Management Of Natural Resources

Forests are extremely biologically diverse and support a vast variety of life forms ranging from microorganisms to plants and animals. A significantly huge number of species such as bacteria, fungi, insects, birds, mammals, plants, etc. lives in the forests indicating a rich biodiversity. Forests being under severe threat due to deforestation are referred as biodiversity hotspots. They serve as the reservoir of biodiversity.

Both CNG and petroleum are made up of hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are organic compounds that are made up only 2 elements, namely carbon and hydrogen. So, Carbon and hydrogen are the two elements present in both CNG and petroleum.

We can find various instances from our daily life where we can re-use and re-cycle household wastes.

Re-use:

Empty bottles of jam, pickles, vinegar can be used to store spices

Waste water from RO purifiers can be used for washing clothes, cars, etc.

Re-cycle:

Old newspapers, sheets, aluminium cans, plastic can be sent to factories to be recycled. But these wastes need to be segregated first.

Note – Reusing items is better than recycling them because recycling different materials needs some amount of energy.

The Chipko movement is referred to as “hug the trees movement” or “Chipko andolan”. It was initiated in the early 1970s in a remote village (Reni) of Garhwal. Here, the women of the village literally hugged the tree trunks to prevent them from being cut. This non-violent, social and ecological movement aimed at protecting trees and forests.

Amrita Devi Bishnoi Award is given for significant contribution in conservation and protection of wildlife. This award is instituted by the Indian government to remember the contribution of Amrita Devi of Rajasthan who laid down her life in 1731 to save Khejri trees.

This award encourages afforestation and involvement of local communities of people along with the government in conserving forests.

There are a number of causes that lead to destruction of forests:

•Deforestation – cutting down of trees to obtain various products

•Floods – leads to water logging

•Forest fires – Fire burns down trees and bushes

•Pest attacks – insect pests destroy the plants by spreading diseases

•Grazing animals – animals trample young plants and damage trees

Fossil fuels (coal and petroleum) that are being increasingly used are a non-renewable source of energy. They take millions of years to get replenished as they are formed from degradation of bio-mass. Fossil fuels being majorly responsible for increasing air pollution must be replaced by alternate source of energy. Burning of fossil fuels release carbon dioxide and certain poisonous gases such as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in our environment. Moreover, fossil fuels serve as a reservoir of carbon and combustion of carbon produces CO₂. High concentration of CO₂ leads to increased global warming.

In recent years, construction of large dams is facing opposition due to a number of social and ecological reasons.

•A large number of communities and tribes living in that particular area are displaced without proper rehabilitation. They also lose their source of livelihood and income.

•Construction of dams requires an extremely large area of forest cover to be cut. Consequently, biological diversity is lost and wildlife affected.

Although coal and petroleum are produced by degradation of biomass, yet we need to conserve them because they are non-renewable sources of energy. It takes millions of years for this biomass to form coal and petroleum. It is not easily replenished. If we continue over-exploiting them, we may run out of fossil fuels in the near future. We must use them in a sustainable manner because these resources will last only for a few hundred years and will be exhausted.

“Narmada Bachao Aandolan” raised many social, environmental and economic issues that opposed the construction of dams:

•As dams require large ground base, a huge number of local communities are displaced from their original place of settlement without proper compensation.

•Construction of dams increase soil salinity and promote soil erosion.

•It causes deforestation on a large scale as a lot of forest cover is cut down. Deforestation also stimulates earthquakes.

•Rich biodiversity is lost and wildlife affected.

•Dam construction needs a lot of capital investment. Consequently a lot of public money is wasted without any benefits.

Hotspots are those areas which have a rich biological diversity and are under protection due to serious threat as a result of human activities. Forests are the natural resources which are referred to as biodiversity hotspots.

Loss of biodiversity causes imbalance in our ecosystem. Major effects are significant climate change, increased pollution, environmental stress, loss of forest cover and extinction of species.

Another significant effect is increased global warming.

Loss of biodiversity leads to over-exploitation of natural resources. Humans are largely dependent on forests and wildlife for obtaining various products. Biodiversity loss will greatly affect our daily lives.

We must use the natural resources in a sustainable manner to conserve the biodiversity and reduce their over-exploitation. Over consumption of these resources will greatly affect the lives of our future generation. The rapid rate of consumption will exhaust most of the available resources. These resources need plenty of time to get replenished. Moreover, significant reduction of one resource will affect other resources also.

Re-use is a better strategy as compared to recycle. Recycling materials require energy as well as money. Re-using is simply using the same original item again and again without wasting money and energy. Recycling also causes air and water pollution to some extent. Most importantly, recycling requires wastes to be segregated.

The resources of Earth must be equally distributed among all people, whether rich or poor. None should be deprived of these resources. Every individual should be benefitted and must get equal rights to access the available resources. Such an equitable distribution of resources helps to reduce over-exploitation, wastage and misuse of these resources.

Corruption, greed, over-consumption of resources by the rich and powerful society of people, the difference between rich and poor and the profit gained by exploiting these resources are the forces that would work against an even distribution of resources.

The Arabari forests of Bengal are a good example of conserved forest. A wise strategy was developed by the forest department which aimed at involving maximum number of locals and villagers for the protection of forests. In return, they were offered employment and also had some share of the final produce. They benefitted from the harvesting operations. These people were allowed to collect firewood and fodder from the forest for a marginal fee. Through the active involvement of the locals, the Arabari forests of Bengal are conserved.

This statement can be explained by the example of “Himalayan National Park”. Long before the formation of this park, the local population and the nomadic shepherds used to graze their cattle in the alpine meadows. But, after the formation of this park, the locals were restricted to use the forest and this practice of grazing was stopped. However, this proved to be harmful for the sustainability of the forest. The practice of grazing helped to control the height of the grass there. The growth of the grass was badly affected. Without grazing, the grass grew very tall and consequently prevented the growth of fresh grass.

In the recent years, environmentalists are insisting upon “sustainable management of natural resources” due to a number of reasons:

•Most of the natural resources are limited. These resources will get exhausted in the near future and will not be available for the future generations.

•They require hundreds of years to get replenished and human population is increasing at an enormous rate. The available resources will not be enough.

•Due to over-exploitation of these resources, our environment is adversely affected. We must reduce the damaged caused due to utilisation of resources.

•A lot of waste is generated from using the resources which is not properly disposed. It adds up to the pollution.

Watershed management system has a lot of benefits:

•It is an integrated multi-resource management system

•It supports sustainable rivers and lakes and promotes water conservation.

•It aims at conserving soil and water to increase biomass production.

•It maintains the quality of water and helps in equal and sustainable distribution of water.

•It helps to prevent floods and droughts and reduce their effects by controlling flow of rainwater.

•It helps to prevent contamination of groundwater and rivers.

•It aims at maintaining proper ecological balance.

•This system ensures to provide safe and clean drinking water.