Introduction:-
Natural resources
Natural resources are thing that naturally, and that are useful to us. They include fuels such as oil and natural gas, and materials such as iron ore, and timber.
Natural resources may be renewable or non-renewable
Renewable resources are those that are replaced in nature at a rate close to their rate of use e.g. plants, forests and animals. Care is needed to make sure resources are used sustainably and not over- harvested. There are non-living renewable resources too such as hydroelectric power, solar power, biomass fuel, and wind power.
Non-renewable resources exist in fixed amounts or are used up faster than they can be replaced in nature e.g. fossil fuels. (Fossil fuels could be counted as renewable but as they take millions of years to form they are not practically considered 'renewable'
There are different type of natural resources are existing in the earth:-
Forest resources
Water resources
Mineral resources
Food resources
Energy resources
Land resources
Misuse of Natural Resources
Misuse of natural resources refers to excessive use, destructive use or achieving imbalance between resources either individually or in combination. Misuse of resources can also be direct or indirect. Direct misuse refers to such situations where the resource is directly destroyed or overused. But, many times, some resources are indirectly put to misuse.
Lack of knowledge of resource and its significance leads to its misuse. Lack of knowledge about natural resource may be even with educated people or uneducated people.
Different Types of Misuse of Natural Resources
Natural Resource Types of misuse/ecological problemsI Ecological Resources Excessive mining
Loss of forest area (if mines are in forest) Displacement of population and their profession
Loss of agricultural lands (if resource is in cultivated land)
Dumping of ore or spent ore on surface leading to soil / water pollution Risks and health hazards to employees / population
Directly contributing pollution to water / soil /air in petroleum exploration and processing industry
II Hydro ecological Resources
Excessive, unscientific and uneconomic ground water exploitation
Exploration of underground water without any regard to its rate of rechange Displacement of human settlement during establishment of hydro-projects Loss of agricultural / forest area in standing water (in dam construction) Unscientific use / overuse of irrigation water leading to loss of fertility, increased pollution of land / water
Loss of biodiversity
III Atmospheric Resources
Destructive use of atmospheric oxygen to burn carbon sources to produce CO and CO2 which in turn change the composition of air
Deforestation on one side and polluting the atmosphere by CO2 loading on
other side have led to increased CO2 levels in atmosphere
Ozone coverage is slowly degenerating due to release of chlorine generating gases to atmosphere
IV Edaphic resources
Excessive pressure of population of land has led to intensive cultivation of land, without allowing the soil to have its natural organic process of
recuperating biological potentiality
Addition of chemicals on continuous basis (as fertilizers and pesticides) has destroyed ecological balance in soil
Indiscriminate irrigation has led to salinity / availability of soil rendering them unfit for cultivation
V Forest resources
Continuous deforestation for commercial and fuel purposes
Encroachment of forest area for agriculture,mining, industrial purposes Loss of forest area for irrigation dams
Loss of biodiversity due to encouragement /discouragement of specific species of plants
VI Crop resources
Unnatural crosses between species
Transgenic breeding leading to modification of original characters of plants to destroy natural plant types interfering in natural regeneration process Tissue culture aided cloning
VII Aquatic resources
Excessive fishing around the coast
Loss of biodiversity in aquatic population Premature fishing for commercial purpose
Destruction of herbivorous fishes by carnivorous fishes
VIII Animal resources
Interference in natural breeding by in-vitro fertilization and artificial insemination technique
Severe damage to community living in animals due to forced solitary rearing
Hormonal regulation of physiology of animals Cloning of animals
Impact of Misuse of Natural Resources:-
Natural resources characteristically exhibit two features. They are: 1) Physical limitations
2) Limitations of regeneration / production.
Natural physical resources like geophysical, hydro-geological, edaphic, atmospheric resources exhibit physical limitations. Such limitations can be
• Physical restrictions in terms of quantity.
Examples: Petroleum resources and mineral resources • Physical restrictions in terms of space and time
Example: Variations in water resources over larger geographical area. • Restrictions in terms of a natural limit.
Examples: Fertility of soil, atmospheric oxygen content etc.
Similarly, natural biological resources like forests, wildlife, crop, animals and human resources exhibit limitations of regeneration / production. Such limitations can be • Restrictions on rate of reproduction / regeneration.
Example: A cattle has to pass 200 - 280 days to conceive. IX Wildlife
resources
Keeping the animals in captivity to derive entertainment value from them Killing the wild animals for pleasure (hunting) or for trading or for food Ignoring the ecobalance and biodiversity and failure to preserve them
X Human resources
Discriminating the human beings on sex Abuse of children as cheap source of labour Bonded labours
XI Microbial
• Restrictions on rate of production
Example: A coconut tree cannot bear more than 200 nuts. • Restrictions on prerequisites for reproduction
Example: Mating is successful within a species / subspecies. • Climatic restrictions on existence of life and reproduction Example: Apple cannot be grown in tropical region.
Managing of natural resources
Everything that we use or consume - food, clothes, vehicles, tools, petrol, furniture, medicines, books, toys, and the infrastructure of electricity, roads bridges, and buildings are obtained from resources on this earth. The only thing one gets from outside is the sun's energy and even this is converted by the biotic components of the environment and by physical and chemical based processes on the earth before one makes use of it.
However, this does not mean that misuse of natural resources is always inevitable. Large number of situations requires the better usage of natural resources without their damage / over use / imbalance. The ways in which they are misused as well as their limitations have to be realized. They deserve more planned use - as the natural reserves have their own limitations.
Following are some examples, which indicate how natural resources could
be protected or managed:-
i) Promotion and use of non-conventional sources of energy like solar energy.
ii) Promotion and development of mint - hydro projects so that resources are better utilized. iii) All types of power saving methods.
iv) Use of public transport system instead of private vehicles. v) Plugging all the avenues of power wastages and losses.
vi) Adopting IFS, INM and organic farming approaches to save the soil from agro-chemical invasion.
vii) Stoppage of hunting, poaching and using animals for human entertainment. viii) Deforestation and encroachment of forests should be fully curbed.
ix) Major air pollution routes should be blocked to protect environment.
To ensure sustainable use of resources in our environment utilize the principle
of 'The Three R's.' - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Some of these illustrations
may help you manage natural resources better.
Reduce
Use less and do not waste. Resources saved are resources earned for your community. Do not waste water - switch of running and leaky taps, bathe with a bucket don't shower; Don't waste energy - turn out the lights and fans when you are not in a room, take public transport or walk short distances instead of using expensive motor fuel. Don't waste food. Give unused food to less fortunates or animals.
Reuse
Use things again and again. Don't throw away materials such as glass containers, plastic bags, paper, cloth etc. Reuse them at domestic levels rather than being thrown. It reduces solid waste pollution.
Recycle and Recovery
Materials such as paper, some kinds of plastics and glass can are being recycled. Collect plastic, paper, glass and metal items and give them to people who recycle these materials. This decreases the volume of refuse and helps in the conservation of natural resources. A recovery of one tone of paper can save 17 trees. One can add a fourth 'R'
Reforest
Plant a tree during the rains. Look after it for a couple of years. Make your environment more cool, shady and green. Let the birds, squirrels, butterflies and animals dependent on trees return to their habitat; simultaneously, help control soil erosion.
Importance of managing natural resources:-
Perspective to natural resources management:-
Business/Production Perspective Natural Resources Management Sustainable Resources Management perspective Economy Perspective Livelihoods Perspective System/Infrastructure Management Perspective
Economic perspective:-
Rate of Gross National Product (GNP) is considered to be an indicator of economic performance of any nation. Increase in GNP indicates that economic health of the country is good. But such increase in the ultimate analysis is based on high rate consumption of natural resources of which natural degradation is the result. In such a situation, economic growth comes in conflict with issue of environmental concern.
High economic growth means high rate of extraction, transformation, and utilization of non-renewable resources. We must realize that though higher rate of GNP is important, equally important is the rate of regeneration of natural resources.
Business/Production perspective:-
Business and industry are closely linked with environment and resources utilization. Production process and strategy for eco-friendly technologies throughout the product lifecycle and minimization of waste play major role in protecting the environment and conservation of resources.
Most of the industries are not fully sensitive to the damage to the environment . this attitude has to change . a few have realized that environment can provide competitive advantage like TQM did in 1980s and 1990s . Twenty first century markets shall be driven by the requirement of the sustainable environment .Market of new mellenium will be able to create wealth if they respond to sustainable development . sustainable will become the ultimate end of business. Unsustainable products will become obsolete.
System / infrastructure management perspective:-
The system/infrastructure is in some ways similar to the production perspective but is concerned with the technical and economic efficiency of the infrastructure or technical system created to capture , harness, appropriate and use a natural resources in an output system. A typical example is irrigation – both canal as well as lift- in which engineers typically treat the value of water as zero but manage for high system efficiency : a canal system is designed to command a certain area with a certain area with a certain duty and with little or on attention paid whatever to how it will change the overall aquatic and / or biotic environment ecology. The objective function is the economic return on capital investment in developing and appropriating the water impound in a reservoir.
Livelihoods perspective:-
Many develop programmers and doctrines that originated from poverty and livelihoods perspective viewed natural resources essentially as a means of livelihood for the poor.
Human settlement condition especially in developing countries deteriorating mainly as a result of low investment in sector like housing and social welfare. The environmental implication of urban development and other human habitations (slums) must be recognized, giving priority to the needs of urban as well as rural poor. The thrust of human settlement programmes should be on:-
1. Providing shelter to all
2. Investing in infrastructure for providing water and managing sewage, and solid waste 3. Promoting sustainable energy and transport system in human settlement ;
4. Promoting sustainable land – use management
Sustainable resources management perspective:-
Managing natural resources is very important, yet it is most neglected discipline. It concern life support system and is closely linked with development and economic growth. Today we stand at the crossroads in choosing between environment and development .The industrial countries have achieved high level of development and decent standard of living at the cost of environment and depletion of natural resources.
Sustainable resource management is a concept , which says that utilizing or consumption of natural resources should approximate the rate at which these resources can be substitute or replaced. It further require that a nation or society is able to satisfy its requirement – social, economic, and other – without jeopardizing the interest of future generation.
Another aspect of sustainability is that is about system analysis, i.e how economic, social and environmental system interact at various scale of operation in away that would be lead to sustainable development that strike optimal balance among the three sub-system. Also , sustainable development must lead to reducing poverty of developing countries by means that minimize resources depletion, environmental damage and social instability.
