Class 8 Geography Chapter 1 Notes - Resources

Resources and Development  

• Any object or substance, living or non-living, that has utility is known as a resource.  
• All resources have some value. Value means worth. Some resources have economic value and some do not, but both are important and satisfy human needs.  
• Some resources can become economically valuable with time.
• Time and technology are the important factors that change substances into resources.  
• Each discovery or invention leads to many others.

Types of Resources

1. Resources are categorized into natural, human-made and human.  
2. Natural resources are those resources that are drawn from nature and are used without much modification-air, water, soils, minerals are the natural resources.  
3. Natural resources are classified into different groups depending upon their level of development and use, origin, renewability and distribution.  
4. On the basis of the level of their development and use, resources can be classified into actual and potential resources.  
5. Potential resources are those resources whose entire quantity may not be known and these are not being used at present and could be used in the future.  
6. On the basis of origin, the natural resources can be biotic or abiotic.  
7. Biotic resources include all living things like plants and animals.  
8. Abiotic resources are non-living things like soil, rocks and minerals.

Natural Resources

1. On the basis of renewability, natural resources can be categorized into renewable and non-renewable resources.  
2. Renewable resources are those which can get renewed or replenished quickly, such as solar and wind energy.  
3. Non-renewable resources are those which have a limited stock. Once the stocks are exhausted it may take thousands of years to be renewed or replenished, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas.  
4. Ubiquitous resources are found everywhere on the earth. Land, water, air are ubiquitous resources.  
5. Localized resources are found only in certain places, like copper and iron ore.  
6. The distribution of natural resources depends upon the number of physical factors like terrain, climate and attitude.  
7. The distribution of resources is unequal across the earth.
   
   

Human Made Resources

1. The resources which are created from the natural resources by human beings to produce useful products are known as Human-made resources. Like roads, machinery, vehicles, etc.
2. Technology is also a human-made resource. 

Human Resources

1. Human resources refer to the number and abilities of the people. People can make the best use of nature to create more resources when they have the knowledge, skill and technology. People are human resources.  
2. Human resources development refers to improving the quality of people’s skills so that they are able to create more resources.

Conserving Resources

1. Conservation of resources refers to using natural resources carefully so that they could be renewed and continue to be used in future.  
2. Sustainable use of resources refers to carefully utilizing resources and balancing the need to use resources and also conserve them for the future generation.  
3. It is our duty to ensure that all uses of renewable resources are sustainable.  
4. The diversity of life on the earth should be conserved.  
5. The damage to the natural environmental system should be minimized.