Multidisciplinary Nature of Environmental Studies, natural resources, and its associated problems, renewable and non-renewable resources

1. MULTIDISCIPLINARY
NATURE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES
BY: ASHUTOSH AGARWAL

2. Table of
Contents
Natural resources and
associated problems
Renewable and non-
renewable resources
a) FOREST RESOURCES
b) WATER RESOURCES
c) ENERGY RESOURCES
d) LAND RESOURCES
Multidisciplinary nature of
environmental studies
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02
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3. 01
INTRODUCTION
TO
ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCE
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4. Environment:
The term environment is derived from a French word 'environment' which
means 'surrounding. It refers to an aggregate of all conditions that affect the
existence, EVS growth, and welfare of an organism or a group of
organisms.
Definition:
It can be defined as a sum total of all the living (biotic) and non-
living(Abiotic) elements and their effects that influence human life. While
all living or biotic elements are animals, plants, forests, fisheries, and birds,
non living or abiotic elements include water, land, sunlight, rocks, and air.
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5. • Environmental Science:
The systematic & scientific study of our environment and our role in it.
This branch includes the knowledge of Pure Science & to some extent
Social Sciences.
• Environmental Studies:
The branch of Study concerned with environmental issues. It has a broader
coverage than environmental science and includes the social aspects of the
environment.
• Environmental Education:
Environmental education is a process that allows individuals to explore
environmental issues, engage them in problem solving, and take action to
improve the environment. As a result, individuals develop a deeper
understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make
knowledgeable and responsible decisions.
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6. Multidisciplinary nature of Environmental
studies
Environmental Studies requires skills that encompass a range of disciplines including
chemistry, biology, earth sciences, atmospheric science, statistics, mathematics, and
geography.
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7. IMPORTANCE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
• Checking environmental pollution and related solutions.
• Maintaining of ecological balance.
• It helps to gain skills to assess the environmental impact of human activities.
Environmental study will help to protect biodiversity.
• It gives us basic knowledge of environment and associated problems.
• It helps to achieve sustainable development.
• It helps to educate people regarding their duties towards the protection of
environment.
• The knowledge of environmental science will be applied to the study of
agriculture.
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8. —Frank Lloyd Wright
Study nature, love nature, stay
close to nature. It will never fail
you.
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9. 02
NATURAL
RESOURCES AND
ASSOCIATED
PROBLEMS
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10. WHAT ARE NATURAL RESOURCES?
 Natural resources occur naturally within environments.
 Natural resource is often characterized by amounts of
biodiversity and geo diversity existent in various ecosystems.
 Any material which is part of earth and satisfy human need and
add value is called as resource. Example: rocks, minerals, soil,
rivers, plants & animal.
 Human is a resource because developing his skill, he can
develop other resource by adding value to the physical material.
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11. CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL
RESOURCES
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12. 1. FOREST RESOURCES
Meaning of the forest:
• The term “forest ”is derived from the latin word “foris” meaning
outside. Originally ,it is uncultivated and uninhabitated village boundary
consisting of natural plants, i.e., trees and grasses .
• It means an association of plants , natural or cultivated, predominantly
trees.
• In the words of Allen and Shorpe, “Forest is a community of trees and
associated organism covering a considerable area, utilizing air, water
and minerals to attain maturity and to reproduce and capable of
furnishing mankind with indispensable products and services”
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13. FUNCTION OF FOREST
1. Protective Functions: This includes the protective role
of forests against soil erosion, drought, Flood, intense
radiations etc…
2. Productive Functions: Forest are the sources of wood
and many other products like gums, resins, fibers,
medicines, honey, pulp, paper etc.
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14. 3. Regulative Functions: Functions like absorption, storage, release
of gases, water, minerals and radiant energy, improve
atmospheric conditions. Forest effectively regulate flood,
droughts and many gaseous cycles in nature.
4. Accessory Functions: This includes the role of forests in
recreation, aesthetics, and as habitat of diverge wild life etc.
FUNCTION OF FOREST
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15. DIRECT USE OF FOREST
They provide timber for house-building, ship-building, bridges, railway carriages, furniture's etc.
They supply fire wood and charcoal for fuel in homes and in industries.
They provide wood pulp for the paper and rayon industries.
They provide honey for food and medicines.
They provide bee wax for candles, medicines, shoe-making etc.
They provide canes foe baskets, mats, chairs, ropes, walking sticks and umbrella handles.
They provide sandal wood for carved boxes and small domestic articles .
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16. INDIRECT USE OF FOREST
They stop the rain-bearing winds and cause the rainfall.
They increase the moisture content in the atmosphere and thereby provide additional
precipitation(i.e., rainfall) in the locality
They minimize the extreme variation in climatic condition and make the climate more
equable.
They control floods during heavy rain by absorbing excess rain water.
They prevent soil erosion by checking the force of flowing of water.
The thick roots of the trees absorb large quantity of water thus, forest help in the flow of
rivers and streams.
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17. DEPLETION OF FOREST
• The history of the exploitation of
forest is as old as man himself but
during older times, the exploitation
was balanced through natural
growth of forest because at that
time , exploitation was only for
personal and community uses. But
in recent year , depletion of forest
has been on a large scale.
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18. REASON FOR DEPLETION OF
FOREST
• Expansion of agriculture, more forest have
been cleared for agriculture.
• Large area of forest lands have been cleared
for urbanization and human settlement.
• Commercial exploitation of forest .
• Forest fires .
• Mining activities in forest areas.
• Forest diseases are also partly responsible
for depletion forest.
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19. TRIBAL PEOPLE
• The local people need large quantities of
firewood, small timber and thatch. Bamboo is
used to make slats for huts, and baskets for
collecting and storing food materials.
• Implements for agriculture, fishing and
hunting are largely made of wood, also
forests are sites for fishing and hunting.
• People gathering fruits, nuts and medicines
from the forests, their cattle also graze in
forest areas or feed on other fodder which is
collected from forests. People living in and
around forests
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20. 2. TIMBER EXTRACTION
• Timber Extraction is usually done by the forest
department in our construction, industrial uses,
paper pulp etc.
• Timber extraction leads to depletion of wood
resources .
• degrading other forest resources such as loss of
consumptive uses , loss of ecological functions ,
loss of non-consumptive values .
• Regeneration of forests is also endangered by
bad land-use practices by the local population
through overgrazing, lopping of trees, burning
and shifting cultivation.
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21. MINING
• Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or
other geological materials from the Earth, usually
from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer
deposit.
• Impacts of mining can be result in erosion,
sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, or the
contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface
water by the chemicals emitted from mining
processes. These processes also have an impact
on the atmosphere from the emissions of carbon
which have effect on the quality of human health
and biodiversity.
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22. DEFORESTATION
• It means reckless or large-scale felling
or cutting of trees by man for
commercial and other purposes. The
FAO(Food and Agriculture
Organization) of the UN defines
”change of forest with depletion of tree
crown cover more than 90%.”
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23. CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION
Desertification.
Soil
degradation
and soil
erosion.
Loss of
vegetation
cover.
Destruction of
natural habitat
and loss of
wildlife.
Changes in
climatic
condition.
Environmental
pollution.
Damage to
ecosystem
Reduction in
soil moisture.
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24. CONSERVATION OF FOREST
Regulated and
planned cutting
of trees.
Control over
forest fires.
Reforestation.
Check on forest
clearance for
agriculture and
human habitation
and settlement.
Development
green belt
around cities.
Check on mining
activities in forest
areas.
Protection of
existing forest.
Conservation of
threatened
species of trees.
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25. 2. WATER RESOURCES
• Earth is known as the "Blue Planet" because 71 percent
of the Earth's surface is covered with water. , but only a
small proportion of it accounts for freshwater that can
be put to use. If three-fourth of the world is covered
with water .
• So it is important to conserve water resources. Water
conservation includes all the policies, strategies and
activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of
fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere.
• Water is a vital elixir for all living beings. Although it is
a renewable resource, scarcity of quality water is felt in
many parts of the world. We need water to grow food,
keep clean, generate electricity, control fire, and last but
not the least, we need it to stay alive.
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26. CONTAMINATED WATER
RESOURCES EFFECTS
• Human health
Polluted water resource is the world’s largest health risk and continues to threaten
both quality of life and public health. Associated with this are health service costs,
loss life expectancy, and emergency health costs associated with major pollution
events
• Ecosystem Health
Damage to freshwater and marine Ecosystem and loss of ecosystem service, which
may require investment in additional or different grey infrastructure alternatives to
replicate these services
• Agriculture Productivity
Exclusion of contaminated water and irrigation results in increasing water scarcity,
irrigation with contaminated water caused damage to and reduce productivity of
crops, pasture, etc. It has bad impacts to human health and production,etc.
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27. USE AND OVER UTILIZATION OF SURFACE AND
GROUND WATER
• As our country is essentially an agricultural based
country, the crops are to be developed for the
production of different types of food grains. The
requirement of water varies from crop to crop.
• Different research stations are busy in identifying the
water needs of all the crops. Most of these crops are
shallow rooted, thus water being extracted from top
layers of the soil. Soil moisture available in the top
layers is essential for such crops.
• Water that is available in the deeper layers of the earth
is known as Groundwater. This water has been trapped
inside the earth’s crust for several centuries.
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28. FLOOD
• Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water
bodies, such as a river, lake, or ocean, in which the water
overtops or breaks levees, resulting in some of that water
escaping its usual boundaries, or it may occur due to an
accumulation of rainwater on saturated ground in an
areal flood. While the size of a lake or other body of
water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation
these changes are responsible for flood.
• Floods includes loss of drinking water treatment and
water supply, which may result in loss of drinking water
or severe water contamination. It may also cause the loss
of sewage disposal facilities. Lack of clean water
combined with human sewage in the flood waters raises
the risk of waterborne diseases, which can include
typhoid, giardia, cryptosporidium, cholera and many
other diseases
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29. DRAUGHT
• A drought is an event of prolonged shortages in
the water supply, whether atmospheric (below-
average precipitation), surface water or ground
water. A drought can last for months or years,
or may be declared after as few as 15 days.
• It can have a substantial impact on the
ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region
and harm to the local economy. Annual dry
seasons in the tropics significantly increase the
chances of a drought developing and
subsequent bush fires.
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30. 3. MINERAL RESOURCES
• Mineral resources are the key material basis for socio-
economic development. Statistical results show that
more than 95% of energy used by mankind, 80%
industrial raw materials and 70% raw materials for
agricultural production are from mineral resources.
• A mineral is a pure inorganic substance that occurs
naturally in the earth’s crust.
• Minerals are used in almost all industries. Gold, silver,
and platinum metal are used in the jewelry industry.
Copper is used in the coin industry and for making pipes
and wire. Silicon obtained from quartz is used in the
computer industry.
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31. CLASSIFICATION OF MINERALS
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32. USE AND OVER EXPLOITATION
• Destruction of Land: Mining activity can cause a considerable loss of land
because of chemical contamination, destruction of productive layers of soil
• Pollution: Mining operations often pollute the atmosphere, surface waters and
ground water.
• Energy: Extraction and transportation requires huge amounts of energy which
adds to impacts such as acid rain and global warming.
• Subsidence
• Impact on the Biological Environment
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33. HAZARDS OF MINING
• Pulmonary diseases caused by dust and noxious fumes from
mines.
• Mining contaminates nearby water sources owing to dumping of
waste and slurry.
• Land degradation is caused as land is dug deep for mining.
• This makes it unsuitable for any further use after the mining site
is abandoned.
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34. LAND RESOURCSE
• Land is a naturally occurring finite resource. It
provides the base for survival of living beings. It
holds everything that constitutes terrestrial
ecosystems.
• Increased demand on land in modern times due to
the rise in human population and resultant activities
has resulted in degradation of land quality and
quantity, decline in crop production, and
competition for land
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35. SOIL
• What is soil?
The weathered surface of earth’s crust which is associated with living organism
and the products of their decomposition.
• Pedogenesis - process of soil formation
TYPES OF SOIL
RED SOIL BLACK SOIL
LATERITE
SOIL
ALKALINE
SOIL
MOUNTAIN
SOIL
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36. SOIL EROSION
• MEANING
The process by which rock fragments and soil are detached from the
original site, transport and then eventually deposited at some new locality
is termed as soil erosion
• AGENTS OF SOIL EROSION
1. Wind erosion
2. Water erosion
3. Landslide or slip erosion
4. Biotic agencies cause soil erosion
a) overgrazing
b) deforestation
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37. LAND DEGRADATION
• Land degradation refers to a decline in the overall quality of soil,
water or vegetation condition commonly caused by human
activities.
Causes
• Deforestation by fire clearance
• Wind erosion
• Water erosion
• Pollution including industrial
waste
• Poor farming practices
• Livestock's including
overgrazing
EFFECTS
• Loss of quality of soil and
decline in vegetation
• Salinity
• Drought
• Soil erosion
• Shortage of fuelwood and
building material in many
areas
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38. LANDSLIDES
• A landslide (or landslip) is a geological phenomenon which includes a
wide range of ground movement.
• Such as downward sliding, falling, or flowing of masses of soil, rock,
and debris.
• CAUSES
1. Loss or absence of soil nutrients (e.g. after a wildfire)
2. Erosion of the toe of a slope by rivers or ocean waves
3. Weakening of a slope through saturation by snowmelt, glaciers melting,
or heavy rains
4. Earthquakes
5. Volcanic Eruptions
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39. DESERTIFICATION
• The transformation of aerable or habitable land to desert, as by a change
in climate or destructive land use Viewed as both a process and the
resulting condition Is a global problem Leads to abandoned, desert
like landscapes
CAUSES
• Overgrazing
• Deforestation
• Overcultivation
• Drought
• Climate change
• Inapporpriate
irrigation
Countering
Desertification
• Afforestation
• Water conservation
• Live-stock
management
• Wise agriculture
methods
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40. REFERENCES
• Manoj Tiwari, Kapil Khulbe, Archana Tiwari; Environmental Studies;
I.K. International Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.; New Delhi; 2007; Page
No. 08
• Erach Bharucha; Textbook of Environmental Studies; Universities Press
Pvt. Ltd.: Hyderabad: 2005; Page No. 2.1
• WWW. SLIDESHARE.COM
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41. THANKYOU
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