Content Based

Methodology–II UNIT 16 NATURAL RESOURCES

Structure
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Objectives
16.3 Physical Resources and their Utilization
16.3.1 Air
16.3.2 Water
16.3.3 Soil
16.4 Pollution and Role of Human Being
16.4.1 Air Pollution
16.4.2 Water Pollution
16.4.3 Soil Erosion
16.5 Bio-Geo-Chemical Cycles in Nature
16.5.1 Water Cycle
16.5.2 Nitrogen Cycle
16.5.3 Carbon Cycle
16.6 Natural Resource Management
16.6.1 Forests
16.6.2 Water
16.6.3 Coal and Petroleum
16.7 Legal Perspective in Conservation and International Scenario
16.8 Let Us Sum Up
16.9 Unit End Exercises
16.10 References and Suggested Reading
16.11 Answers to Check Your Progress

16.1 INTRODUCTION
The basic theme of this unit is “Natural Resources”. The topics like physical
resources, their utilization by humans has been covered under it. Issues like human
role in polluting the nature have been discussed here. As a science teacher you
have to explain it to your learners along with the ways to manage natural resources
judiciously. Unit also discusses about the bio-geo-chemical cycles, which learners
observe around them. Along with these concepts, the legal perspective is also
taken up. The focal objective of this unit is to help you as a teacher in getting
acquiescence to the content being discussed. This unit will also guide you with
suitable methods, techniques and strategies to be used while organizing teaching-
learning for such concepts in your classroom.

16.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
• introduce the learners to the natural world around us,
• enable learners to understand the various natural resources,
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• give them conceptual understanding of resources and their management, Natural Resources

• explain through activities various concepts like causes of pollution and ways
to control them,
• make the learners aware of the legal perspectives in resource conservation,
and
• familiarize your learners with the international scenario regarding resource
conservation and laws behind it.

16.3 PHYSICAL RESOURCES AND THEIR

UTILIZATION
When we talk about physical resources, it includes water, air, soil, etc. Your
learners are already aware of the fact that all life forms survive on this earth due
to resources available here. If you ask them to make list of natural resources
available here and necessary for us to live, they will give you responses like air,
water, soil, plants, etc.

Before starting discussion on various such resources, you can ask them to complete
the following table based on their previous knowledge and understanding:

Level What comes in it? How will you define it?

Lithosphere
Hydrosphere
Atmosphere
Biosphere

Such activities will set the tone of your class and you can move ahead to discuss
the major physical resources.

16.3.1 AIR
Ms. Sunita, PGT Science in a secondary school in Lucknow, instructed her learners
to inhale deeply and then exhale. She asked them, while inhaling, which
component of air is used by body for respiration and which gas is exhaled as a
product?
Learners responded correctly as they are aware of it, she further introduced concept
of air as follows:
Air is a mixture of gases like nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapour,
other gases and dust. Oxygen is taken in during breathing and is used to breakdown
glucose to release energy for various life processes. As a result carbon dioxide is
exhaled out; this is used by plants for photosynthesis (preparation of glucose in
presence of sunlight).
You can see that how well she connected the learners’ experiences with a new
concept and introduced it in her class.
Climate Control by Air
She introduced another important concept i.e. climate control by air. It is very
essential to know that it is a pleasant truth that climate on earth is conducive for
life forms. This conduciveness is brought about by air and its movement. 41
Content Based She asked her learners following questions:
Methodology–II
• Have you ever observed smoke coming out when your mother cooks food?
• How does this smoke move?
She elaborated the same phenomenon can be seen when we light incense sticks
during praying. Smoke rises up which is hot and the place left by this hot air is
taken up by the cold air. This gives rise to convection current in air i.e. in afternoon
land gets heated faster than sea but at night sea gets cooled faster than land. So
we can feel the generation of land as well as sea breeze.

Activity 1
You have to introduce the concept of wind in your class. Design an activity
through which you will introduce the concept of wind and how is it affected
with rotation of the Earth and the presence of mountain ranges.

16.3.2 Water
Learners at secondary level are well aware of water, its importance in human
life. In their elementary classes, they have studied about various sources of water,
water contamination, and importance of water in our life. They may be aware of
the fact that 75% of Earth’s surface is covered by water.

In a rural secondary school of Darbhanga (Bihar), a Science Teacher Mr. Jawed

wants to introduce the process of rainfall in his class. Let us see how he started
his class.
In his class, Mr. Jawed asked following questions:
• Name the months when we observe more rainfall?
• What is the importance of rainfall for farmers?
• What problems people face when rainfall is more?
• Which place in India has maximum rainfall?
After getting answers of these questions he asked, do they know how rainfall
occurs? What are the factors responsible for rainfall? How do clouds form?
He gave a small group project to the class to find out the answers of these
questions.
When learners collected the information, they presented it in whole class and
group discussion followed by a small video-clip on formation of clouds and
rainfall took place.
The main source of water on the surface as well as underground water is rain. A
large amount of water evaporates due to solar heat. As the water evaporates into
air, it expands and when it cools it condenses. This condensation causes rainfall.
Different places have different pattern of rainfall.

Activity 2
Collect some satellite pictures of rainfall pattern or show the website of met
department to your learners to explain how prediction of rainfall takes place.
If it is rainy season, you can ask your learners to observe daily weather reports
on television news channel and share their observation.
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16.3.3 Soil Natural Resources

All your learners know the importance of soil in life. The survival of plants is
dependent on soil and in turn we are dependent on these plants. They also know
that outermost layer of our earth is called the crust and the minerals found in this
layer are essential for life forms.

Soil is a mixture of various types of substance e.g. fine particles, small pebbles,
decayed and living organisms called humus, microscopic organisms etc. The top
soil is that which harbours various plants consists of humus, fine soil particles
and living organisms. The nature and quality of top soil decides the type of
vegetation in that area.
There are various factors which help to form soil. They are:
Heat: The solar heat expands the rocks and the cold nights contract them, as a
result cracks are formed which weakens them and breaks them into pieces.
Water: It helps to easily break the rocks by seeping into these cracks or by
rubbing & wearing them by flowing over them.
Wind: It blows the eroded or broken rock pieces to different places.
Organisms: Lichens, mosses, humans and animals too wear the larger rocks
into smaller particles of soil.
You can ask your learners to perform the following activity for comprehending
the concept of soil.

Take two big earthen pots and fill them with soil. Leave one pot as it is and plant
small saplings in second one. Put a pan in front of them. What do they observe?
Ask them to note down their observations.

Check Your Progress

Note: a) Space is given below to write your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
1) Give two basic components necessary for life on earth.
(i) ........................................... (ii) ...........................................

2) Name two factors responsible for soil formation.

(i) ........................................... (ii) ...........................................

16.4 POLLUTION AND ROLE OF HUMAN BEING*

Learners at secondary stage are mature enough to understand that man is over
exploiting the physical resources for his materialistic needs. This has led
imbalance in ecosystem. Nature has enough for our need but not our greed has
led to the overuse of these resources leading to the problem of pollution. This
adverse condition has been created by human beings who have taken a shape of
threat for himself as well as other living beings. The pollution is a necessary evil
of all development.

* This section has been adopted from BES-019, Teaching of Science, SOE, IGNOU 43
Content Based Learners are aware of the fact that “pollution is an undesirable change in the
Methodology–II
physical, chemical and biological characteristics of air, water and soil that may
harm our life or create a potential health hazard of any living organism as they
have studied it at elementary level. Pollution is thus direct or indirect change in
any component of the biosphere that is harmful to living organisms and man,
affecting adversely the industrial progress, cultural and natural resources. You
can introduce in your class various types of pollution like air pollution, water
pollution and land pollution with help of many activities.

16.4.1 Air Pollution

Every one of us is aware of the fact that our
Earth is covered by a thin layer of gases called
the atmosphere. In fact, there are four distinct
layers of atmosphere namely the Troposphere,
Stratosphere, Mesosphere and the Ionosphere.
Troposphere is the layer in which we live. The
air in this layer consists of various gases and
water vapor. Typically it has 21 percent
Oxygen, 78 percent Nitrogen and the 1
percent is all the other gases including
Carbon-dioxide and water vapours.

In the previous Units, we have discussed that Oxygen is used by all life forms
during respiration and Carbon dioxide is expelled out. The plants supply us with
Oxygen by the process of Photosynthesis where they consume the Carbon-dioxide.
This helps in maintaining the balance of various gases in the atmosphere. But,
certain activities of human beings like cutting of trees, smoke released by
industries and vehicles tend to disturb this balance. The contamination of air by
the release of harmful gases is called air pollution.

Air pollution
Let us start the discussion with a simple activity, which you can take up in class
for children to know that the air around them is polluted.

Activity 3
Ask learners to take three sheets of white paper and make them greasy by
applying some oil on each. Find a suitable way of pasting them each in the
corner of a traffic busy street, a quite park and in the kitchen of her house.
Ask them to notice all the sheets the next day.
• What do they observe?
• Which sheet has turned more black and why?
These observations will help you to introduce the concept of air pollution.

Let us have a look on some of the common causes of air pollution.

• Burning of fuels like coal and wood in household for the household activities.
This releases harmful gases like Carbon-dioxide and carbon monoxide in
the atmosphere. These gases are responsible for the increasing number of
respiratory problems like asthma, cough and wheezing.
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• Fuels used in the automobiles such as diesel and petroleum release oxides Natural Resources
of Carbon, Nitrogen and Sulphur and Smoke.These gases are very harmful
and may even cause complete lung damage, irritation in the eyes and skin
allergies

• Burning of coal in power plants and industries is a major source of gaseous

pollutants like Sulphur and Nitrogen. These are responsible for causing acid
rain that damages buildings and monuments and also makes the soil more
acidic making it unsuitable for the plants.

• The CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) used in AC’s, refrigerators and aerosol

sprays damages the Ozone layer.

• Deforestation – Indiscriminate cutting of trees for building houses and other

infrastructure affect the CO2 –O2 balance in the environment.

• Suspended particulate matter such as soot and fly ash released by industries
and automobiles form a blackish layer of air in the atmosphere.

Ask learners to collect pictures of deforestation, industrial waste, allergies,

etc.

Effects of Air Pollution

Global Warming: The sunlight penetrates the earth’s atmosphere and heats the
surface of the earth. This is responsible for maintaining suitable temperature for
living and also for
photosynthesis in plants. ab
sor escaping radiation
The earth’s surface be
d
edge
radiates this absorbed heat reflected of a
tmo
sphe
back to the atmosphere, re

some of which escapes to absorbed by

the space. The gases atmosphere and
radiation
Earth
present in the atmosphere absorbed by
deforestation greehouse gases
such as Carbon, Methane CFCs oil and
and Sulphur dioxide traps petrol greenhouse
engines gases and
some of this so as to fossil fuels
maintain a suitable
temperature on earth.
However, due to increasing air pollution, the concentration of these gases called
greenhouse gases is increasing and most of the radiated heat is trapped near the
earth’s surface. This results in an increase in temperature on the earth. This
phenomenon is called global warming because of which there is also a fear of
melting the glaciers and rise in the sea level. This may be a threat to life on earth
in future.

Acid Rain: The Oxides of Sulphur and Nitrogen present in the atmosphere
dissolve in rain making it acidic and hence the rain that comes to earth’s surface
is called acid rain. This rain corrodes monuments and buildings. This is also
harmful to the plant and animal life on the earth. The white marble of Taj Mahal
has turned yellowish due to the impact of acid rain.

Deletion of Ozone layer: The CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) used in AC’s,

refrigerators and aerosol sprays damages the Ozone layer. Ozone layer protects 45
Content Based us from the harmful UV rays coming from the Sun and damage due to this may
Methodology–II
even cause increasing instances of skin cancer.

Health hazards: Air pollution is harmful for the growth of plants. Also it causes
many diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, allergies and even lung cancer in human
beings.

Activity 4
Take drinking water in two containers. Add any cold drink (it is a mild acid)
to one of it. Now place some pieces of marble stones in each container.
Observe after 2-3 days. Has the color of marbles in the container with cold
drink turned yellowish?
Organize a discussion around this activity and explain the effects of acid on
substances.

Reducing Air Pollution

There are many ways to reduce air pollution. Children should be encouraged to
adopt those measures which they can promote and practice in their neighbourhood.
Here are a few:
• Use clean fuels such as CNG (compressed natural gas)
• Try to use public transportation and car pools as far as possible.
• Use clean sources of energy such as solar energy, wind energy and water
energy.
• Plant more and more trees.
• Ensure regular pollution check of your vehicles.
• Fumes released from the industries should be freed of Sulphur before they
are released from the chimneys.
• Create an awareness regarding the environment so that everybody
understands the responsibility.

You can plan and organize many activities to sensitize children towards air
pollution. We are suggesting a few as exemplars but you can undertake many
more like these ones.

Activity 5
• Organise a talk of a doctor from your area on the effects of air pollution
on human health.
• Organise a visit to a pollution check centre at a petrol pump and ask
children to note down the proceeding, which should then be basis for a
classroom discussion.
• Organise a poster competition, debates and extempore/talks on Ozone
Day, Earth Day and Environment Day.
• You can organise a street play/rally or awareness campaign on air
pollution in a nearby area.

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16.4.2 Water Pollution Natural Resources

We are familiar with the fact that water covers almost 75 percent of the earth’s
surface and is one the most essential factors for life on earth. Water is present in
the form of rivers, lakes, oceans, glaciers and ground water on earth. All these
sources of water are important for sustaining plant and animal life on earth.
These days, scarcity of drinking water and water pollution has become a burning
issue. Let us discuss in brief about the causes of water pollution in order to
refresh our memory, it will also help you to plan and practice related activities in
the classroom.
Causes of water pollution
• Industrial Waste: The untreated waste from the industries and domestic
sewage is discharged into the water bodies making them unfit for use and
also causing harm to the aquatic life.
• Human cleanliness activities: Bathing, washing clothes etc. pollutes the
water bodies as the detergents used for cleanliness purposes have harmful
chemicals.
• Pesticides and Fertilizers: The pesticides and fertilizers used by farmers
drain into the water bodies and from there enter in the bodies of aquatic
plants and animals. This eventually may reach human bodies through the
food chain.
• Oil spills: Oil spills from ships, motor boats and accidentally through oil
tankers are major sources of water pollution.
• Nuclear waste: Radioactive waste is sometimes dumped into the sea making
it polluted.
What are the various effects of water pollution and steps to prevent water
pollution? Let us discuss in following sub-section.
Effects of water pollution
• Industrial waste discharged into water bodies contains poisonous chemicals
and makes it unfit for drinking and other activities.
• Untreated domestic sewage is the source of many water borne diseases.
• The chemicals released by factories and fertilizers and pesticides used by
farmers reach the water bodies and subsequently aquatic animals through
the food chain and affect their health adversely.
• Eutrophication: The drainage of nutrient rich water from the fields may
result in excessive growth of plants on the surface of water such as algae.
This is called eutrophication. These algae and weeds use so much oxygen
that other aquatic life dies due to the lack of it. They also block the sunlight
reaching the submerged plants.
• Due to oil spills, a thin layer of oil is formed on the surface of water that
blocks the sunlight. Also this makes the water becomes unfit for drinking.
This is a serious threat to the aquatic life.
• Pollution of water affects the fertility of soil when it is used for irrigation.
• Water contaminated with toxic chemical may result in various diseases
including blurring of vision, numbness of limbs and mental disorders.
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Content Based Steps for prevention of water pollution
Methodology–II
• Avoid bathing and cleanliness activities near water bodies.
• Domestic and industrial waste should be treated before discharging it into
water bodies.
• The fertilizers and pesticides should be used judiciously and in eco-friendly
ways should be adopted.
• Religious activities that pollute water should be restricted.
• Creating awareness among people to stop water pollution.

Activity 6
• Organize a discussion on a Case study of Ganga/ Save Yamuna Campaign
or any other local river which has become polluted..
• Show some pictures of historical monuments like Taj Mahal, Humaun
Tomb, etc. and discuss about various steps have been taken by the
Government to preserve them.

Check Your Progress

Note: a) Space is given below to write your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
3) How does air pollution affect us? Take learners to any local industry
visit and discuss how pollution can be minimized?
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4) What are greenhouse gases? How do they result in global warming?
How can you demonstrate the concept of greenhouse to learners?
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5) How does water pollution affect the aquatic life? Collect some pictures
of oil split/offences of industrial waste to show harmful effects of water
pollution on aquatic life.
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16.4.3 Soil Erosion Natural Resources

Learners at secondary level are well aware that soil is formed by weathering of
rocks by natural forces such as wind, water and variation in temperature. Just
like air and water, soil is very important natural resource that is useful for us in
many ways. They also know that soil helps the growth of the plants by providing
them support and essential nutrients. Plants are responsible for providing us not
only with food but a lot of other products of human use like clothes, medicines,
pottery items and construction material. Soil helps in the percolation and retention
of underground water which is used for drinking and other purposes. Certain
forms of life like earthworms, roundworms, microbes and fungi live in soil. Soil
helps in decay of waste products and pollutants. Soil helps in maintaining
environmental balance as it supports the growth of plants that are a major factor
in influencing water cycle on earth. Soil also helps in retaining moisture.
Experiences from outside the classroom should be provided to learners so that
they can explore various aspects of soil formation.

To give experience of various types of soil and various components of soil,

Jasmine asked children to bring some soil from their neighbourhood in a
poly bag to the school. Next day, she asked them to first categorize the poly
bag filled with soil into garden soil, road side soil, agriculture field soil, soil
from river side/pond side etc.
As the next step, Jasmine asked children to analyze the soil in terms of its
ingredients like plant parts, animal parts, type of sand, size of particles etc.
and was able to make children aware that soil has different types of ingredients
which make it different.
Jasmine also explained that analyzing the soil in different layers is known as
soil profiling.
She discussed with children and concluded that different kind of soil is needed
for different kind of crops.

Along with soil profile and types of soil, children should also be made aware
about soil erosion. Let us discuss in brief about soil erosion.

Soil Erosion
Formation of soil is a slow process and it may take hundreds of years to produce
a few centimeters of soil. However, certain natural process and human activities
are responsible for carrying soil from one place to the other. This is called soil
erosion. The top layer of the soil is rich in nutrients and its loss adversely affects
the growth of plants.

Causes of soil erosion:

• Soil erosion is caused by high speed winds or water. The effect would be
more prominent in areas with loose soil.
• Overgrazing
• Deforestation–large scale cutting of trees and plants leaves the soil bare
which is easily carried away by wind and water.
• Natural calamities like droughts and floods are also responsible for large
scale and sudden soil erosion.
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Content Based • Tillage– The practice of preparing the farmland for agriculture often leaves
Methodology–II
the top soil loose and this increases the chances of soils erosion.
How to prevent soil erosion

Activity 7
Divide children into two groups and provide them with the same amount of
garden soil. Ask them to spread the soil in shallow trays and make mounds
(hill) in the centre so that both mounds look the same. With the help of a
pencil or finger one group can make steps from the top to the bottom and the
other group can make circular contours. Now pour the same amount of water
(1 glass) from the top of each hill (from same height and speed). Ask children
to observe the amount of water collected in each tray. Ask them that, in
which case do they observe more soil loss from the mound?
• Repeat the same activity by making mounds of different slopes.
• Also try the activity with small plants and grass on one mound.
Help them to draw conclusions about soil erosion from the above activities.

Planting more trees, contour farming, avoiding excessive tiling, covering the
soil with leguminous crops between two crops seasons are some of the ways of
preventing soil erosion. It is very important to be aware of and avoid soil erosion
as the excessive run off of top soil to the rivers and other water bodies can spoil
the ecological balance because the top soil is rich is fertilizers and pesticides.

Check Your Progress

Note: a) Space is given below to write your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
6) What do you mean by soil erosion? How will you demonstrate soil
erosion in classroom?
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16.5 BIO-GEO-CHEMICAL CYCLES IN NATURE

Our environment consists of both biotic and abiotic components between which
transfer of matter and energy occurs. This interaction makes the biosphere system
stable. We can say that cycling of material in the ecosystem and in the biosphere
is called the bio-geo-chemical cycles. Let us discuss a few cycles in detail, it will
facilitate in organizing teaching-learning experience in your class on such topics.
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16.5.1 Water Cycle Natural Resources

Ask your learners to observe the water level of nearest pond or river of their
respective areas and find out the answer of the following questions:
• At what time of the year is the water level minimum?
• At what time of the year is it at its maximum level?
• Can you think of a reason why does this occur?
The water content in nature is maintained by water cycle. You can go through the
line chart given below:-

Fig. 16.1: Water cycle

You can see that the whole process in which water evaporates from water bodies
into air and falls on the land as rain and later flows back into the sea via rivers is
known as the water cycle. Also the water flows carries along with it many nutrients
which is used by marine organisms. You can now see that this water cycle is very
precious for living being and is continuously regulated by evaporation with the
help of solar heat.

16.5.2 Nitrogen Cycle

You already know that nitrogen constitutes the maximum amount (78%) of our
atmosphere. It is an essential nutrient for all life forms but this atmospheric
nitrogen cannot be used directly. Nitrogen is part of proteins, DNA, RNA, vitamins
etc. There are usually two ways to convert atmospheric nitrogen into nitrates
and nitrites so that they can be used to form required molecules.
• By “nitrogen fixing” bacteria (found in roots of legumes like pea, beans,
pulses etc.)
• By physical processes (lightning and high temperature convert atm.N2 to
oxides of nitrogen which dissolve in water to form nitric and nitrous acids
and fall on ground with rain water).
N2 lightening & high temp. NO2 + NO rain HNO2
+ HNO3
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Content Based Plants take the converted nitrogen and form proteins which in turn is eaten by
Methodology–II
animals. When these animals and plants die, the bacteria convert the compounds
of N2in their bodies to atm. N2. Excess of N2 in biosphere may result in excess
growth of algae in water bodies and cause harm to aquatic life.

Fig. 16.2: Nitrogen cycle

16.5.3 Carbon Cycle

Ask your learners to explore the answers of the following questions:
• Can you think of chemical substances having carbon as one of the
components?
• Which form of carbon is used by plants and for what?
• What is the by-product of the above process which is very useful for animals?
After the activity, you can tell them that Carbon occurs in nature as coal, diamond,
graphite etc. in free form and as carbon dioxide, carbohydrates, fats etc. in
combined form. CO2, a residual product of respiration is used by plants for
photosynthesis (to prepare carbohydrate). As a result oxygen is given out by
plants and this O2 is essential for our life. CO2 is also added into the atmosphere
by burning of fossil fuels like coal, petroleum products etc. You can use following
diagram for further elaboration on carbon:

Fig. 16.3: Carbon cycle

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Greenhouse Effect Natural Resources

You can use following activity to start discussion on this topic:

Ask your learners to just imagine that they are sitting in a chamber made of
glass walls in a hot afternoon. How will they feel?
Ask learners to repeat the same activity inside a room with walls of brick
and cement?
Do they think there will be difference in temperature?

Glass walls get heated very fast as compared to brick or mud walls. The concept
of greenhouse was used to trap heat for plants kept in glass houses during winters.
Same concept applies for atmosphere warming up. The gases present in the
atmosphere do not allow the heat to escape as a result the temperature of earth
rises which is termed as global warming. The most common gas which leads to
this is carbon dioxide. Thus to avoid this more plants and trees are needed which
can take in the excess CO2.

Check Your Progress

Note: a) Space is given below to write your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
7) How does plant use the CO2 exhaled by animals?
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8) How is nitrogen of atmosphere converted to nitrates?
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Content Based
Methodology–II 16.6 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Activity 8
Play a quiz round with your learners to show the relationships between various
components
present on this earth. For e.g.:
• How do we make furniture?
• Where does the wood come from?
• How do the trees grow?
• How do these trees draw nutrition?
• How do plants use solar energy to prepare food?
• What does a plant need to grow besides soil and solar energy?
• What would happen if there is no water left in our planet?
You will get many interesting responses which will help learners to realize
that all the things around us have connection with each other.

This brings us to the fact that since we are dependent on resources obtained from
earth we must understand their importance. No natural resource is unlimited;
even if it is, it gets polluted so much that it is not suitable for use. Our population
is growing day by day and so is the demand of these resources. This leads to a
question we must ponder upon as to how we manage these resources so that they
can last for the generations to come. Each one has equal right to use them but
nobody has the freedom to misuse or exploit them. Two things we must keep in
mind are that natural resources must be utilized judiciously and secondly they
shouldn’t be done in such a manner which may harm our environment. For e.g.
mining, etc.

16.6.1 Forests
You can start discussion with following activities:
• Ask your learners to make a list of various produces acquired from forests
• Make a list of forest areas they are aware of.
• Do these forests have population living in and around them?
Forests harbor not only different species of plants but also of animals. They may
be surprised to know that plants and animals live in complete harmony. Both
work equally to replenish each other. Even the families residing in and around
forest live in peace. The problem arises when greed of man overpowers. Many
industries are based on these like – medicines, fruits, timber, wood, paper, lac,
rubber, etc. Human clear the forests for raw materials and do not think of
replantation. Certain industries are also dependent on wildlife and for this they
are killed ruthlessly. Seeing this various laws an Acts to save these animals have
been implemented.
Ask your learners to divide themselves in small groups and discuss the following
questions:

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• Do they know about any wild life sanctuaries and their role in protecting Natural Resources
these animals?
• Do they know about rules to be followed by tourists who visit these places?
You may find few learners, who have visited any wildlife sanctuary, ask him/her
to share his/her experiences.

A story was published in the news paper The Hindu on 4th January, 2010. Its
title was “Let’s Hug a Tree for Life”
In a tiny village called Uliana, nestled in the shadow of the Himalayas, lived
Meera. She didnt go to school but learnt all her lessons from nature. And her
best friends were the trees. She saw each one of them as a different being.
“There was Naani tree who was the old gnarled one with the giant curved lap
into which meera fitted perfectly. There was Bhaloo tree who was big and
black and who, if you rounded a corner without concentrating, could be
mistaken for being a grizzly bear. There was chottu tree..”
Life was perfect, till one day she heard her parents speaking of a group of
men who were coming from the city to cut down her beloved trees. The
situation seemed hopeless as her father said “We little people have no powers
to stop them.”
But when the dreaded day arrived, this little girl dared to take action that lead
the whole village to save their trees. She clings to her tree and refuses to
budge. The rest of the villagers do what she is doing and hug a tree each.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/article75248.ece

You can use such real life examples to make your learners aware about such
issues. The conservationists have realized themselves and also are also making
people aware about the importance of biodiversity. Here it is necessary to cite
the example of “Bishnoi Samaj” who plant saplings on the birth of a child in a
family. They are completely against cutting of trees. “Save tigers” drive has also
helped to increase the number of tigers in our country. So the efforts are on.
Forest resources must be used in both environmentally friendly and
developmentally sound manner. Development does not mean deteriorating
environment but maintaining it to avoid imbalance in nature.

Activity 9
Share some hints about “Chipko Andolan” with your learners and ask to
collect the facts and details of this movement. Learners should be asked to
present their views on the whole movement and its importance for Forest
Conservation.

Activities to be undertaken
1) Organize a plantation drive with your learners in your nearby area. After
discussion about its benefits, enlist the values and skills, which could be
inculcated among students through this activity.
You can ask the learners of your class:
• To celebrate the famous dates like World Environment Day (5th June),
Ozone Day (16th September), International Earth Day (22nd April) etc
and encourage them for plantation. 55
Content Based
Methodology–II • Motivate them to organize discussions based on environmental issues.
• Encourage them to take part in debates, discussion, elocutions on
importance of plants.
• Point out the importance of plants in daily life etc.

16.6.2 Water
Learners should be asked to reflect on following issues:
• the tragedies ‘farmers’ are facing in many parts of the country
• Why is it so that some areas in our country have good crops and others do
not?
• Many a time dead fishes are found in the coastal areas. What is the reason
behind this?
Learners may be aware that in our country we have irregular monsoons. To ensure
that these may not affect our vegetation, two solutions have been provided. They
are:
1) Dams
The stored water always comes handy at the time of crisis. Based on this
concept large scale water storage is done in dams. A very good example of
this is Indira Gandhi Canal which has brought greenery in Rajasthan where
there is always shortage of rainfall. Tehri Dam on river Ganga in Uttarakhand
serves similar purpose to people of Tehri Garhwal (Uttarakhand)

2) Water Harvesting
There are two ways by which water can be harvested. They are:-
i) Rooftop water harvesting– The rainwaterfalling on roofs of a house is
collected in a storage tank through pipes. Another way is to let these
pipes take water into a ground pit so that water can seep in to maintain
the underground water table.
ii) Infiltration- All the roads and cemented ground should be leveled in
such a manner so that the rainwater can drain into the soil area to
maintain underground water level and this process is called infiltration.
Water harvesting has been an old practice in our country. As we already know
since people of villages are very close to nature so they respect it. Khadin tanks
and nadis in Rajasthan; bandhas in UP and MP; taals in Maharashtra, Baulies in
Dekhi and Rajasthan, etc. are some of the old methods of water harvesting.
These processes are necessary as water table needs to be replenished sufficiently.
As our population is increasing and so is the use of the natural resources these
steps have to be taken. Besides, judicious use of water must be done; be it watering
plants, taking bath or washing clothes in machine etc.

16.6.3 Coal and Petroleum

Start with following questions with your learners:
• Have you ever heard from your father that the prices of petrol and diesel
have been rising drastically?
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• Can you reason out why is this happening? Natural Resources

Think of any alternative way to run your vehicle.

You can further deliberate that Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on earth
which is used by us. At least 40% of the world’s electricity comes from coal.
Better technology, industrialization, increasing population etc. have increased
the demand of coal. When plants and animals die, they get buried in the soil.
After many years they form thick layers of carbon rich substance called ‘peat’ is
formed. Pressure and temperature then convert it into coal. Fossil fuels like,
coal, lignite, petroleum and natural gas are non-renewable natural resources.

Petroleum also occurs deep inside the earth’s crust, as a liquid, and is formed by
the bacterial decomposition of marine plant and animal matter and prehistoric
forests in the absence of air buried at the bottom of the seas. But you know this
process takes thousands of years. So you can understand how difficult it is to
replenish this resource. The extensive use of fossil fuel raises serious
environmental concerns. The management of such non renewable energy sources
involves slightly different perspectives from those resources discussed earlier.
We have to manage and try to substitute with alternative resources which are
cheap and easily available. Various methods can be used such as:-
• Using vehicles with good mileage
• Using alternative fuels like- CNG, Biogas in place of LPG, Bio-fuel etc.
• Using other sources of energy like – solar energy, wind energy, hydro energy,
nuclear energy etc. for generating electricity
• Any alternative resources can also be used by industries too.
• Any choice made must lessen greenhousegases
• Fossil fuel usage must be done judiciously as they emit harmful gases.
Therefore commuting in a group is a wiser action than moving around
individually in a vehicle.
• We should also use electricity with care. So learn to switch off light, fan,
TV, AC etc. when not in use.
• Substitute bulbs and tube lights with LEDs
• Use of solar energy base home appliances should be encouraged.

Activity 10
You can ask your learner to prepare a comparative chart of fuel prices. Here is
one example.

Year 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Rate of Petrol/ liter 28.70 28.92 37.84 44.85 45.62 55.87 73.14
(in Rs.) Aprox.
Rate of Diesel/ liter 16.55 18.06 26.28 31.25 32.86 37.75 40.91
(in Rs.) Aprox.
You can ask many questions by using such charts like what changes they are
observing in the rates of petrol and diesel? Or why the rate of increase is high
for petrol than diesel? etc.
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Content Based Some suggested activities:
Methodology–II
You can give them many other activities like:
• Ask them to draw various usages of diesel, petrol and LPG
• Ask them to prepare a comparative chart of consumption of fuels in India
• Ask them to collect information on other fuels like biofuels, biogas, CNG
etc. and arrange a discussion on it.

Check Your Progress

Note: a) Space is given below to write your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
9) What are sanctuaries?
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10) How do we substitute the electricity consuming lights?
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16.7 LEGAL PERSPECTIVES IN CONSERVATION

AND INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO
In our country there have been several legislative measures both at state and
central government to prevent and control further deterioration of environment.
This practice has been even before independence, too. Before independence
British govt. enforced various laws like:

The Oriental Gas Company Act, 1857; The North Canal & Drainage Act, 1873;
Indian Fisheries Act, 1897; The Explosive Act, 1908; The Poison Act, 1919; The
Indian Forest Act, 1927; The Motor Vehicle Act, 1938 and many more.

The real awareness about environmental protection at global level was recognized
at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm
(Sweden) in June, 1972. The main Acts for control of pollution are:
• The River Board Act, 1956
• The Atomic Energy Act, 1962
• The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
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• The Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1974 and amended in Natural Resources
1988; also renamed as Boards for Prevention & Control of water pollution.
In 1980 “Tiwari Committee” was founded which took many decisions on
Environment preservation. A separate environment department was established
which was later further divided into two in 1985 – Department of Environment
& Department of Forests & Wildlife.
Many other departments and acts were also passed:
• The Forest Conservation Act, 1980
• The Air (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1981 and amended in
1987 to remove the difficulties encountered during its implementation
• The Environment Protection Act, 1986 was enforced for protection and
improvement of environmental matters related to it. According to this law
people not abiding by this law can be penalized which can be in the form of
imprisonment, fine or both.
• The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
• The National Environment Tribunal Act, 1992
• The National Environmental Tribunal Act, 1995
• The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997
• Ecology Development Board
• Forest Survey of India
• Indian Institute of Forest Management etc.
(Source:- Annual Report 2005-06, Department of Forest & Environment, Govt. Of India)

Various Amendments in the Constitution

Our constitution underwent various amendments for environmental conservation.
• Constitution of Indian Republic: Article 48(A): “Protection and improvement
of environment and safeguarding of forest and wildlife.
• Constitution of Indian Republic: Article 51A (g): It shall be duty of every
citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including
forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures.
Many environments related legal cases have been tackled with the help of above
mentioned articles and also Article 21 which ensures that every individual may
be saved from any activity which injures his life, health and physique. There are
various sections in our constitution which elaborates on the punishments and
penalties for acts banned by law and other legal authorities.

International Scenario
Not only nationally but also internationally the imbalanced environment is being
faced. In 1940 thousands of people died of sudden smoke envelope in Los Angeles
(America). In 1952, London Episode of SMOG occurred wherein about 5000
people died. We cannot forget the ‘Bhopal Gas Tragedy, in which lakhs of people
were affected. All these incidents forced UNO to tackle these problems in unison.
On 5th -16th June, 1972 more than 100 countries took part in the conference held
at Stockholm (Sweden). Some of the declarations are-
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Content Based • Man has started using the environment injudiciously to keep pace with
Methodology–II
scientific and technological advancement
• To improve and sustain the human environment has become an important
topic all over the world.
• Man has tried to use natural resources, brutally. This has led to imbalance in
nature, health problems and decrease in non-renewable resources.
• People of developing countries are living below the expected level. Therefore
we must give priority to environmental improvement.
• Increasing population has given rise to many problems regarding
environmental conservation therefore man must try to improve his
environment with social, scientific and industrial growth.
• The time has come when we must bring positive environmental changes at
world level.
• Each citizen, community and organizations have to come together and accept
the responsibility to work for reaching environmental goals.
The UN Conference at Rio on “Environment & Development also known as
“Earth’s Summit” was held on 3-14 June, 1992. Around 170 countries
participated in it. The main concern areas discussed were-
• Decrease in forest areas
• Increasing Greenhouse effect
• Depletion of ozone layer
• Use of new technologies in air conditioners
• Increasing human population
• Decrease in fossil fuel
• Control of pollution
• Bio-diversity etc.
There are different agencies at international level which are working in the field
of improving environmental conditions all over the world. Some of them are-
• FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization) – founded in 1945 in order to resolve
food related problems in many underdeveloped countries.
• WHO (World Health Organization) – in 1946, which takes responsibility of
health related work all over the world. For eg: in our country it has helped
in family planning, polio, TB etc.
• IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources) – 1948;
ensures to prevent misuse of nature and its resources.
• WWF (World Wildlife Fund) – 1961; to preserve wild fauna. You must be
aware of “Project Tiger” in our country was funded by WWF.
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna &
Flora, 1972; helps in protecting endangered species.
• UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) – 1972; it guides,
coordinates and finances various projects on environment and related fields
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• IEEP (International Environmental Education Programme) – 1975; Natural Resources
undertakes the responsibility of educating and sponsoring seminars and
conferences on Environment.
• Earth Scan – founded in 1976 under the guidance of UNEP.

Administration does help the people but despite this we need laws to restrict and
punish those who do not abide by the law. The legal help in environment was a
necessity so as to give all a better surrounding, control pollution and stop further
degradation of nature. United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (the “Earth Summit”, 1992) produced an agreement to protect the
world’s biological diversity. The World Wildlife Fund, Green peace and other
organizations also have been active in promoting conservation internationally.

Activity 11
Organize group discussion of following themes in your class:
• Constitutional Provisions in India for Wildlife Protection
• Various International Annual Environmental Summits and their declaration
• Efforts/measures taken by Indian Government for Environmental
Protection in last one decade

Check Your Progress

Note: a) Space is given below to write your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
11) When are the following days celebrated?
i) World Water Day ..........................................................................
ii) World Environment Day ...............................................................
iii) Earth Day ......................................................................................
iv) World Ozone day ..........................................................................

16.8 LET US SUM UP

After going through the whole content you must be clear that what importance
natural resources have in our life. We have to preserve and conserve these
resources to survive on this earth. The over exploitation has to be stopped and
for the control of this various method have been elaborated. Various bio-geo-
chemical cycles happening for ecosystem balance has also been taken up. Besides,
legal outlook regarding the penalty for degradation is mentioned and various
laws, acts given by constitution have been elucidated.

16.9 UNIT END EXERCISES

• What do you understand by physical resources?
• Give suggestion how you will make people aware about the negative effects
of pollution?

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