This document provides an overview of various natural resources including forest resources, water resources, mineral resources, food resources, and energy resources. It discusses the classification of renewable and non-renewable resources and describes key resources within each category like forests, water, minerals, and food. For each resource, the document outlines important types, uses, environmental impacts of overexploitation, and management strategies.

1. UNIT-III
NATURAL
RESOURCES

2. Forest Resources
Water Resources
Mineral Resources
Food Resources
Energy resources
Land resources

3. Definition :
 Natural resources are things that are found
in nature that are useful to people

4. Natural resources are classified
into two types.
1.Renewable resources
2.Non-renewable resources

5. 1.Renewable resources –which can be regenerated
within a span of a time
Ex: soil,water,air, wildlife, natural vegetation
The renewable resources are further sub classified
into two types:
a)Continuous resources:
Ex: solar energy, wind, tidal energy
b)Extrinsic resources:
Ex: human skills, institutions, management abilities.

6. 2.Non-renewable resources
 Cannot be regenerated
 Ex: minerals, coal, oil, natural gas, ground
water.

7. FOREST RESOURCES
 Forest are one of the most important renewable
natural resources on this earth.
 Types of forests:
1. Evergreen forests
2. Deciduous forests.
3. Coniferous forests.

8. 1. Evergreen forests
ex: the silent valley in Kerala
Important trees- Teal, rosewood.
2. Deciduous forests
a) Tropical deciduous forests – teak, sandalwood.
b) Temperature deciduous forests
3. Coniferous forests
Ex: pine tree, spruce tree.

9. Functions of forests
1.Forests perform very important functions both to
humans and to nature.
2.habitats- plants, animals, and wildlife.
3. Recycle – rainwater and remove pollutants from
air.
4. Control water quality and quantity.
5.Moderate temperature and weather and maintain
humidity.

10. Uses (or) Benefits of forests
 Fuel
 Raw materials as pulp, paper, board, timber
etc.,
 Gums, resins, dyes ,etc.,
 Medicines and drugs.
 Honey, ivory.
 Mining, grazing, dams

11. Ecological uses
 Production of oxygen
 Reducing global warming
 Soil conservation
 Regulation of hydrological cycle
 Pollution moderators
 Wildlife habitat

12. Aesthetic value
 Bamboo – mats, baskets, cots, etc.,
 Plants – fruits, leaves, seeds, roots are used as
food.
 Medicines , alcoholic drinks.
 Aromatic oils and other oils used for lighting and
cooking.

13. Touristic value
 Ecotourism provides a growing income for
those who have facilitated it. Several countries
are now attracting the tourists.
OVER EXPLOITATION OF FOREST
 Reason for over exploitation in India
 Causes for over exploitation
a) increasing agricultural production
b) increasing industrial activities
c) increasing demand of wood resources.

14. DEFORESTATION
 Definition: Deforestation is the process of removal
of (or) elimination of forest resources due to many
natural or man-made activities. In general
deforestation means destruction of forests.
Causes of Deforestation
 Developmental projects.
i) Through submergence of forest area
underwater
ii) Destruction of forest area
Examples: big-dams, hydroelectric projects, road
construction etc.

15.  Mining operations
 EX: Mica, coal, manganese, limestone.
 Raw materials for industries
 Ex: boxes, furniture's, plywood, match-
boxes, pulp,.
 Fuel requirements
 Shifting cultivation
 Forest fires

16. Effects of deforestation on the
environment
 Global warming
 Loss of genetic diversity
 Soil erosion
 Loss of biodiversity
 Loss of food grains
 Unemployment problems
 Flood and landslides

17. Conservation of forests
 New plants of more or replace the existing trees.
 Wood –use fuel ,should be discouraged
 Spraying pesticides
 Forest fire must be controlled by modern
techniques
 Over grazing by cattle must be controlled
 Education and awareness programmes must be
conducted
 Strict implementation of law

18. CASE STUDIES
 Timber Extraction
 Mining
 Dams and Their effects on forests and tribal
people

19. Uses of timber
 Timber – raw materials, pulp, paper, furniture, etc
 Timber –developmental activities, railways, boats,
road construction.
Effects of timber extraction
 Deforestation
 Soil erosion, loss of fertility, landslides, and loss of
biodiversity
 Tribal culture
 Reduces thickness of forest

20. Mining
Types of mining
 Surface mining-shallow deposits
 Underground mining-
Steps involved in mining
 Exploration
 Development
 Exploitation
 Ore processing
 Extraction and purification of minerals

21. Effects of mining
 Mining activity- destroy trees, pollutes soil,
water, air.
 Destruction of natural habitat at the mine
and disposal sites.
 Noise pollution is the another major
problem from mining operations.
 Mining reduces the shape and size of the
forest areas.

22. Dams and their effects on forest
and tribal people
 Dams are the massive artificial structures
built across the river to create a reservoir in-
order to store water for many beneficial
purpose.
 Effects of dam on forest
 Thousands of hectares
 Residential accommodation

23. WATER RESOURCES
 Water is an important component of all the
living beings.
 Nearly 80% of earth surface is covered with
water
 All organisms are made up of mostly by
water
 Example: Tree, Animals

24. Hydrological cycle
 Evaporation
 Condensation and precipitation
 Transpiration and respiration

25. Distribution of water resources
 Found 97.4% water in oceans and is too salty and
cannot be used for drinking, irrigation, industrial
purposes.
 Remaining 2.6% of fresh water , most of which is
licked up in ice or in deep ground water.
 Thus only about 0.014% of the earth’s total
volume of water is easily available to us as usable
ground water

26. Types of fresh water resources
 Fresh water resources may be classified into
two types.
1.surface water
 a) standing water bodies: Lakes, reservoirs,
estuaries.
 b) flowing water bodies: Streams, rivers.
2.under ground water.

27. Surface water
 The water , which is coming out directly
through precipitation and does not percolate
down into the ground or does not return to
the atmosphere by evaporation is known as
surface water.
Or
 The water stored on the surface of earth is
called surface water.

28. Uses of water-different types
 Consumptive use- here water is completely
utilized and it is not reused
Example : industry and irrigation
 Non –consumptive use – water is not
completely utilized and it is used.
Example: hydropower plant.

29. Other important uses of water
 Drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing, etc.,
 Hotels, theatres, educational institutions,
offices,etc.,
 Irrigation,aggriculture
 Industrial operations
 All the living organisms

30. Over –utilization of water
(surface and ground water
 The rapid increase in population and industrial
growth have increased the demand for water
resources
 Effects on over utilization of water
 Decrease of ground water
 Ground subsidence
 Lowering of water table
 Intrusion of salt water
 Earthquake and landslides
 Drying up of wells
 Pollution of water

31. floods
 A flood is an overflow of water , whenever
the magnitude of flow of water exceeds the
carrying capacity of the channel within its
banks.
 Causes of floods
 Heavy rainfall, melting of snow, sudden
release of water from dams.
 Over flowing of lakes and rivers

32. Effect of floods
 Due to flood, water spreads in the surrounding
areas and submerges them
 Due to floods the plain surface have become
eroded and silted with mud and sand, thus the
cultivable land areas gets affected.
 Flood management
 Controlled by dams or reservoirs
 Channel management and embankments also control the
floods.
 Flood hazard may also be reduced by forecasting or flood
warning.

33. drought
 Drought is nothing but scarcity of water,
which occurs due to inadequate, late arrival
of rains and excessive withdrawal of ground
water.

34. Types of drought
 Meteorological drought
 Hydrological drought
 Agricultural drought
 Socio-economic drought

35. Causes of drought
 When annual rainfall is below normal and
less than evaporation, drought is created.
 High population is also another cause for
drought
 Deforestation leads to desertification and
drought too. when the trees are cut, the soil
is subject to erosion by heavy rains, winds
and sun.

36. Effects of drought
 Drought causes hunger, malnutrition and scarcity
of drinking water and also changes the quality of
water.
 The drought indicates the worst situation and
initiation of desertification.
 Drought also accelerates degradation of natural
resources.
 Drought leads to large migration of people and
urbanization.

37. Conflicts over water
 Water is so essential for our existence and is
fast becoming a scarce resource.
 Freshwater is considered to be the most
environmental issue of this century.
 Nearly 1.2 billion people do not have access
to safe drinking water

38. Causes of water conflicts
 Conflict through use
a) international conflicts
 India-pakistan->Indus
 Mexico- USA->Colorado river
 Iran – iraq -> Shatt-al- Arab water.
 India- Bangladesh-> Bhramaputra river.

39.  b) National conflicts
 Sharing of Cauvery water- Karnataka&
Tamil nadu.
 Sharing of Krishna water- Karnataka &
Andhra Predesh.
 Sharing of Siruveni water – Tamil nadu&
Kerala.

40. Construction of dams or power station
 Hydroelectric power generation
 Dams are built across the rivers
 Conflict through pollution
 Production of electricity and shipping
 Rivers and lakes are also used for industrial
purpose.
 Disposing of waste water and industrial
rubbish

41. MINERAL RESOURCES
 Minerals are naturally occurring substances
having definite chemical composition and
physical properties

42. Formation of mineral deposits
 Various biological processes
 Mineral deposits are found due to the biological
decomposition of dead animals and organic
matters.
 Minerals deposits are also formed due to the
concentration of minerals during cooling of molten
rock.
 Mineral deposits are also formed due to
evaporation of sea water.

43. Classification of mineral
resources
 Identified resources
 Undiscovered resources
 Reserves

44. Uses and exploitation of
minerals
 Minerals are used in a large number of ways in
everyday in domestic, agricultural, industrial
and commercial sectors.
 Uses:
 1.development of industrial plants and
machinery – iron,aluminium, copper.
 2.construction, housing, settlements.- Iron,
aluminium, nickel

45.  3.Generation of energy- Coal, lignite, uranium.
 4.Designing defense equipments, weapons,
ornaments.
 5.Agriculture purposes, as fertilizers, seed
dressings and fungicides.- Zineb- Containing zinc;
maneb- manganese.
 6.Jewellery – Gold, silver, platinum and diamond.
 7.communication purposes.- Telephone wires,
cables, electronic devices.

46. Classification of minerals
 Minerals are classified into two ways based on
their composition and usage.
 I) Based on Composition
 Metallic minerals- iron, aluminium, copper,
zinc.
 Non-metallic minerals- Quartz, feldspar,
dolomite, calcite

47.  II).Based on Usage
 Critical minerals- iron, aluminium, copper
and gold.
 Strategic minerals- manganese, cobalt,
platinum and chromium

48. Mineral wealth of india
 Iron
 Coal
 Manganese
 Copper
 Gold
 Aluminium
 Tin
 Chromium
 Limestone
 Mica
 Monazite
 Petroleum
 Lead and zinc
 Precious stones
 Magnesite
 gypsum

49. Environmental effects
 Most important environmental concern
arises from the extraction and processing of
the minerals during mining , melting,
roasting, etc.
 Mining
 Mining is the process of extraction of
metals from a mineral deposit.

50. Types of mining
 a) Surface mining
 b)Underground mining
– i)Open-pit mining
– ii)Dredging
– iii)Strip mining

51. Environmental damage
 Devegetation and defacing of landscape
 Groundwater contamination
 Surface water pollution
 Air pollution
 Subsidence of land

52. Effects of over exploitation of
mineral resources
 Rapid depletion of mineral deposits
 Over exploitation of mineral resources leads to
wastage and dissemination of mineral deposits.
 Over exploitation of mineral resources causes
environmental pollution.
 Over exploitation needs heavy energy requirements.

53. Management of mineral resources
 The efficient use and protection of mineral
resources
 Modernization of the mining industries
 Search for new deposit.
 Re-use and Re-cycling of the metals.

54. Case studies
 Mining and quarrying in Udaipur
 About 200 open cast mining and quarrying
centers are found available in Udaipur, of
which 100 mining and quarrying centers are
illegal and involved in stone
mining(soapstone, building stone, rock
phosphate and dolomite.)

55. Mining in sariska tiger reserve
in aravalli range
 North-west India covering-Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi.
 The hill region is very rich in biodiversity
as well as mineral resources.
 The sariska tiger reserve, in Aravalli series,
is very rich in wildlife and has enormous
mineral reserves like quartzite, marble and
granite.

56. Quarrying thorium and uranium in kanyakumari district
 Indian Rare Earths Corporation is quarrying sands, which
is enriched with Uranium and Thorium, near the sea shore
in Manali, Kanyakumari District, It leads to the loss of
many coconut plantation and sea shore beauty.
 Extraction of Aluminium
 5.5 Tonnes of Bauxite
 1.3 Tonnes of Coal
 0.6 Ton of anode carbon
 0.25 Ton of fuel oil
 0.2 Ton of NaOH oil

57. Food Resources
 Food is an essential requirement for the human
survival Each person has minimum food
requirement. The main components of food are
carbohydrates, fast, proteins, minerals, and
vitamins.
 Types of food supply
 Croplands – Rice, wheat, maize, barley , sugarcane,
potato.
 Rangelands- Meat, milk, fruits,
 Oceans- Fish, prawn, crab.

58. WORLD FOOD PROBLEMS:
 Problems mainly under nutrition and malnutrition
 Natural calamities:-famine, drought, earthquake, flood, gale, storm
 Disease and medical facilities
 Pest damage:-insects, bacteria, viruses, parasites consume 60% of world's food
production
 Hunger
 Population explosion in rural areas
 Environmental pollution
 Lack of water for irrigation
 Less rainfall due to deforestation
 Livestock overgrazing
 Overfishing

59. Under nutrition and malnutrition
 Nutritious
 Under nutrition
 Malnutrition

60. CHANGES CAUSED BY OVERGRAZING AND
AGRICULTURE:
 Overgrazing:
 Land degradation-leads to organically poor, dry, compacted soil
cannot be used for further cultivation
 Soil erosion-cover of vegetation gets removed from soil
 Loss of useful species-good quality grasses and herbs with high
nutritive value, when grazed lose even the root stocks which carry the
reserve food for regeneration get destroyed which gives raise to
secondary species like parthenium, Lantane, Xanthium etc
 To prevent –match the forage supplement to the herd‟s
requirement.eg.Switch grass

61. Modern agriculture:
 Damage to soil
 Water contamination
 Water scarcity
 Global climate change
 Water logging-results when soil is over irrigated
 Soil salinity-increase plant productivity, interferes with water uptake by plants
 Fossil fuels and pesticides produce air pollution
 Impacts related to high yielding varieties:
 Monoculture ie the same genotype is grown over vast areas. Disease spread
easily
 Micronutrient imbalance e.g Zinc deficiency-affect soil productivity

62. ENERGY RESOURCES
 Growing energy needs: Population explosion,
Luxurious life, Industries, Agriculture, mining,
transportation, lighting, cooling, heating, building
all need energy. Fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural
gas produce 95% of energy

63. Sources of energy
Primary
 Renewable energy-resources which can be
enerated continuously in nature and are in
exhaustible and can be used again endlessly.
Wood, Tidal, Solar, wind, hydropower, biomass,
biofuel, geothermal, hydrogen
 Non – renewable energy- Resources which have
accumulated in nature over a long span of time and
cannot be quickly replenished when exhausted.
Coal, petroleum, natural gas

64.  Secondary-petrol, electrical energy, coal
burning

65. Energy renewable
 Advantages
 1. Wide availability
 2. Low cost
 3. Decentralized power production
 4. Low pollution
 5. Available for the future


66.  Disadvantage
 1. Unreliable supply
 2. Produced in small quantity
 3. Difficult to store
 4. Cost more


67. Energy non renewable
 Advantage
 1. Available in high concentrated form
 2. Easy to store
 3. Reliable supply
 4. Lower cost
 Disadvantage
 1.highly pollution Available only in few places
High running cost Limited supply and will one day
get exhausted

68. Solar energy:
 Total energy from sun per year-35,000 times the
energy used by man
 Used to run car, power plants and spaceships
 Energy harvesting devises:
 Solar heat collectors
 Solar cells „
 Solar cooker
 Solar water heater
 Solar furnace
 Solar power plants

69. Wind energy:

70. Tidal Energy

71. LAND RESOURCE
 Land is the most important and valuable
resources for mankind as it provides food, fibre,
wood, medicine and other biological materials
needed for food. Soil is the mixture of
inorganic materials(rocks and minerals) and
organic materials(dead animals and plants)

72. Uses of land resources
 Land provide ,food, wood, minerals, etc for us
 Land nurtures the plants and animals that provides
our food and shelter
 Land is used as watershed or reservoir
 Land act as a dust bin for most of the wastes,
created by modern society.
 Land is useful for construction of buildings,
industries.

73. Land Degradation:
 Land degradation is the process of deterioration of soil or
loss of fertility of the soil.
 Harmful effects of land degradation
 The soil texture and soil structure are deteriorated
 Loss of soil fertility, due to loss of invaluable nutrients
 Increase in water logging, salinity, alkalinity and acidity
problems.
 Loss of economic social and biodiversity

74. Causes of land degradation
 Population
 Urbanization
 Fertilizers and pesticides
 Damage of top soil

75. Soil erosion:
 Soil erosion is the process of removal of
superficial layer of the soil from one place to
another. Soil erosion also removes the soil
components and surface liter.
 Types of soil erosion
 i) Normal erosion
 ii) Accelerated erosion

76. Harmful effects of soil erosion
 Soil fertility is lost because of loss of top soil layer.
 Loss of its ability to hold water and sediment.
 Sediment runoff can pollute water and kill aquatic life.
 Causes of soil erosion
 i) water
 ii) wind
 iii) Biotic agents
 iv) landslides
 v) Construction

77. Control of soil erosion
 Conservational till farming
 Contour farming
 Terracing
 Alley cropping
 Wind breaks or shelter belts

78. desertification
 Desertification is a progressive destruction or
degradation of arid or semiarid lands to desert.
 Causes of desertification
 Deforestation
 Over grazing
 Water management
 Mining and quarrying
 Climate change
 Pollution

79. landslides
 Landslides are the downward and outward
movement of a slope composed of earth materials
such as rock, soil, artificial fills.
 Harmful effects of landslides
 Land slides increases the turbidity of nearby
streams, thereby reducing their productivity.
 Destruction of communication links
 Loss of habitat and biodiversity
 Loss of infrastructure and economic loss.

80. Causes of landslides
 Removal of vegetation
 Underground mining
 Transport
 Addition of weight
 Ground water level

81. ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL IN CONSERVATION OF
NATURAL RESOURCES:
 Natural resources-
forest,water,soil,food,mineral and energy
 Overuse of these resources cause problems

82. Conserve water:
 Don‟t keep water taps running
 Install water saving toilets
 Check forwater leaks
 Reuse soapy water
 Use drip and sprinkling irrigation
 Conserveenergy
 Turn off lights,fan when not in use
 Use solarcooker for cooking
 Try riding bicycle

83. Protect soil:
 Don‟t uproot plants
 Grow grass which binds soil andprevent erosion
 Make compost
 Use green manure
 Don‟t over irrigate
 Use mixed cropping