Natural Resources: Classification, Conservation, and Sustainable Planning

Broadly, Natural Resources are anything that can be used to satisfy the needs of humans. It can be natural such as land, water, soil etc. or man-made such as rickshaw, books, etc. Anything that we use has some value. Thus, utility or usability is what makes an object or substance a resource and its use or utility gives it a value. 

In this article, Classification of Natural Resources and its conservation will be studied. Further, resource planning will be discussed which is essential for the sustainable existence of all forms of life.

Natural Resources: Dynamic Forces, Interconnected Dynamics, Human-Nature Interface

• Meaning: Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable can be termed as ‘Resource’.
• Dynamic Forces: Time and technology are two important factors that can change substances into Natural Resources. 
  • Example: Home remedies which have no commercial value today. But if they are patented and sold by a medical firm tomorrow, they could become economically valuable.
• Interconnected Dynamics: The process of transformation of things available in our environment involves an inter- dependent relationship between nature, technology and institutions.
• Human-Nature Interface: Human beings interact with nature through technology and create institutions to accelerate their economic development.

Enroll now for UPSC Online Course

Classification of Resources: Natural Resources and Biodiversity Harmony

(A) Classification on the basis of nature and human – Natural, Human made and Human

• Natural Resources are generally classified into natural, human made and human.

• Natural Resources: Understanding and Optimizing Resources
  • Definition: Resources that are drawn from nature and used without much modification are called natural resources. 
  • Natural Endowments: These Natural Resources are free gifts of nature such as the air we breathe, the water in our rivers and lakes, the soils, minerals. 
  • Optimizing Natural Resources: In some cases tools and technology may be needed to use a natural resource in the best possible way. 
  • Example: Silk from silkworms that are bred on Mulberry trees.
  • Unequal Distribution: The distribution of natural resources is unequal because it depends upon a number of physical factors like terrain, climate and altitude. 

• Natural Vegetation and Wildlife: Plants, Wildlife, and Balanced Living

• • Biosphere Harmony: Vegetation and wildlife are valuable natural resources. They exist only in the narrow zone of contact between the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere that is biosphere.
  • Ecosystem:  In the biosphere living beings are interrelated and interdependent on each other for survival. 
    • This life supporting system is known as the ecosystem. 
  • The Contributions of Plants: Plants provide us with timber, give shelter to animals, produce oxygen, protect soils, act as shelter belts, help in storage of underground water, give us fruits, latex, turpentine oil, medicinal plants, the paper essential for our studies etc.
  • The Contributions of Wildlife: Wildlife includes animals, birds, insects as well as aquatic life forms that provide us with milk, meat, hides and wool. 
    • Bees provide us with honey, help in pollination of flowers and have an important role to play as decomposers in the ecosystem. 
    • The birds feed on insects and act as decomposers as well. 
    • Vulture feed on dead livestock is a scavenger and considered a vital cleanser of the environment. 
    • Therefore, all animals, big or small,  are integral to maintaining balance in the ecosystem.

• Flora and Fauna in India: Biodiversity, Challenges, and Conservation

• • The Multitude of Life Forms On Earth: Other than us this planet has millions of other living beings from microorganisms to blue whales. 
  • Ecosystems Dynamics: This entire habitat has immense biodiversity in which all living organisms form a complex web of ecological systems and forests being primary producers play a key role in the ecological system on which all other living beings depend.
  • India’s Biodiversity Wealth: India is one of the world’s richest countries in terms of its vast array of biological diversity.
    • It  has nearly 8% of the total number of species in the world (estimated to be 1.6 million). 

• Conservation Challenge: Some estimates suggest that at least 10% of India’s recorded wild flora and 20% of its mammals are on the threatened list.

• • Many of these would now be categorised as ‘critical’, i.e on the verge of extinction like the cheetah, pink-headed duck, mountain quail, forest spotted owlet, and plants like madhuca insignis (a wild variety of mahua) and hubbardia heptaneuron, (a species of grass).

• The negative factors that cause depletion of the flora and fauna: We have depleted our forests and wildlife by transforming nature into a resource obtained directly and indirectly from the forests and wildlife.

• • Colonial Impact: During the colonial period Indian forests were damaged due to the expansion of the railways, agriculture, commercial and scientific forestry and mining activities. 

• • Post-Independence Challenges: Even after Independence, agricultural expansion continues to be one of the major causes of depletion of forest resources. 

• • • Between 1951 and 1980, according to the Forest Survey of India, over 26,200 sq. km. of forest area was converted into agricultural land all over India. 

• • Shifting Cultivation and its Impact: Substantial parts of the tribal belts, especially in the northeastern and central India, have been deforested or degraded by shifting cultivation (jhum), a type of ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.

• • Large-scale Development Projects: These have also contributed significantly to the loss of forests. 

• • • Since 1951, over 5,000 sq km of forest has been cleared for river valley projects and is still continuing with projects like the Narmada Sagar Project in Madhya Pradesh. 

• • Mining: It is another important factor behind deforestation. 

• • • The Buxa Tiger Reserve (West Bengal) is seriously threatened by the ongoing dolomite mining. 

• • • It has disturbed the natural habitat of many species and blocked the migration route of several others, including the great Indian elephant. 

• • Other Factors: For the depletion of forest resources and decline in India’s biodiversity are grazing, fuel-wood collection, habitat destruction, hunting, poaching, over-exploitation, environmental pollution, poisoning and forest fires. 

• • Unequal access, inequitable consumption of Natural Resources and differential sharing of responsibility for environmental well-being are other factors. 

• • Overpopulation: In third world countries is another cause of environmental degradation. 

• • • However, an average American consumes 40 times more Natural Resources than an average Somalian. 

• • • Similarly, the richest 5% of Indian society probably cause more ecological damage than the poorest 25% but the former shares minimum responsibilities for environmental well-being. 

• Environmental Degradation and Its Impact: Cultural Impact and Gender Disparities

• • Cultural Implications: The destruction of forests and wildlife is not just a biological issue but the loss of cultural diversity. 

• • • Such losses have increasingly marginalised and impoverished many indigenous and other forest-dependent communities, who directly depend on various components of the forest and wildlife for food, drink, medicine, culture, spirituality, etc. 

Enroll now for UPSC Online Course

• • Gender Disparities: Within the poor, women are affected more than men because women bear the major responsibility of collection of fuel, fodder, water and other basic subsistence needs. 

• • • This increases the drudgery of women and causes serious health problems for women and negligence of home and children.
  • The indirect Impact: Degradation such as severe drought or deforestation-induced floods, etc  also hits the poor the hardest.

Also Read: Natural Vegetation & Wildlife Resources – Types, Distribution, Conservation

DOWNLOAD PDF