Natural Sources

Life on this planet earth depends

upon large number of things and
services provided by the nature,
which are known as Natura resources.
Thus water, air, soil, minerals, coal,
forests, crops and wild life are all
examples of natural resources
• The natural resources are of two kinds :
• Renewable resources which are inexhaustive
and can be regenerated within a given span
of time e.g. forests, wildlife, wind energy,
biomass energy, tidal energy, hydro power
etc.
• Solar energy is also a renewable form of
energy as it is an inexhaustible source of
energy.
• Even our renewable resources can become
non-renewable if we exploit them to such
extent that their rate of consumption exceeds
their rate of regeneration. and recycling.

• There are four major types of nonrenewable

resources: oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear
energy.
 Sustainable use of Resources
• It is very important to protect and conserve
our natural resources and use them in a
judicious manner so that we do n’ot
exhaust them.
• This is very important for the sustainable
development.
• Major natural resources:
• (i) Forest resources
• (ii) Water resources
• (iii) Mineral resources
• (iv) Food resources – Not to be covered as per
syllabus of this course.
• (v) Energy resources
• (vi) Land resources.
 FOREST RESOURCES
• About 1/3rd of the world’s land area is
forested which includes closed as well as
open forests.
• Former USSR accounts for about a 5th
of the world’s forests ( 20 % ) , Brazil for
about a 7th ( around 15 % ), and Canada and
USA each for 6-7%. India just 2 %
• Almost everywhere the cover of the natural
forests has declined over the years.
 May be deleted
Forest Area by Country
• # CountrySqare meters per capita
• 1 Russia 55,992
• 2 Brazil 23,652
• 3 Canada 94,461
• 4 United States9,556
 • The greatest loss occurred in tropical Asia where
one third of the forest resources have been
destroyed.
USES OF FORESTS
Commercial uses:
Firewood, pulpwood, food items, gum,
resins, non-edible oils, rubber, fibers, lac, bamboo
canes, fodder, medicine, drugs and many more
items, the total worth of which is estimated to be
more than $ 300 billion per year
 Ecological uses
• Production of oxygen:
• Reducing global warming:
• Wild life habitat:
• Regulation of hydrological cycle:
• Soil Conservation:
• Pollution moderators:
 Restoring ecosystem
• Introduced 8 cheetahs brought from Namibia
in Kuno Park, MP, these were declared
extinct in 1952 in India .
 Restoring ecosystem
• Total Recorded Forest Area in the country is
765,210 sq. km, which is 23.28% of total
geographical area of the country.

• Recorded Forests can be broadly classified

into three categories Reserved Forests
(416,516 sq. Protected Forests (223,309 sq.
km) ( declared by State Govts.) and Unclassed
Forests (125,385 sq. km).
• Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest
forest cover in the country followed by
Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and
Maharashtra.
 TERAI
• The Terai is a belt of marshy grasslands,
savannas ( Scattered trees ) and forests
located south of the outer foothills of the
Himalaya, the Shivalik Hills, and north of
the Indo-Gangetic Plain of the Ganga,
Brahmaputra and their tributaries.
• The Terai belongs to the Terai-Duar savanna
and grasslands ecoregion.
 Delete
• Bhitarkanika Mangroves
• Bhitarkanika lakeride sunset, Odisha 650 km²
• Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary Ponda taluk, Goa 8
km² -
Provides sanctuary to leopards who have been
injured in human-wildlife conflict.
• Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary Canacona taluk, Goa
-
It is known for its dense forest of tall trees ( 30 meters).
 Delete
.
• Gir National Park - Talala taluk, Gir Somnath
district, Gujarat 1412 km²
• Jakanari reserve forest, Coimbatore
• Jim Corbett National Park, Nainital district and
Pauri Garhwal district, Uttarakhand 520.8
km²
• Some have been repeated here as a part of
Tabulation under Different Forests of India).
Please note.
 Delete
• Kanha National Park - Tiger Kanha National
Park.
- Madhya Pradesh 650 km² The present-day
Kanha area is divided into two sanctuaries, Hallon
and Banjar, of 250 and 300 km² respectively.
• Keibul Lamjao National Park - Bishnupur
district, Manipur 40 km² - The national park –
The only Floating park in the World. 11 km² -
World's second biggest mangrove forest
 Delete
• Decomposed plant materials locally called
phumdis.
• Kukrail Reserve Forest Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh
• Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary Sattari taluk, Goa
208.5 km² Bengal tigers can be found here.
• Molai forest Majuli island on the Brahmaputra
River 5.5 km²- Assam
• Nagarhole National Park
 Delete
• Elephant herd at Nagarahole wildlife
sanctuary.
Kodagu district and Mysore district, Karnataka
- 642 km² One of India's premier Tiger
Reserves
• Nallamala Hills, Hill on Top of Nallamalla
Hills temple.jpg Eastern Ghats, Andhra
Pradesh (South of River Krishna).
 Delete
• Namdapha National Park Arunachal Pradesh 1985
km²Fourth largest national park in India.
• Nanmangalam forest Chennai, Tamil Nadu 24
km²The reserve forest area is 3.2 km²
• Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary Goa 211 km²
• New Amarambalam Reserved Forest Nilambur,
Malappuram district, Kerala
• Pichavaram Mangrove Forest
• Pichavaram, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu.
OVER EXPLOITATION OF FORESTS
• The international timber trade alone is worth
over US $ 40 billion per year.
• Excessive use of fuelwood and charcoal,
expansion of urban, agricultural and
industrial areas and overgrazing have
together led to over-exploitation of our
forests leading to their rapid degradation.
 DEFORESTATION
• The total forest area of the world in 1900 was
estimated to be 7,000 million hectares which
was reduced to 2890 million ha in 1975 and
fell down to just 2,300 million ha by 2000.
• At the present rate it is estimated that in the
next 60 years we would lose more than 90
percent of our tropical forests.
• The forested area in India seems to have
stabilized since 1982.

• As per our National Forest Policy, as we are

still having only 19.27 % of our land area
(63.38m ha) covered by forests based on
satellite data (MoEF, 1998).
• Presently around 24 %.
 Major Causes of Deforestation
• (i) Shifting cultivation: It is a farming in which
the farmer cultivates on a plot of land
temporarily, and when he finds the land
infertile to grow due to soil exhaustion burns
and shifts.
• In India, we have this practice in NorthEast
and to some extent in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar
and M.P which contribute to nearly half of
the forest clearing annually.
(ii) Fuel requirements: Growing demand for
fuelwood by increasing population in India.

(iii) Raw materials for industrial use: Wood for

making boxes, furniture, railway-sleepers,
plywood, match-boxes, pulp for paper industry
etc. have exerted tremendous pressure on
forests.
• (iv) Development projects: Various
Development projects like hydroelectric
projects, big dams, road construction, mining
etc.
• (v) Growing food needs: To meet the
demands of rapidly growing population,
agricultural lands and settlements are
created permanently by clearing forests.
• Overgrazing: The forest cleared lands for
excessive fuelwood are turned into the
grazing lands.

• Overgrazing by the cattle leads to further

degradation of these lands.
 Major Consequences of Deforestation
(1) This threatens the existence of many wild life
species- Wolves, Leopards or even tigers
trespassing to cities and villages.
(ii) Biodiversity is lost and along with that genetic
diversity is eroded – Cheetahs became extinct in
India.
(iii) Hydrological cycle gets affected, thereby
influencing rainfall.
(iv) Problems of soil erosion and loss of soil fertility
increase.
(v) In hilly areas it often leads to landslides
 Major Activities in Forests
• Timber Extraction:Teak and Mahogany wood
and Sandal wood leads to removal of other
trees. Construction of approach roads.
• Mining: Mining operations for extracting
minerals and fossil fuels like coal often
involves vast forest areas.
• Large scale deforestation has been reported
in Mussoorie and Dehradun valley due to
indiscriminate mining of various minerals.
• Indiscriminate mining in forests of Goa
• Coal mining in Jharia, Raniganj etc. – Jharia coal
Fires?
• Mining of magnesite and soap- stones
(magnesium rich mineral talc.) . Kosi valley,
Almora.
• Mining of radioactive minerals in Kerala, Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka.
Western Ghats are also facing the same threat due
to mining projects for excavation of copper,
chromite, bauxite and magnetite.
 DAMS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON
FORESTS AND PEOPLE
• India has more than 1550 large dams,

• The highest one is Tehri dam, on river

Bhagirathi in Uttaranchal and the largest in
terms of capacity is Bhakra Nangal dam on
river Satluj in H.P.
 • The crusade against the ecological damage
and deforestation caused due to Tehri dam was
led by
Sh. Sunder Lal Bahuguna, the leader of Chipko
movement. The cause of Sardar Sarovar Dam
related issues has been taken up by the
environmental activists Medha Patekar, joined
by Arundhati Ray and Baba Amte.
• For building big dams, large scale devastation
of forests takes place which breaks the
natural ecological balance of the region.

• Floods, droughts and landslides become

more prevalent in such areas.
 WATER RESOURCES
• India accounts for 18% of the world population
and about 4% of the world's water resources..
• About 97% of the earth’s surface is covered by
water and most of the animals and plants have
60-65% water in their body.
• Unique features of water
• 1. Liquid over a wide range of temperature.
• 2. Due to highest specific heat, it warms up and
cools down very slowly without causing shocks of
temperature jerks to the aquatic life.
 3. Due to high latent heat of vaporization it
produces a cooling effect as it evaporates.
4. It is an excellent solvent for several nutrients
including oxygen.
5. Due to high surface tension and cohesion it
can easily rise through the trunk even in the
tallest of the trees like Sequoia .
• 6. It has an anamolous expansion behaviour
i.e. as it freezes, it expands instead of
contracting and thus becomes lighter and in
extreme cold, the lakes freeze only on the
surface.
• Being lighter the ice keeps floating, whereas
the bottom waters remain at a higher
temperature and therefore, can sustain
aquatic organisms even in extreme cold.
• The water we use keeps on cycling endlessly
through the environment, which we call as
Hydrological Cycle. We have enormous
resources of water on the earth amounting to
about 1404 million Km3.
• Every year about 1.4 inch thick layer of water
evaporates from the oceans, more than 90%
of which returns to the oceans through the
hydrological cycle.
• Six countries—Brazil, Russia, Canada,
Indonesia, China, and Colombia—account for
half of Earth's freshwater supply.
• Water poor countries : Bahrain, Jordan,
Kuwait, Libyan Arab Jamahirya, Maldives,
Malta, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates and Yemen.
 Major River Systems in India
• 1.Indus River System.
• 2 Brahmaputra River System.
• 3 Ganga River System.
• 4 Yamuna River System.
• 5 Narmada River System.
• 6 Tapti River System.
• 7 Godavari River System.
• 8 Krishna River System.
• Ganga is the largest river of India though Indus is
also a larger river
Rivers of India
WATER USE AND OVER-EXPLOITATION
• Water use by humans is of two types:
• 1. Water withdrawal: Taking water from
groundwater or surface water resource
• 2. water consumption: The water which is taken
up but not returned for reuse – evaporated or
retained in plants.
• With increasing human population and rapid
development, the world water withdrawal
demands have increased many folds.
• A large proportion of the water withdrawn is
polluted due to anthropogenic activities.
 • On a global average 70 percent of the water
withdrawn is used for agriculture.
• In India, we use 93% of water in agricultural
sector while in a country like Kuwait, which is
water-poor, only 4% is used for watering the
crops.
• About 25% of water on global average is used in
industry, which again varies from a high of 70% in
European countries to as low as 5% in less
developed countries.
Water export through crops export
• India is the world's eighth largest wheat
exporter and accounted for 4.1 percent of
total global wheat exports in
• India is the world's second-largest rice
producer, after China, accounting for 40% of
the global rice trade. It exports the grain to
over 150 countries – Water is thus exported
through crops.
• In USA, an average family of 4 consumes
more than 1000 M3 of water per year, which
is many times more than that in most
developing countries.
 Water: A Precious Natural Resource
• Out of the total water reserves of the world,
about 97% is salty water (marine) and only 3% is
fresh water.
• Most of it is locked up in polar ice caps and just
0.003% is readily available to us in the form of
groundwater and surface water
• Overuse of groundwater for drinking, irrigation
and domestic purposes has resulted in rapid
depletion of groundwater in various regions
leading to lowering of water table and drying of
wells.
• Pollution of many of the groundwater
aquifers has made many of these wells unfit.
• Unfortunately, growth of population, has
been responsible for pollution of the rivers
for consumption.
• As per the United Nations estimates (2002),
at least 101 billion people do not even have
access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion
do not have adequate sanitation facilities
 In India people walk 5-20 kms just to
fetch water in some rural areas.
• Evidence suggests that two-thirds of the
world population could be living in
water-stressed countries by 2025 if current
consumption patterns continue. To achieve a
#ZeroHunger world by 2030, we need to take
action now. Agriculture is both a major cause
and casualty of water scarcity.
 Groundwater – More water
• About 9.86% of the total fresh water
resources is in the form of groundwater and
it is about 35-50 times that of surface water
supplies.
• These are also being polluted.
• A layer of sediment or rock that is highly
permeable and contains water is called an
aquifer.
• Unconfined aquifers - which are overlaid by
permeable earth materials and they are
recharged by water seeping down from
above in the form of rainfall and snow melt.
• Confined aquifers - which are sandwitched
between two impermeable layers of rock or
sediments and are recharged only in those
areas where the aquifer intersects the land
surface.
 Effects of Groundwater Usage
• ( a). Subsidence: When groundwater
withdrawal is more than its recharge rate, the
sediments in the aquifer get compacted, a
phenomenon known as ground subsidence.
There is sinking of earth and damage to
buildings, pipelines etc.
( b). Lowering of water table: Mining of
groundwater is done extensively in arid and
semi-arid regions for irrigating crop fields.
• The decline of groundwater levels in India by
5-10 m is usually explained as a result of the
increased number of tubewells and a decline
in average annual rainfall.
 • Water logging : When excessive irrigation is
done with brackish water it raises the water
table gradually leading to water-logging and
salinity problems.
• Surface Water -
The water coming through precipitation
(rainfall, snow) when does not percolate down
into the ground or does not return to the
atmosphere as evaporation……..
or transpiration loss, assumes the form of
streams,lakes, ponds, wetlands or artificial
reservoirs known as surface water.

• The surface water is largely used for

irrigation, industrial use, public water supply,
navigation etc.
 FLOODS

• In some countries like India and Bangladesh

rainfall does not occur throughout the year,
rather, 90% of it is concentrated into a few
months (June-September). – Monsoon.
• Deforestation, overgrazing, mining, rapid
industrialization, global warming etc. have also
contributed largely to a sharp rise in floods.
• Cloud bursts also result in floods – Kedarnath –
June 2013, 41 persons died., 4550 villagers
affected.
 DROUGHTS
• There are about 80 countries in the world,
lying in the arid and semiarid regions that
experience frequent spells of droughts, very
often extending up to year long duration.

• When annual rainfall is below normal and

less than evaporation, drought conditions are
created.
 Causes of Drought
• Anthropogenic causes :
• Over grazing, deforestation, mining etc. there
is spreading of the deserts tending to convert
more areas to drought affected areas.
• India has experienced more and more
desertification, thereby increasing the
vulnerability of larger parts of the country to
droughts – Around 70 % of area is dry land.
 • Erroneous and intensive cropping pattern and
increased exploitation of scarce water
resources through well or canal irrigation to
get high productivity has converted drought -
prone areas into desertified ones, e,g.,
Maharashtra – 39 years and no recovery from
Drought.
.
 Remedial measures:
• Carefully selected mixed cropping help optimize
production and minimize the risks of crop
failures - For example, wheat + gram, wheat +
mustard etc. crops are selected such that their
nutrient requirements are different

• Social Forestry and Wasteland development.

Eucalyptus which is now known to lower
the water table because of its very high
transpiration rate and it has allelopathy .
 CONFLICTS OVER WATER
• Indispensability of water and its unequal
distribution has often led to inter-state or
international disputes.
• Water conflict in the Middle East:
• Three river basins, namely the Jordan, the
Tigris-Euphrates and the Nile are the shared
water resources for Middle East countries.
Ethiopia controls the head waters of 80% of
Nile’s flow.Egypt is being affected.
 • India has pre-emptive right to construct barrages
across all the rivers in Indian territory. However, the
treaty requires that the three rivers allocated to
Pakistan may be used for non-consumptive purposes
by India i.e. without changing its flow and quality.
Under the IWT, ( Indus Water Treaty) control over the
three eastern tributaries of the Indus River—Ravi,
Sutlej, and Beas—is granted to India before they flow
into Pakistan, and the three western tributaries—Indus,
Jhelum, and Chenab—to Pakistan (FAO, 2011b)
 The Cauvery water dispute:
• : Out of India’s 18 major rivers, 17 are shared
between different states.
• In all these cases, there are intense conflicts over
these resources which hardly seem to resolve.
• Tamil Nadu, occupying the downstream region of
the river wants water-use regulated in the
upstream. Whereas, the upstream state
Karnataka refuses to do so and claims its primacy
over the river as upstream user.
 The Satluj-Yamuna link (SYL) canal
dispute:
• The issue of sharing the Ravi-Beas waters and
SYL issue between Punjab and Haryana..
• Hathnikund barrage Problem for Delhi.
• Traditional Water Management System In
India, even today, there are several villages
where water management is done not by the
Irrigation Department, but by local managers.
BIG DAMS- BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS
• Benefits :
• 1. Employment for tribals.
• 2. Checking floods and famines,
• 3. Generate electricity and reduce water and
power shortage.
4. Provide irrigation water to lower areas
provide drinking water in remote areas
and promote navigation, fishery etc.
 Environmental Problems
• The upstream problems include the
following:
• (i) Displacement of tribal people
• (ii) Loss of forests, flora and fauna
• (iii) Changes in fisheries and the spawning (
laying eggs) grounds
• (iv) Siltation and sedimentation of reservoirs
• (v) Loss of non-forest land
• (vi) Stagnation and waterlogging near
reservoir.
• (vii) Breeding of vectors and spread of
vector-borne diseases.
• (viii) Reservoir induced seismicity (RIS)
causing earthquakes.
• (ix) Growth of aquatic weeds.
• (x) Microclimatic changes.
• (B) The downstream impacts include the
following:
• (i) Water logging and salinity due to over
irrigation.
• (ii) Micro-climatic changes
• (iii) Reduced water flow and silt deposition in
river.
• (iv) Flash floods
• (v) Salt water intrusion at river mouth
• (vi) Loss of land fertility along the river since the
sediments carrying nutrients get deposited in the
reservoir.
• (vii) Outbreak of vector-borne diseases like
malaria
• Thus, although dams are built to serve the
society with multiple uses, but it has several
serious side-effects. That is why now there is a
shift towards construction of small dams or
mini-hydel/ micro-hydel projects.
 MINERAL RESOURCES
• Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic,
crystalline solids having a definite chemical
composition and characteristic physical
properties – Silicates, carbonates, sulfates,
halides, oxide etc.
• However, most of the rocks, we see everyday
are just composed of a few common minerals
like quartz, feldspar, biotite, dolomite,
calcite, laterite etc.
• These minerals, in turn, are composed of some
elements like oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron,,
calcium, magnesium etc
USES AND EXPLOITATION
• (i) Development of industrial plants and
machinery.
• (ii) Generation of energy e.g. coal, lignite,
uranium.
• (iii) Construction, housing, settlements.
• iv) Defence equipments - weapons,
armaments.
• (v) Transportation means.
• (vi) Communication- telephone wires, cables,
electronic devices.
• (vii) Medicinal system - particularly in
Ayurvedic System.
• (viii) Formation of alloys for various purposes
(e.g., phosphorite). – Calcium phosphate
• ix) Agriculture as fertilizers, seed dressings
and fungicides (e.g. zineb containing zinc,
Maneb-containing manganese etc. is a
fungicide ) – used in wheat storage and
inhibiting rotting of fruit.

• (x) Jewellery ’e.g. Gold, silver, platinum,

diamond.
 Types of Minerals
• Based on their properties, minerals are
basically of two types:
• (i) Non - metallic minerals e.g. graphite,
diamond, quartz, feldspar etc.
• (ii) Metallic minerals e.g. Bauxite, laterite,
haematite etc.
• Human history periods are named after them
as Bronze Age and Iron Age.
• The reserves of metals and the technical
know-how to extract them have been the key
elements in determining the economy and
political power of nations.
• Economy of a nation
• Employment
• GDP – Finished goods and services
• Exports
• Technology
 Major reserves and important uses
of some of the major metals
Metal Major World Reserves Major Uses
Aluminium : Australia, Guinea, Jamaica
Uses : Packaging food items, transportation,
utensils, electronics.
Chromium:
Kazakhstan, , South Africa, India
Uses : For making high strength steel
alloys, In textile/tanning industries.
Copper:
U.S.A., Canada, Chile, Zambia
Uses :Electric and electronic goods,
building, construction, vessels etc.

Iron : Australia, Brazil, Fussia, China

Uses : Heavy machinery, steel production,
transportation means.
Lead : Australia, China, Peru , Mexico, U.S.A.
• Uses : Car batteries, radiation protection,
paints, ammunition
• Manganese
• South Africa, Ukraine and Brazil h
• Uses : For making high strength, heat
resistant steel alloys..
• Platinum
• South Africa, Canada, US, Zambia, Australia
• Uses : in automobiles, catalytic converters,
electronics, medical uses.

• Gold
• Australia, Russia, South africa, Indonesia
• Uses : Ornaments, medical use, electronic use,
use in aerospace..
• Silver :
• Peru, Australia, Poland
• Uses : Photography, electronics , jewellery.
• Cobalt :
• DR Congo, Australia, Indonesia, Cuba,
Philippines, Russia, Canada, Madagascer, China,
USA.
• Uses : Aircraft engines, gas turbines, magnets,
Super alloys , cemented carbides, catalysts.
• Nickel :
• Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Russia, Cuba, , Philippines.
• Uses : Chemical industry, steel alloys, catalysts, batteries,
coins.
Lithium : With 8 million tons, Chile has the world's largest
known lithium reserves. This puts the South American
country ahead of Australia (2.7 million tons), Argentina (2
million tons) and China (1 million tons).
Uses : Storage batteries for solar and wind power, rechargeable
batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and
electric vehicles.
• The U.S. has abundant supplies of coal,
copper, lead, iron, natural gas, timber,
bauxite, and uranium.
 Some Major Minerals of India
(a) Energy generating minerals -
Coal and lignite : West Bengal, Jharkhand,
Orissa, M.P., A.P.

Uranium (Pitchblende or Uranite ore) :

Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh (Nellore,
Nalgonda), Meghalaya, Rajasthan (Ajmer).
Other commercially used minerals
• Aluminium (Bauxite ore) : Jharkhand, West Bengal,
Maharashtra, M.P., Tamil Nadu.

Iron (haematite and magnetite ore): Jharkhand, Orissa,

M.P.,A.P., Tami Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.

• Copper (Copper Pyrites) : Rajasthan (Khetri), Bihar,

Jharkhand, Karnataka, M.P., West Bengal, Andhra
Pradesh and Uttaranchal
 Mineral Resources Rank of India
• India's major mineral resources include Coal (4th
largest reserves in the world), Iron ore,
Manganese ore (7th largest, Mica, Bauxite (5th
largest reserve in the world as in 2013),
Chromite, Natural gas, Diamonds, Limestone and
Thorium – Internet : Is India rich in Mineral resources? :
• https://www.google.com/search?q=indias+position+as+m
ineral+rich+country&rlz=1C1ASUM_enIN920IN920&oq=in
dias+position+as+mineral+rich+country+&aqs=chrome..69i
57j33i10i160l3j33i22i29i30.18465j0j15&sourceid=chrome
&ie=UTF-8, Accessed on September 20, 2022.
 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF
MINERAL EXTRACTION
AND USE
• Indian Scenario : India is the producer of 84
minerals the annual value of which is about
Rs. 50,000 crore.

• At least six major mines need a mention here

which are known for causing severe problems
• (i) Jaduguda Uranium Mine, Jharkhand ’
exposing local people to radioactive hazards.
• (ii) Jharia coal mines, Jharkhand’ underground
fire leading to land subsidence and forced
displacement of people.
• (iii) Sukinda chromite mines, Orissa ’seeping of
hexavalent chromium into river posing serious
health hazard, Cr 6+ being highly toxic and
carcinogenic.
• Kudremukh iron ore mine, Karnataka’
causing river pollution and threat to
biodiversity.
• (v) East coast Bauxite mine, Orissa ’ : Land
encroachment and issue of rehabilitation
unsettled.
• (vi) North-Eastern Coal Fields, Assam ’Very
high sulphur contamination of groundwater
 Impacts of mining:
Examples - Digging Sand , Gravel and rock for
Gold.
Mining is done to extract minerals (or fossil
fuels) from deep deposits in soil by using
sub-surface mining or from shallow deposits by
surface mining.
• The former method is more destructive,
dangerous and expensive including risks of
occupational hazards and accidents.
Surface mining can make use of any of
the following three types
•:
• (a) Open-pit mining in which machines dig
holes and remove the ores (e.g. copper, iron,
gravel, limestone, sandstone, marble,
granite).
• (b) Dredging in which chained buckets and
draglines are used which scrap up the
minerals from under-water mineral deposits.
• (c) Strip mining in which the ore is stripped
off by using bulldozers, power shovels and
stripping wheels (e.g. phosphate rocks).

• The environmental damage

caused by mining activities are
as follows :
• (i) Devegetation and defacing of landscape: The
topsoil as well as the vegetation are removed
from the mining area to get access to the
deposit.
• Large scale deforestation or devegetation leads
to several ecological losses.
• (ii). Subsidence of land: This is mainly associated
with underground mining, e.g., tilting of
buildings, cracks in houses, buckling of road,
etc. .
• ( iii). Groundwater contamination : Mining
disturbs the natural hydrological processes
and also pollutes the groundwater.
• Sulphur, usually present as an impurity in
many ores is known to get converted into
sulphuric acid through microbial action,
• Some heavy metals also get leached into the
groundwater and contaminate it posing
health hazards.
• (iv). Surface water pollution: The acid mine
drainage/ leachates often contaminates the
nearby streams and lakes.
• The acidic water is detrimental to many forms of
aquatic life.
• (v) Air pollution : In order to separate and purify
the metal from other impurities in the ore,
smelting is done which emits enormous
quantities of air pollutants damaging the
vegetation nearby and has serious
environmental health impacts. .
• (vi) Occupational Health Hazards : Most of
the miners suffer from various respiratory
and skin diseases due to constant exposure o
the suspended particulate matter and toxic
substances.
 Remedial measures:.
• Safety of mine workers should be the priority
subject of industry.
• Adverse impacts of mining - Eco-friendly
mining technology. should be adapted.
• The low-grade ores can be better utilized by
using microbial-leaching technique using
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans which may be
more environment friendly.
• Restoration of mined areas by re-vegetating
them with appropriate plant species,
stabilization of the mined lands, gradual
restoration of flora, prevention of toxic
drainage discharge and conforming to the
standards of air emissions are essential for
minimizing environmental impacts of mining.
 LAND RESOURCES
• LAND AS A RESOURCE
• Land is a finite and valuable resource upon which
we depend for our food, fibre and fuel wood, the
basic amenities of life.
• Soil, especially the top soil, is classified as a
renewable resource because it is continuously
regenerated by natural process though at a very
slow rate
• About 200-1000 years are needed for the
formation of one inch or 2.5 cm soil, depending
upon the climate and the soil type.
 Country with most arable Land
• Arable land is defined by the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as land
currently used, or potentially capable of being
used, to grow seasonal crops (Arable Acres)

United States 389,767,633

India 385,641,557
Russia 300,594,679
China 295,220,748
• United States ranked first in 2019, but was
second in 2016 with roughly 152.2 million
hectares of arable land (about 588,000
square miles), which is approximately 16.8
percent of U.S. land.
• In 2018, arable land as a share of land area
for India was 52.6 %. Arable land as a share
of land area of India fell gradually from 53.8
% in 1969 to 52.6 % in 2018.
• Land use statistics by country
• Rank CountryArable land (%)
• 1 India 50.4
• 2 United States16.8
• 3 Russia 7.3
• 4 China 11.3,
• ,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Previous sllde information References
::
• https://www.google.com/search?q=countrywise+arab
le+land+area&rlz=1C1ASUM_enIN920IN920&sxsrf=ALi
CzsbhQ7kOQCLN9bgPghUjiHo8NKqg6Q%3A16641319
52493&ei=cKMwY83aHeCNseMPq5W02AQ&ved=0ah
UKEwjN0ozPzrD6AhXgRmwGHasKDUsQ4dUDCA4&uac
t=5&oq=countrywise+arable+land+area&gs_lcp=Cgdn
d3Mtd2l6EAMyCggAEEcQ1gQQsAMyCggAEEcQ1gQQs
AMyCggAEEcQ1gQQsAMyCggAEEcQ1gQQsAMyCggAE
EcQ1gQQsAMyCggAEEcQ1gQQsAMyCggAEEcQ1gQQsA
MyCggAEEcQ1gQQsANKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQAFgAYO
UaaAFwAHgAgAEAiAEAkgEAmAEAyAEIwAEB&sclient=
gws-wiz
• Accessed on September 25, 2022.
 Total Areawise countries :

Algeria 185,448,592
(https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/arable-la
nd-by-country, Accessed on Septamber 09, 2022).
Total Areawise countries :
1. Russia. Area: 17,125,000 square kilometres.
2. Canada. Area: 9,984,670 square kilometres.
3. China. Area: 9,572,900 square kilometres.
4. United States of America. Area: 9,525,067 square kilometres.
5. Brazil. Area: 8,515,767 square kilometres. ...
6. Australia. ...
7. India. ...
8. Argentina
 LAND DEGRADATION

• With increasing population growth the

demands for arable land for producing food,
fibre and fuelwood is also increasing.
• More population more land degradation due
to overexploitation.
• The average annual erosion rate is 20-100
times more than the renewal rate.
 Degradation of Land
• Soil erosion, water-logging, salinization and
contamination of the soil with industrial
wastes like fly-ash, press-mud or heavy
metals all cause degradation of land.
• SOIL EROSION
• Soil erosion results in the loss of fertility of
top soil layer.
• Two thirds of the seriously degraded lands lie
in Asia and Africa.
 Type of Soil Erosion
• Soil erosion is of two types
• (i) Normal erosion or geologic erosion :
caused by the gradual removal of top soil by
natural processes. There is a balance
between erosion and renewal.
• (ii). Accelerated erosion: This is mainly
caused by anthropogenic (man-made)
activities and the rate of erosion is much
faster than the rate of formation of soil.
• Overgrazing, deforestation and mining are some
important activities causing accelerated erosion.
• AGENTS OF SOIL EROSION :
• There are two types of agents which cause soil
erosion:
• (i) Climatic agents: Water and wind are the
climatic agents of soil erosion. Water affects soil
erosion in the form of torrential rains, rapid flow
of water along slopes, run-off, wave action and
melting and movement of snow/ice.
(ii). Biotic agents: Excessive grazing, mining and
deforestation are the major biotic agents
responsible for soil erosion.
SOIL CONSERVATION PRACTICE
• (i) Conservational till farming:
Here special tillers break up and loosen the
subsurface soil without turning over the
topsoil. The tilling machines make slits in the
unploughed soil.
Conservation tillage,
 and inject seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and a
little water in the slit, so that the seed
germinates and the crop grows successfully
without competition with weeds.
(ii) Contour farming: On gentle slopes, crops are
grown in rows across, rather than up and down,
a practice known as contour farming.
Each row planted horizontally along the slope
of the land.
• Terracing :
It is used on still steeper slopes. These are
converted into a series of broad terraces which run
across the contour.
(iv) Strip cropping: Here strips of crops are
alternated with strips of soil saving covercrops like
grasses or grass-legume mixture. Whatever run-off
comes from the cropped soil is retained by the strip
of covercrop and this reduces soil erosion. Nitrogen
fixing legumes also help in restoring soil fertility.
• (vi) Alley cropping: It is a form of inter-cropping
in which crops are planted between rows of trees
or shrubs.
This is also called Agro forestry.
Water Logging
• In order to provide congenial moisture to the
growing crops, farmers usually apply heavy
irrigation to their farmland. Also, in order to
leach down the salts deeper into the soil, the
farmer provides more irrigation.
LANDSLIDES
• Various anthropogenic activities like
hydroelectric projects, large dams, reservoirs,
construction of roads and railway lines,
construction of buildings, mining etc are
responsible for clearing of large forested areas.
• These result in landslide.
They also increase the turbidity of various nearby
streams, thereby reducing their productivity.
 About 29.32 % land degradation and
desertification in India - 2021
• DESERTIFICATION
• Desertification is a process whereby the productive
potential of arid or semiarid ( receiving less rains )
lands falls by ten percent or more.
• Severe desertification results in more than 50% drop
in productivity and usually creates huge gullies and
sand dunes.
• Desertification leads to the conversion of rangelands
i.e., grasslands or irrigated croplands to desert like
conditions in which agricultural productivity falls.
 Desertification
• Desertification is characterized by
devegetation and loss of vegetal over,
depletion of groundwater, salinization and
severe soil erosion.
Causes of Desertification:
Formation of deserts may take place
(1). Due to natural phenomena like climate
change or may be due to abusive
use of land. (2). Anthropogenic activities.
 The major anthropogenic activities
responsible for desertification
• (a) Deforestation:
• (b) Overgrazing
• :(c) Mining and quarrying.
• Xenobiotics are chemical substances that are foreign
to animal life and thus includes such examples as
plant constituents, drugs, pesticides, cosmetics,
flavorings, fragrances, food additives, industrial
chemicals and environmental pollutants.

THERE IS A NEED OF INDIVIDUAL EFFOTS IN THE

CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
 Conserve Water
l Don’t keep water taps running while brushing,
shaving, washing or bath in the fountains.
In washing machines fill the machine only to the
level required for your clothes.
l Install water-saving toilets that use not more than
6 liters per flush.
l Check for water leaks in pipes and toilets and
repair them promptly. A small pin-hole sized leak
will lead to the wastage of 640 liters of water in a
month.
• l Reuse the soapy water of washings from
clothes for washing off the courtyards,
driveways etc.
• l Water the plants in your kitchen-garden and
the lawns in the evening when evaporation
losses are minimum. Never water
• the plants in mid-day.
• l Use drip irrigation and
and sprinkling irrigation to improve
irrigation efficiency and reduce evaporation.
• l Install a small system to capture rain water
and collect normally wasted used water from
sinks, cloth-washers, bathtubs etc. which can
be used for watering the plants.
• l Build rain water harvesting system in your
house. Even the President of India is doing
this.
 ENERGY RESOURCES
• Energy consumption of a nation is usually
considered as an index of its development.
• This is because almost all the developmental
activities are directly or indirectly dependent
upon energy.
• Early man used it for cooking and heating
purposes. Wind and hydropower have also
been in use for the last 10,000 years.
• The invention of steam engines replaced the
burning of wood by coal and coal was later
replaced to a great extent by oil. In 1970’s
due to Yom –Kippur War and Iranian
revolution and Oil Politics – there was Oil
Crisis.
• Due to Arab oil embargo the prices of oil shot
up. This ultimately led to exploration and use
of several alternate and nonconvetional
sources of energy..
 GROWING ENERGY NEEDS
• Agriculture, industry, mining, transportation, lighting,
cooling and heating in buildings all need energy.

• With INCREASE IN population the world is facing

further energy deficit. The fossil fuels like coal, oil
and natural gas which at present are supplying
ALMOST 80 - 90% of the commercial energy of the
world resources and are not going to last for many
more years.
• Our life style is changing very fast and from a simple
way of life we are shifting to a luxurious life style.
• Developed countries like U.S.A. and Canada
constitute about 5% of the world’s
population but consume one fourth of global
energy resources.
• An average person there consumes 300 GJ
(Giga Joules,equal to 60 barrels of oils) per
year. By contrast, an average man in a poor
country like Bhutan, Nepal or Ethiopia
consumes less than 1 GJ in a year.
• World primary energy consumption rose to
583.90 Exajoules (EJ). India's consumption
rose 2.3 per cent to 34.06 EJ. In 2019.

• Exajoule is equal to 1018 joules

• Today, India is the fifth largest energy consumer
in the world.
• India consumes 4.4% of the world total (524.2
mtoe),, mostly in urban areas.
• India has large population and Rural population
(% of total population) in India was reported at
64.61 % in 2021 - according to the World Bank
collection of development indicators, compiled
from officially recognized sources.
 RENEWABLE AND NON-RENEWABLE
ENERGY SOURCES
• Renewable Resources which can be
generated continuously in nature and are
inexhaustible e.g. wood, solar energy, wind
energy, tidal energy, hydropower, biomass
energy, biofuels, geothermal energy and
hydrogen.
• They are also known as non-conventional
sources of energy and they can be used again
and again in an endless manner
Non-renewable Energy Resources
• Non-renewable Resources which have
accumulated in nature over a long span of
time and cannot be quickly replenished when
exhausted e.g. coal, petroleum, natural gas
and nuclear fuels like uranium and thorium.
It took millions of years for the coal to be
formed out of wood and petroleum and natural
gas to be formed from the dead marine
animals.
 (a) Renewable Energy Resource
• Solar energy: Sun is the ultimate source of
energy, directly or indirectly for all other forms of
energy.
• Our Sun is about halfway through its life. But
don't worry. It still has about 5,000,000,000—five
billion—years to go.
• The solar energy received by the near earth
space is approximately 1.4 kilojoules/second/m2
known as solar constant.
• Traditionally, we have been using solar energy for
drying clothes and food-grains, preservation of
eatables and for obtaining salt from sea-water
• Solar heat collectors :
• These can be passive or active in nature. Passive
solar heat collectors are natural materials like
stones, bricks etc. or material like glass which
absorb heat during the day time and release it
slowly at night.
Active solar collectors pump a heat absorbing
medium (air or water) through a small collector which
is normally placed on the top of the building.

Solar cells:
They are also known as photovoltaic cells or PV cells.
Solar cells are made of thin wafers of semi conductor
materials like silicon. When solar radiations fall on
them, a potential difference is produced which causes
flow of electrons and produce electricity. – p-n
junction.
 Doping of solar cells
• Usually silicon is used in two layers, one layer
being doped with boron, the other
phosphorus. These layers have different
chemical electric charges and subsequently
both drive and direct the current of
electrons.
• Boron is a p-type dopant, other is Indium.
• Phosphorus is n –type dopant., others – As,
Sb
• (iii) Solar cooker:
• Solar cookers make use of solar heat by reflecting the
solar radiations using a mirror directly on to a glass
sheet which covers the black insulated box within
which the raw food is kept .
• (iv) Solar water heater:
• It consists of an insulated box painted black from
inside and having a glass lid to receive and store solar
heat. Inside the box it has black painted copper coil
through which cold water is made to flow in, which
gets heated and flows out into a storage tank.
Solar water heater
The hot water from the storage tank fitted on roof
top is then supplied through pipes into buildings
like hotels and hospitals.
(v) Solar furnace:
Here thousands of small plane mirrors are arranged
in concave reflectors, all of which collect the solar
heat and produce as high a temperature as 3000°C
 • (vi) Solar power plant :
• Solar energy is harnessed on a large scale by
using concave reflectors which cause boiling of
water to produce steam. The steam turbine
drives a generator to produce electricity. A solar
power plant (50 K Watt capacity) has been
installed at Gurgaon/ Gurugram, Haryana.
Several solar photovoltaic systems are being
installed in India lately at Karnataka, Telengana,
Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat etc.
 Solar power generation in India
Almost Realising 85,474.31 MW And 57.72% Of
Renewable Energy By June 2024
 WIND ENERGY
• The high speed winds have a lot of energy in
them as kinetic energy due to their motion.
The driving force of the winds is the sun. The
wind energy is harnessed by making use of
wind mills. The blades of the wind mill keep
on rotating continuously due to the force of
the striking wind.
 The cumulative wind capacity as of
March 2024 stood at 45.9 GW,
• These wind farms are ideally located in
coastal regions, open grasslands or hilly
regions, particularly mountain passes and
ridges where the winds are strong and
steady. The minimum wind speed required
for satisfactory working of a wind generator
is 15 km/hr.
• India has achieved almost 41 GW of wind
power against the target of 60 GW by 2022.
Wind Mills in India
 HYDROPOWER
• The water flowing in a river is collected by
constructing a big dam where the water is stored and
allowed to fall from a height.
• The blades of the turbine located at the bottom of
the dam move with the fast moving water which in
turn rotate the generator and produces electricity. –
Faradays law of Induction.
• The hydropower potential of India is estimated to be
about 4 × 10raised to the power.11KW-hours.
• Till now we have utilized only a little more than 11%
of this potential.
Hydroelectric Power Gewneration
 TIDAL ENERGY
• Ocean tides produced by gravitational forces of
sun and moon contain enormous amounts of
energy. The ’high tide’ and ’low tide’ refer
to the rise and fall of water in the oceans.
• There are only a few sites in the world where
tidal energy can be suitably harnessed. The bay
of Fundy Canada having 17-18 m high tides has a
potential of 5,000 MW of power generation.
• Wave energy can also.be used for power
generation.
• The tidal mill at La Rance, France is one of the
first modern tidal power mill.
• In India Gulf of Cambay, Gulf of Kutch and
the Sunder bans deltas are the tidal power
sites.
• Wave Energy
• Power produced through movement of
waves in and out from the turbine.
• https://www.google.com/search?q=wave+ene
rgy+video&rlz=1C1YTUH_enIN1045IN1045&o
q=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgAECMYJxjqAjIJ
CAAQIxgnGOoCMgkIARAjGCcY6gIyCQgCECMY
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FECMYJxjqAjIJCAYQIxgnGOoCMgkIBxAjGCcY6g
LSAQkyMzA0ajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=c
hrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:4ca913
18,vid:9qu2OIw4-p8,st:0
 OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY
CONVERSION (OTEC)
• The energy available due to the difference in
temperature of water at the surface of the
tropical oceans and at deeper levels is called
Ocean Thermal Energy. A difference of 20°C or
more is required between surface water and
deeper water of ocean for operating OTEC
(Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) power
plants.
• The warm surface water of ocean is used to boil a
liquid like ammonia.
• The high pressure vapours of the liquid
formed by boiling liquid are then used to turn
the turbine of a generator and produce
electricity. – Rankine cycle.
• The colder water from the deeper oceans is
pumped to cool and condense the vapours
into liquid. Thus the process keeps on going
continuously for 24 hours a day.
• India is the world's 3rd largest consumer of
electricity and the world's 3rd largest
renewable energy producer with 40% of
energy capacity installed in the year 2022
(160 GW of 400 GW) coming from
renewable sources.
• India has set ambitious targets for adopting
renewable energy sources as it strives to
reach its target of 275 gigawatts (GW) of
renewable energy by 2027.
• Renewables 2022 Global Status Report (GSR)
: India Ranks Third Globally, After China And
USA, For Total Renewable Power Addition In
2021.
• India raised its target to achieve 100 GW of
solar capacity by 2022 and it is 4th largest in
solar and wind power generation ( almost 41
GW ) in the world.
 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• The energy harnessed from the hot rocks
present inside the earth is called geothermal
energy. High temperature, high pressure
steam fields exist below the earth’s surface
in many places.
• In some places, the steam or the hot water
comes out of the ground naturally through
cracks in the form of natural geysers as in
Manikaran, Kullu and Sohana, Haryana.
 • In USA and New Zealand, there are several
geothermal plants working successfully.
BIOMASS ENERGY
(a) Energy Plantations:
Fast growing trees like cottonwood, poplar and
Leucaena, non-woody herbaceous grasses, crop
plants like sugarcane, sweet sorghum and sugar
beet, aquatic weeds like water hyacinth
and sea-weeds and carbohydrate rich potato,
cereal etc. are some of the important energy
plantations.
• (b) Agricultural and Urban Waste biomass:
Crop residues, bagasse (sugarcane residues),
coconut shells, peanut hulls, cotton stalks
etc. are some of the common agricultural
wastes which produce energy by burning.
• Animal dung, fishery and poultry waste and even
human refuse are examples of biomass energy.
• In Brazil 30 % of electricity is obtained from
burning bagasse.
• In rural India, animal dung cakes are burnt to
produce heat. About 80 % of rural heat energy
requirements are met by burning agricultural
wastes, wood and animal dung cakes.
 BIOGAS
• Biogas is a mixture of methane, carbon dioxide,
hydrogen and hydrogen sulphide, the major
constituent being methane. Biogas is produced
by anaerobic degradation of animal wastes
(some times plant wastes) in the presence of
water.
• Biogas plants used in our country are basically of
two types:
• 1. Floating gas-holder type and 2. Fixed-dome
type.
Biogas Plant in India
 BIOFUELS
• Ethanol can be easily produced from
carbohydrate rich substances like sugarcane.
It burns clean and is non-polluting.
• However, as compared to petrol its calorific
value is less and therefore, produces much
less heat than petrol.
• Methanol is very useful since it burns at a
lower temperature than gasoline or diesel.
 Rudolf Diesel invented Diesel Engine
• Biodiesel and Green Diesel :
• From seed oils : Sunflower oil, Soyabean oil, Castor
oil, Jatropha oil, Pongamia oil etc.
• Waste cooking oil. Transesterification
• HYDROGEN AS A FUEL
• Electrolysis of water using power generated by
renewable energy.
• Green Hydrogen.
• Blue Hydrogen
• Brown Hydrogen
• Pink Hydrogen.
 Video on Rebewable Energy Sources
• https://www.google.com/search?q=Video+on+renewable+energy+sources&sca_esv=e03c6cbd51
9be5e0&sca_upv=1&biw=1067&bih=449&sxsrf=ADLYWIJZ5IukopP3O-SQgMDn2jCRUi-wMA%3A1
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dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=Video+on+renewable+energy+sources&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiIVZpZ
GVvIG9uIHJlbmV3YWJsZSBlbmVyZ3kgc291cmNlczIGEAAYFhgeMgsQABiABBiGAxiKBTILEAAYgAQYh
gMYigUyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogRIme8BUABY4-kBcAF4AZABAJgBsAKgAYc
wqgEIMC4zMy4zLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAiagApoxqAIUwgIHECMYJxjqAsICExAAGIAEGEMYtAIYigUY6
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b) Non-Renewable Energy Sources
• COAL
• Coal was formed 255-350 million years ago in
the hot, damp regions of the earth during the
carboniferous age.
• At the present rate of usage, the coal
reserves are likely to last for about 200 years
and if its use increases by 2% per year, then it
will last for another 65 years.
 Rank of Coal
• Peat is not a coal
• Lignite/ Brown coal. Bituminous coal
• Anthracite
• Production of coal during 2021-22 were
778.19 MT (Provisional) with a positive
growth of 8.67%.
• It is almost 1000 mT at pesent.
• India has almost 9% of the world's total coal reserves and
it has 370 Billion tons ).

• Major coal fields in India are Raniganj,

Jharia, Bokaro, Singrauli, and Godavari valley.
Jharkhand, Odisha, The major coal producing States in the
country are Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra & West Bengal.

Coking coal is mainly imported in India. About 58 million tons

of coking coal is imported by India and almost same amount
was produced by India.
• The coal states of India
are Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Anthracite coal occurs only in J & K.
• When coal is burnt it produces carbon
dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas
responsible for causing enhanced global
warming. Fly ash is also produced.
• There are clean coal technologies.
• Coal also contains impurities like sulphur and
therefore as it burns the smoke contains toxic
gases like oxides of sulphur and nitrogen.

• PETROLEUM
• It is the lifeline of global economy. There are 13
countries in the world having 67% of the
petroleum reserves which together form the
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum exporting
countries). About 1/4th of the oil reserves are in
Saudi Arabia.
 Petroleum Refining
• At the present rate of usage, the world’s crude oil
reserves are estimated to get exhausted in just 40
years. Some optimists, however, believe that there
are some yet undiscovered reserves. Even then the
crude oil reserves will last for another 40 years or so.
Crude petroleum
• Crude oil is a complex mixture of alkane and aromatic
hydrocarbons. Hence it has to be purified and refined
by the process of fractional distillation, during which
process different constituents. – Gasoline, Diesel, LPG
ATF etc. are produced.
• Oil fractions separate out at different
temperatures. ( Petroleum refineries ) We get a
large variety of products from this, namely,
petroleum LPGs, kerosene, petrol, diesel, fuel
oil, lubricating oil, paraffin wax, asphalt, plastic
etc
• Petroleum is a cleaner fuel as compared to coal
as it burns completely and leaves no residue. It is
also easier to transport and use. That is the
reason why petroleum is preferred amongst all
the fossil fuels – IOCL. HPC, BP etc.
 Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG):
• The main component of petroleum is butane,
the other being propane and ethane. The
petroleum gas is easily converted to liquid
form under pressure as LPG.
NATURAL GAS
It is mainly composed of methane (95%) with
small amounts of propane and ethane.
Shale gas ( 70-90 % methane ) from shale
formations.
• It is a fossil fuel. Natural gas deposits mostly
accompany oil deposits because it has been
formed by decomposing remains of dead
animals and plants buried under the earth.
• Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel. It can
be easily transported through pipelines. It
has a high calorific value of about 34 to 52
MJ/m3 and burns without any smoke.
• Russia has maximum reserves (40 %),
followed by Iran (14%) and USA (7%).
• Natural gas reserves are found in association
with all the oil fields in India. Some new gas
fields have been found in Tripura, Jaisalmer,
Off-shore area of Mumbai and the Krishna
Godavari Delta - ONGC and GAIL.
 NUCLEAR ENERGY
• Nuclear energy is known for its high
destructive power as evidenced from nuclear
weapons. The nuclear energy can also be
harnessed for providing commercial energy.
Nuclear energy can be generated by two types
of reactions:
• (i) Nuclear Fission: It is the nuclear change in
which nucleus of certain isotopes with large
mass numbers are split into
lighter nuclei on bombardment by neutrons
and a large amount of energy is released
through a chain reaction
• 92U235 + 0n1 → 36Kr92 + 56Ba141 + 3 0n1 +
Energy

• U 238 + 0 Nu 1 = Pu 239 + Energy

• A typical nuclear power plant in operation
today uses about 2 kg uranium-235 to
generate 1000 megawatts of electricity.

• About 5600 tons (5.1 X 106 kg) of coal are

required to produce the same amount of
electricity in a conventional power plant.
 (ii) Nuclear fusion:
• Here two isotopes of a light element are forced
together at extremely high temperatures (1
billion °C) until they fuse to form a heavier
nucleus releasing enormous energy in the
process. It is difficult to initiate the process but it
releases more energy than nuclear fission –
Chaos.
• There are around 20 fusion reactors in the
world, all striving to reach the extremely high
temperatures needed and R & D work is in
progress.
• Nuclear Fusion reactions power the Sun and
other stars. In a fusion reaction, two light
nuclei merge to form a single heavier
nucleus. The process releases energy because
the total mass of the resulting single nucleus
is less than the mass of the two original
nuclei. The leftover mass becomes energy.
 Present Energy Scenario
• Present trend is to go in for the cleaner
renewable energy sources such as solar and wind
energy mainly.

• Use of Electrical vehicles is being encouraged

which may be fueled by Fuel cells and Hydrogen..
• During COP 21 at Paris some voluntary
commitments to reduce CO2 emissions were
made.
 Video on Sustainable development
•
https://www.google.com/search?q=video+on+s
ustainable+development&rlz=1C1YTUH_enIN10
45IN1045&oq=video+on+sustainable+&gs_lcrp=
EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQy
BwgBEAAYgAQyBggCEEUYOTIICAMQABgWGB4y
CAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWG
B4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMgoICBAAGA8YFhge0gEKMT
k4MTRqMGoxNagCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&
ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:14df83a6,vid:7V8
oFI4GYMY,st:0
 Assignment *
* (Not to be Submitted)
1. Endangered species in India – 1 - 2 Typed
pages only.
2. Major Endemic species of India - 1 Typed
page only.
3. Role of individual in conservation of natural
resources – 2 Typed pages.
4. Equitable use of resources for sustainable
development – 2 Typed pages.
 EQUITABLE USE OF RESOURCES FOR
SUSTAINABLE LIFE
STYLE – Background Information
• There is a big divide in the world as North and South,
the more developed countries (MDC’s) and less
developed countries (LDC’s),the haves and the have
nots..
• The MDC’s have only 22% of world’s population,
but they use 88% of its natural resources, 73% of its
energy and command 85% of its income. In turn, they
contribute a very big proportion to its pollution.
• These countries include USA, Canada, Japan, the CIS,
Australia , New Zealand and Western European
Countries.
• The LDC’s, on the other hand, have very low
or moderate industrial growth, have 78% of
the world’s population and use about 12%
of natural resources and 27% of energy. Their
income is merely 15% of global income. The
gap between the two is increasing with time
due to sharp increase in population in the
LDC’s. The rich have grown richer while the
poor have stayed poor or gone even poorer
• As the rich nations are developing more, they
are also leading to more pollution and
sustainability of the earth’s life support
system is under threat.
• As the rich nations continue to grow, they will
reach a limit. If they have a growth rate of 10
% every year, they will show 1024 times
increase in the next 70 years or so.
• Will this much of growth be sustainable?
 • Thus, the two basic causes of unsustainability
are over population in poor countries who
have under consumption of resources and
over consumption of resources by the rich
countries, which generate wastes.
• In order to achieve sustainable life styles it is
desirable to achieve a more balanced and
equitable distribution of global resources and
income to meet everyone’s basic needs.