NCERT CLASS-8 GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER-1 NOTES

 NCERT CLASS-8 GEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER-1 [RESOURCES]

 

• Resource- everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, provided, it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable can be termed as ‘Resource’.
• Utility or usability is what makes an object or substance a resource.
• Value means worth. Some resources have economic value, some do not. For example, metals may have an economic value, a beautiful landscape may not. But both are important and satisfy human needs
• Patent: It means the exclusive right over any idea or invention.
• Technology: It is the application of latest knowledge and skill in doing or making things.
• Time and technology are two important factors that can change substances into resources.
•  Both are related to the needs of the people.
• People themselves are the most important resource. It is their ideas, knowledge, inventions and discoveries that lead to the creation of more resources. 

 

• TYPES OF RESOURCES-

● Resources are generally classified into

● Natural Resources

● Human made resources

● and Human resources

 

• NATURAL RESOURCES-

● Resources that are drawn from Nature and used without much modification are called natural resources.

● The air we breathe, the water in our rivers and lakes, the soils, minerals are all natural resources.

● Many of these resources are free gifts of nature and can be used directly.

● In some cases tools and technology may be needed to use a natural resource in the best possible way.

 

• CLASSIFICATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES-

● Natural resources are classified into different groups depending upon their level of development and use; origin; stock and distribution.

● On the basis of their development and use resources can be classified into two groups, actual resources and potential resources.

● Actual resources are those resources whose quantity is known. These resources are being used in the present.

 

• ACTUAL & POTENTIAL RESOURCES-

● The rich deposits of coal in Ruhr region of Germany and petroleum in the West Asia, the dark soils of the Deccan plateau in Maharashtra are all actual resources.

● Potential resources are those whose entire quantity may not be known and these are not being used at present. These resources could be used in the future.

● The level of technology we have at present may not be advanced enough to easily utilise these resources.

● The uranium found in Ladakh is an example of potential resource

that could be used in the future.

 

● High speed winds were a potential resource two hundred years ago.

● Today they are an actual resource and wind farms generate energy using windmills like in Netherlands.

● You will find some in Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu and on the Gujarat coast.

● Based on their origin, resources can be abiotic or biotic.

● Abiotic resources are non-living while biotic resources are living.

● Soils, rocks and minerals are abiotic but plants and animals are biotic resources.

● Natural resources can be broadly categorised into renewable and non- renewable resources.

 

• RENEWABLE RESOURCES-

● Renewable resources are those which get renewed or replenished quickly.

● Some of these are unlimited and are not affected by human activities, such as solar and wind energy.

● Yet careless use of certain renewable resources like water, soil and forest can affect their stock.

● Water seems to be an unlimited renewable resource.

● But shortage and drying up of natural water sources is a major

problem in many parts of the world today.

 

• NON RENEWABLE RESOURCES-

● Non-renewable resources are those which have a limited stock.

● Once the stocks are exhausted it may take thousands of years to be renewed or replenished.

● Since this period is much more than human life spans, such resources are considered non-renewable.

● Coal, petroleum and natural gas are some examples.

● On the basis of their distribution resources can be ubiquitous or localised.

 

• UBIQUITOUS & LOCALISED RESOURCES-

● Resources that are found everywhere like the air we breathe, are ubiquitous.

● But those which are found only in certain places are localised, like copper and iron ore.

● The distribution of natural resources depends upon number of physical factors like terrain, climate and altitude.

● The distribution of resources is unequal because these factors differ so much over the earth.

 

• HUMAN MADE RESOURCES-

● Sometimes, natural substances become resources only when their original form has been changed.

● Iron ore was not a resource until people learnt to extract iron from it.

● People use natural resources to make buildings, bridges, roads, machinery and vehicles, which are known as human made resources.

● Technology is also a human made resource.

 

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT—

● People can make the best use of nature to create more resources when they have the knowledge, skill and the technology to do so.

● That is why human beings are a special resource.

● People are human resources.

● Education and health help in making people a valuable resource.

● Improving the quality of people’s skills so that they are able

to create more resources is known as human resource development.

 

• SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT-

● Using resources carefully and giving them time to get renewed is called resource conservation.

● Balancing the need to use resources and also conserve them for the future is called sustainable development.

● There are many ways of conserving resources.

● Each person can contribute by reducing consumption, recycling and reusing thing.

 

• Some Principles of Sustainable Development-

• Respect and care for all forms of life.
• Improve the quality of human life.
• Conserve the earth’s vitality and diversity.
• Minimise the depletion of natural resources.
• Change personal attitude and practices towards the environment.
• Enable communities to care for their own environment.