rs. 12.5 crore. 
 
These were few instances showing that how the interference 
of the local people is helpful in the conservation of the forests. 
 
 
 
Water For All 
Water is a basic necessity for all forms of life. The human 
interference has changed the availability of water in the 
region. Generally the need of the water at a larger level is met 
by the occurrence of monsoons. Rains in India are largely due 
to the monsoons. This means that most of the rain falls in a 
few months of the year.  
 
Despite Nature’s Monsoon Reward, Why There Is A 
Failure To Sustain Water Underground? 
It is largely due to: - 
(i) The loss of vegetation cover. 
(ii) Diversion for high water demanding crops. 
(iii) Pollution from industrial effluents and urban wastes.  
 
Irrigation methods like dams, tanks and canals have been 
used in various parts of the India since ancient times. These 
are generally local interventions managed by local people and 
assured that the basic minimum requirements for both 
agriculture and daily needs were met throughout the year. The 
use of this stored water was strictly regulated and the 
optimum cropping pattern based on the water availability were 
arrived at on the basis of decades/centuries of experience, the 
maintenance of these irrigation systems was also a local affair. 
 
Arrival Of British 
The arrival of the British changed these systems as it changed 
many other things. The conception of large scale project – 
large dams and canals going across large distances were first 
conceived and implemented by the British and carried on with 
no less enthusiasm by our newly formed independent 
government. These mega – projects led to the neglect of the 
local irrigation methods, and the government also increasingly 
took over the administration of these systems leading to the 
loss of control over the local water sources by the local people. 
 
Dams 
Dam is large storage reservoir of water, which is meant mainly 
to produce hydroelectricity as well as it is used for irrigation on 
a large scale. Dams also sometimes prevent the floods to 
occur. Canal systems leading from these dams can transfer 
large amount of water to great distances. However 
mismanagement of the water has largely led to the benefits 
enjoyed by a few people. There is no equitable distribution of 
water, thus people close to the source grow water intensive 
crops like sugarcane and rice while people farther downstream 
do not get any water. 
 
Major Problems With Dams 
(i) Social Problems: - Large number of peasants and tribals 
without adequate compensation or rehabilitation are 
displaced from their habitats. 
(ii) Economic Problems: - They swallow up huge amount of 
public money without the generation of proportionate 
benefits. 
(iii) Environmental Problems: - They contribute enormously 
to deforestation and the loss of biological diversity. Green 
house gas called methane gas is also generated in such 
large scale marshy areas. 
 
The people who have been displaced by various development 
projects are largely poor tribal who do not get any benefits 
from these projects and are separated from their lands and 
forests without sufficient compensation due to which some of 
the dams have come under controversy. 
 
Dams Under Controversy 
(i) Tehri dam on river Ganga 
(ii) Sardar Sarovar dam on river Narmada 
(iii) Tawa dam  
 
Water Harvesting 
Water harvesting and watershed management emphasizes 
scientific soil and water conservation in order to increase the 
biomass production and to recharge the underground water 
levels. The aim is to develop primary resources of land and 
water, to produce secondary resources of plants and animals 
for use in a manner which will not cause ecological imbalance. 
Watershed management not only increases the production and 
income of the watershed community, but also reduces 
droughts and floods and increases the life of the downstream 
dams and reservoirs. Various organizations have been working 
on rejuvenating ancient systems of water harvesting as an 
alternative to the ‘mega-projects’ like dams. These 
communities have used hundreds of indigenous water saving 
methods to capture every trickle or water that had fallen on 
their land ; dug small pits and lakes, put in place simple 
watershed systems, built small earthen dams, constructed 
dykes, sand and limestone reservoirs, set up rooftop water-
collecting units. This has recharged groundwater levels and 
even brought rivers back to life. These systems also meet the 
growing demands of agriculture and industries. 
 
Water harvesting is an age-old concept in India. Some of the 
watershed management systems used in India are: - 
1. Khadins, Tanks and Nadis  Rajasthan 
2. Bndharas and Tals    Maharashtra 
3.  Bundhis                             Madhya Pradesh and Uttar 
Pradesh 
4. Ahars and Pynes              Bihar 
5. Kulhs                           Himachal Pradesh 
6.  Ponds                    Kandi belt of Jammu 
region 
7. Eris (tanks)              Tamil Nadu 
8. Surangams       Kerala 
9. Kattas        Karnataka  
 
These are some of the ancient water harvesting systems, 
including water transport structures still in use today. 
 
In largely level land, the water harvesting structures are 
mainly curved shaped earthen embankment or low, straight 
concrete and garbage “check dams” built across seasonally 
flooded drains. Monsoon rains fill ponds behind the structures. 
Only the largest structures hold water year round, most dry up 
within six months or less after the monsoons. Their main 
purpose however, is not to hold surface water but also to 
recharge the ground water beneath.  
 
Advantages Of Stored Underground Water 
1. It does not evaporate. 
2. Spreads out to recharge wells. 
3. Provides moisture for vegetation over a wide area.  
4. It does not provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes like 
stagnant water collected in ponds or artificial lakes. 
5. The ground water is also relatively protected from 
contamination by human and animal waste. 
 
Fossil Fuels 
Fossil fuels, that is, coal and petroleum, are important sources 
of energy for us. Since the industrial revolution, we have been 
using increasing amounts of energy to meet our basic needs 
and for the manufacture of a large number of goods upon 
which our lives depend. All these energy needs have been 
largely met by the reserves of coal and petroleum. 
 
 
Page 4


 
 
Management Of Natural Resources
Resources 
A resource is any means of supply of material held in a reserve 
which can be transformed into more valuable and useful thing. 
 
Natural Resource 
Natural resource is that living or non living substance available 
in the normal environment which is being exploited for 
supporting life and meeting human requirements. Generally 
natural resources are cycled automatically by nature again and 
again and remain available to us. 
 
Example 
Soil, air, water, forests, wild life, coal and petroleum, flora and 
fauna etc. 
 
Types Of Natural Resources 
 
1. Inexhaustible 
Those resources which are present in such abundance 
that they are not likely to be exhausted or finished by 
human use are called inexhaustible resources. 
Example 
Air, clay, sand, tidal energy, rain, energy from ocean, 
wind energy, solar energy etc.. 
 
2. Exhaustible 
Those resources which are likely to be finished due to the 
continuous human use are called exhaustible resources are 
of two types.  
 (i) Renewable Resources 
Those resources which can be replenished in the nature 
again and again if used wisely are called renewable 
resources. 
Example 
Forests, crops, domestic animals, wild life etc. . 
(ii) Non Renewable 
Those resources which once used get finished and 
cannot be replenished back by the environment itself 
are called non renewable resources. 
   Example 
Metallic minerals, coal and petroleum, nuclear energy 
etc. . 
 
Environmental Problems 
We often hear or read about environmental problems. These 
are often global level problems and we feel helpless to solve 
them. Therefore for these problems there are some laws and 
also there are some international organizations working 
towards protecting our environment. Some of the common 
environmental problems are: - 
1. Pollution 
2. Global warming 
3.  Depletion of the reserves of fossil fuels 
4. Deforestation 
5.  Ozone depletion 
6.  Extinction of the wild life 
Awareness about the problems caused by unthinkingly 
exploiting our resources has been a fairly recent phenomenon 
in our society. And once this awareness rises, some action is 
usually taken. For example, the Ganga Action Plan.  
 
Ganga Action Plan 
This is a multi-crore project came about in 1985 because the 
quality of the water in the river Ganga was becoming very 
poor day by day. Coliform is a group of bacteria, found in 
human intestines, whose presence in water indicates 
contamination by disease-causing microorganisms. This act is 
continuously going on in order to protect the water of river 
Ganga from pollution. 
 
3 R’s 
As the resources are continuously getting depleted day by day 
and the demand is being increasing day by day, every person 
should take the responsibility to follow the following three 
methods meant for the conservation of the natural resources:- 
 
1. Reduce 
This means that less utilization of resources should be 
done. One can save electricity by switching off 
unnecessary lights and fans. One can save water by 
repairing leaky taps. One should not waste food. If we will 
use the resources less by not wasting them, then we will 
be able to save them. 
 
2. Recycle  
This means that we can collect plastic, paper, glass and 
metal items and recycle these materials to make required 
things instead of synthesizing or extracting fresh plastic, 
paper, glass or metal. In order to recycle, we first need to 
segregate our wastes so that the material that can be 
recycled is not dumped along with other wastes. 
 
3. Reuse 
This is actually even better than recycling because the 
process of recycling also uses some energy. In the ‘reuse’ 
strategy, one simply uses things again and again. Instead 
of throwing away used envelops, you can reverse it and 
use it again. The plastic bottles in which you buy various 
food – items like jam or pickle can be used for storing 
things in the kitchen. 
 
Why Do We Need To Manage Our Resources? 
There are three important reasons to show that the resources 
are needed to be managed: - 
 
(i)  Because the resources are not unlimited and with the 
human population increasing at a tremendous rate due to 
improvement in health-case, the demand for all resources 
is increasing at an exponential rate. 
(ii)   Because there should be an equitable distribution of 
resources so that all, and not just a handful of rich 
powerful people, benefit from the development of these 
resources. 
(iii) Another factor to be considered while we exploit these   
natural resources is the damage we cause to the 
environment while these resources are either extracted or 
 
 
used. For example, mining causes pollution because of the 
large amount of slag which is discarded for every tonne of 
metal extracted. 
 
Hence, sustainable natural resource management demands 
that we plan for the judicial (wise) utilization and safe disposal 
of these wastes too. 
 
Forests And Wild Life 
Forests are ‘biodiversity hot spots’. One measure of the 
biodiversity of an area is the number of species found there. 
However, the range of different life forms bacteria, fungi, 
ferns, flowering plants, nematodes, insects, birds, reptiles and 
so on is also important.  
 
Aim Of Conservation Of Natural Resources 
It is to try and preserve the biodiversity we have inherited. 
 
Stakeholders Of The Forests  
Those people which are deeply interested in the existence of 
the forests and want the forests to remain in their 
pristine(untouched, perfect) state. 
(i) Local People: - The people who live in or around are 
dependent on forest produce for various aspects of their 
life. 
(ii) Forest Department: - The forest department of the 
government owns the land and controls the resources from 
forest and gets the revenue. 
(iii) Industrialists: – Those people who use ‘tendu’ leaves to  
make bidis to the ones with paper mills – who use various 
forest produce, but do not depend on the forest in any one 
area permanently. 
(iv) Wild Life and Nature Enthusiasts: - Those people who 
want to conserve nature in its pristine form. 
 
Uses Of Forests 
(i)  The local people get large quantities of firewood, small 
timber and thatch from forests. 
(ii)  Bamboo which is used to make slates for huts, and 
baskets for collecting and storing food materials are 
obtained from forests. 
(iii)  Implements for agriculture, fishing and hunting largely 
made of wood are obtained from forests. 
(iv)  Forests are sites for fishing and hunting.  
(v)  People gather fruits, nuts, spices and medicines from the 
forests, their cattle also graze in forest areas or feed on 
other fodder which is collected from forests. 
(vi) Several other products such as natural rubber, rudraksha, 
tendu leaves, cork, ritha, honey, camphor etc. are also 
obtained from the forests. 
 
Industries Based On Forest Produce 
Timber industry, paper industry, news print industry, sports 
equipments industry, medicine industry, rubber industry, bidi 
industry etc. 
 
How We Can Say That The Industrialists Have Only 
Temporary Interest In The Forests? 
It is because industrialists would consider the forest as merely 
a source of raw material for their factories. Since these 
industries have a greater reach than the local people, they are 
not interested in the sustainability of the forest in one 
particular area. For example, after cutting down all the teak 
trees in one area, they will get their teak from a forest farther 
away. They do not have any stake in ensuring that one 
particular area should yield on optimal amount of some 
produce for all generations to come.  
Whereas the other people like local people who live near the  
forests, the government and the nature conservationists or 
nature enthusiasts have a permanent interest in the forests. 
 
Some Instances To Show That How Local People 
Participated Traditionally For The Conservation Of The 
Forests 
 
1. Case Of The Bishnoi Community 
In Rajasthan, the bishnoi community for whom 
conservation of forest and wildlife has been a religious 
tenet, the Government of India has recently instituted an 
‘Amrita Devi Bishnoi National Award For Wildlife 
Conservation in the memory of Amrita Devi Bishnoi, who 
in 1731 sacrificed her life along with 363 others for the 
protection of ‘khejri’ trees in khejrali village near Jodhpur in 
Rajasthan. 
 
2. The Chipko Andolan 
The Chipko Andolan (‘Hug the Trees Movement’) was the 
result of a grassroot level of effort to end the separation of 
people from their forests. The movement originated from 
an incident in a remote village called Reni in Garhwal, high 
up in the Himalayas during the early 1970s. There was a 
dispute between the local villagers and a logging 
contractor who had been allowed to fell trees in a forest 
close to the village. On a particular day, the contractor’s 
workers appeared in the forest to cut the trees while the 
men folk were absent. Undeterred, the women of the 
village reached the forest quickly and hugged the tree 
trunks thus preventing the workers from felling the trees. 
Thus frustrated, the contractor had to withdraw. 
 
The Chipko movement quickly spread across communities and 
media, and forced the government, to whom the forest 
belongs, to rethink their priorities in the use of forest produce. 
Experience has taught people that the destruction of 
forests affected not just the availability of forest 
products, but also the quality of soil and the source of 
water and the life giving gas oxygen. Participation of the 
local people can indeed lead to the efficient management of 
forests. 
 
3. Replenishment Of The Sal Forests 
In 1972, the West Bengal Forest Department recognized its 
failures in reviving the degraded Sal forests in the 
southwestern districts of the state. Traditional methods of 
supervision and policing had led to a ‘complete separation 
of the people from the administration’, resulting in frequent 
clashes between forest officials and villagers. Forest and 
land related conflicts in the region were also a major factor 
in fuelling the militant peasant movements led by the 
Naxalites. 
Accordingly, the department changed its strategy, making 
a beginning in the Arabari forest range of Midnapore 
district. Here, at the instance of a far-seeing forest officer, 
A. K. Banerjee, villagers were involved in the protection of 
1.272 hectares of badly degraded sal forest. In return for 
help of protection, villagers were given employment in 
both silviculture and harvesting operations, 25 percent of 
the final harvest, and allowed to have fuel wood and 
fodder on payment of a nominal fee. With the active and 
willing participation of the local community, the sal forest 
of Arabari underwent a remarkable recovery – by 1983, a 
previously worthless forest was valued Rs. 12.5 crore. 
 
These were few instances showing that how the interference 
of the local people is helpful in the conservation of the forests. 
 
 
 
Water For All 
Water is a basic necessity for all forms of life. The human 
interference has changed the availability of water in the 
region. Generally the need of the water at a larger level is met 
by the occurrence of monsoons. Rains in India are largely due 
to the monsoons. This means that most of the rain falls in a 
few months of the year.  
 
Despite Nature’s Monsoon Reward, Why There Is A 
Failure To Sustain Water Underground? 
It is largely due to: - 
(i) The loss of vegetation cover. 
(ii) Diversion for high water demanding crops. 
(iii) Pollution from industrial effluents and urban wastes.  
 
Irrigation methods like dams, tanks and canals have been 
used in various parts of the India since ancient times. These 
are generally local interventions managed by local people and 
assured that the basic minimum requirements for both 
agriculture and daily needs were met throughout the year. The 
use of this stored water was strictly regulated and the 
optimum cropping pattern based on the water availability were 
arrived at on the basis of decades/centuries of experience, the 
maintenance of these irrigation systems was also a local affair. 
 
Arrival Of British 
The arrival of the British changed these systems as it changed 
many other things. The conception of large scale project – 
large dams and canals going across large distances were first 
conceived and implemented by the British and carried on with 
no less enthusiasm by our newly formed independent 
government. These mega – projects led to the neglect of the 
local irrigation methods, and the government also increasingly 
took over the administration of these systems leading to the 
loss of control over the local water sources by the local people. 
 
Dams 
Dam is large storage reservoir of water, which is meant mainly 
to produce hydroelectricity as well as it is used for irrigation on 
a large scale. Dams also sometimes prevent the floods to 
occur. Canal systems leading from these dams can transfer 
large amount of water to great distances. However 
mismanagement of the water has largely led to the benefits 
enjoyed by a few people. There is no equitable distribution of 
water, thus people close to the source grow water intensive 
crops like sugarcane and rice while people farther downstream 
do not get any water. 
 
Major Problems With Dams 
(i) Social Problems: - Large number of peasants and tribals 
without adequate compensation or rehabilitation are 
displaced from their habitats. 
(ii) Economic Problems: - They swallow up huge amount of 
public money without the generation of proportionate 
benefits. 
(iii) Environmental Problems: - They contribute enormously 
to deforestation and the loss of biological diversity. Green 
house gas called methane gas is also generated in such 
large scale marshy areas. 
 
The people who have been displaced by various development 
projects are largely poor tribal who do not get any benefits 
from these projects and are separated from their lands and 
forests without sufficient compensation due to which some of 
the dams have come under controversy. 
 
Dams Under Controversy 
(i) Tehri dam on river Ganga 
(ii) Sardar Sarovar dam on river Narmada 
(iii) Tawa dam  
 
Water Harvesting 
Water harvesting and watershed management emphasizes 
scientific soil and water conservation in order to increase the 
biomass production and to recharge the underground water 
levels. The aim is to develop primary resources of land and 
water, to produce secondary resources of plants and animals 
for use in a manner which will not cause ecological imbalance. 
Watershed management not only increases the production and 
income of the watershed community, but also reduces 
droughts and floods and increases the life of the downstream 
dams and reservoirs. Various organizations have been working 
on rejuvenating ancient systems of water harvesting as an 
alternative to the ‘mega-projects’ like dams. These 
communities have used hundreds of indigenous water saving 
methods to capture every trickle or water that had fallen on 
their land ; dug small pits and lakes, put in place simple 
watershed systems, built small earthen dams, constructed 
dykes, sand and limestone reservoirs, set up rooftop water-
collecting units. This has recharged groundwater levels and 
even brought rivers back to life. These systems also meet the 
growing demands of agriculture and industries. 
 
Water harvesting is an age-old concept in India. Some of the 
watershed management systems used in India are: - 
1. Khadins, Tanks and Nadis  Rajasthan 
2. Bndharas and Tals    Maharashtra 
3.  Bundhis                             Madhya Pradesh and Uttar 
Pradesh 
4. Ahars and Pynes              Bihar 
5. Kulhs                           Himachal Pradesh 
6.  Ponds                    Kandi belt of Jammu 
region 
7. Eris (tanks)              Tamil Nadu 
8. Surangams       Kerala 
9. Kattas        Karnataka  
 
These are some of the ancient water harvesting systems, 
including water transport structures still in use today. 
 
In largely level land, the water harvesting structures are 
mainly curved shaped earthen embankment or low, straight 
concrete and garbage “check dams” built across seasonally 
flooded drains. Monsoon rains fill ponds behind the structures. 
Only the largest structures hold water year round, most dry up 
within six months or less after the monsoons. Their main 
purpose however, is not to hold surface water but also to 
recharge the ground water beneath.  
 
Advantages Of Stored Underground Water 
1. It does not evaporate. 
2. Spreads out to recharge wells. 
3. Provides moisture for vegetation over a wide area.  
4. It does not provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes like 
stagnant water collected in ponds or artificial lakes. 
5. The ground water is also relatively protected from 
contamination by human and animal waste. 
 
Fossil Fuels 
Fossil fuels, that is, coal and petroleum, are important sources 
of energy for us. Since the industrial revolution, we have been 
using increasing amounts of energy to meet our basic needs 
and for the manufacture of a large number of goods upon 
which our lives depend. All these energy needs have been 
largely met by the reserves of coal and petroleum. 
 
 
 
Coal 
Coal is a combustible fossilized rock derived from a large 
accumulation of plant remains that is gradually compressed   
over a period of millions of years. 
 
Petroleum 
Petroleum is another fossil fuel that occurs in the form of 
liquid oil. It has been formed in the past from plant and animal 
remains occur in the form of mineral oil in the sedimentary 
rocks. 
 
The management of these energy sources involves slightly 
different perspectives from those resources discussed earlier. 
We need to look for alternative sources of energy. Various 
estimates as to how long these resources will last us exist and 
one is that at present rates of usage, our known petroleum 
resources will last us for about forty years and the coal 
resources will last for another two hundred years. 
 
Disadvantages Of Using Fossil Fuels 
Looking to other sources of energy is not the only 
consideration when we look at the consumption of coal and 
petroleum. Since coal and petroleum have been formed from 
bio-mass, in addition to carbon, these contain hydrogen, 
nitrogen, lead and sulphur. When these are burnt, the 
products are carbon dioxide, water, oxides of nitrogen and 
oxides of sulphur. When combustion takes place in insufficient 
air (oxygen), then carbon monoxide is formed instead of 
carbon dioxide. Of these products, the oxides of sulphur and 
nitrogen and carbon monoxide are poisonous at high 
concentrations and carbon dioxide is a green house gas. 
Another way of looking at coal and petroleum is that they are 
huge reservoirs of carbon and if all of this carbon is converted 
to carbon dioxide, then the amount of carbon dioxide in the 
atmosphere is going to increase leading to intense global 
warming. Thus, we need to use these resources judiciously. 
 
Methods Of Conservation Of Fossil Fuels 
(i)   Direct use of coal for the purpose of burning should be 
avoided. Coal may be converted into liquid fuel and 
compressed natural gas through coal gasification. 
(ii)  Techniques should be developed to recover maximum 
fossil fuels that lie in the deep mines and wells. Wastage 
during extraction and transportation should be avoided. 
(iii)  Both oil wells and coal mines should be well protected 
from fire to avoid wastage, pollution and loss of life and 
property. 
(iv) Over consumption of oil in automobiles should be 
checked.  
(v)  Alternative sources of energy such as hydroelectric, 
nuclear, solar, wind power and bio gas plants should be 
encouraged. 
 
Measures To Conserve The Natural Resources 
(i) Taking a bus, using public vehicle or walking / cycling. 
(ii) Using fluorescent tubes in your homes. 
(iii) Using the stairs instead of lift. 
(iv) Wearing an extra sweater instead of using a heating device 
(heater or ‘sigri’) on cold days. 
(v) The management of coal and petroleum also affects the 
efficiency of our machines. Fuel is most commonly used in 
internal combustion engines for transportation and recent 
research in this field concentrates on ensuring complete 
combustion in these engines in order to increase efficiency 
and also reduce air pollution.