a eal” 3° Semester ¢ Environmental Education = Explain about land resources ——, (D LAND RESOURCES : ‘@) Land asa resource : Landforms such as hills, valleys, plains river basins and wetlandsinclude different resource gene ting areas that the people living in them depend on Many traditional farming societies had ways of preserving areas from which they used resources. Eg. In the ‘sacred groves’ of the Western Ghats, requests to the spirit of the Grove for permission to cut a tree, or extract a resource, were accompanied by simple rituals. The outcome of a chance fall on one side or the other of a stone balanced on a rock gave or withheld permission. The request could not be repeated for a specified period. If land is utilisedcarefully it can be considered a renewable resource. The roots of trees and grasses bind the soil. If forest's are depleted, or grasslandsovergrazed the land becomes unproductive and wasteland is formed. Intensive irrigation leads to water logging and salivation on which crops cannot grow. Land is also converted into a non-renewable resource when highly toxic industrial and nuclear wastes are dumped on it. Land on earth is as finite as any of our other natural resources. While mankind has learnt to adapt his lifestyle to various ecosystems world over, he cannot live comfortably for instance on polar ice caps, on under the sea, or in space in the foreseeable future. Man needs land for building homes, cultivating food, maintaining pastures for domestic animals developing industries to provide goods, and supporting the industry by creating towns and cities Equally importantly, man needs to protect wildemess area in forests, grasslands, wetlands mountains, coasts, ete to Protect our vitally valuable biodiversity Thus a rational use ' Unit - 1 SRRRORRURSREE 254 FE u at aie ae A. Forest Resources : A forest can be defined a8 a biote cone nity predominant of trees, shrubs or any Other woody vegetation usually in @ closed canopy It is derived from latin word “fors means ‘outside’ India's Forest Cover is 6,76,000 sq km (20 55%, of geographic area) Scientists estimate that India should ideally have 33% of its land under forests. Today we only have about | 2% thus we need not only to protect our existing forests but also to increase our forest cover Uses of Forest : J. Commercial uses : a Wood ~ used as a fuel b. Supply wood for various industries - Raw materials as pulp, paper, furniture, timber etc ¢. Minor forest products — gum, dyes, resins 4. Many plants ~ Medicines e. Supply variety of animal products — honey. Ivory, horns etc f. Many forest lands are used for - Mining, grazing, for dams and recreation. 2. Ecological uses : Forest provides number of environmental services. Production of oxygen : Photosynthesis produces large amount of oxygen which is essential for life Reducing global warming : Carbon dioxide is one of the main green house gas. It is absorbed by plants for photo- synthesis. Therefore the problem of global warming caused by CO, is reduced Unit-1 Ss ™ PS PR , = 15SOR I~ Semester + Emironmental Educetion () Use for Navigation and Recreation : Navigable waterway, are defined as watercourses that have been or may be use: for transport of interstate or foreign commerce Agriculture and commercial goods are moved on water on a large scak nN ansere 1 a wet in reservoirs, lakes, and rivers: wp yGEER 3“ Semester ¢ Environmental Education [lilly of land needs careful planning. One can develop most ,, these different types of land uses almost anywhere, by Protected Areas (National Park‘s and Wildlife Sanctuaries can only be situated where some of the natural ecosystem, are still undisturbed. These Protected Areas are importan, aspects of good land use planning. (b) Land use change : The most damaging change in land u., is demonstrated by the rapidity with which forests have vanished during recent times, both in India and in the rest , f the world. Forests provide us with a variety of services The. include processes such as maintaining oxygen levels in th. atmosphere, removal of carbon dioxide, control overwate, regimes, and slowing down erosion and also produce produc); such as food, fuel, timber, fodder, medicinal plants, etc |, the longterm, the loss of these is far greater than the shor. term gains produced by converting forested lands to othe, uses. (c) Land degradation : It is a process of deterioration of soil o; loss of fertility. Due to increasing population, the demand; for arable land for producing food, fibre and fuel wood also increasing. Hence there is more and more pressure or the limited land resources which are getting degraded due t: | over-exploitation. Nearly 56% of total geographical area oi the country is'suffering due to land resource degradation Out of 17-million-hectare canallrrigated area, 3.4million hectares Is suffering from water logging and salinity A. REASONS FOR DECLINE OF GROUND WATER Population continues to rise at an unprecedented and unsustainable rate; many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future. 5 Unit -] ERSTE S263™ Semester ¢ Environmental Education The sum of varieties of all living organisms at the specie level is known as species diversity + Species diversity describes the number of kinds of organism, withinindividual communities or ecosystems * The biotic component is composed of a large number o; species of plants, + Animals and microorganisms which interact with each othe; and with the abiotic component of the environment Ex : The total number of species living on earth is approw. mately more than 2 million. However, only around 1 5 million are found and assigned scientific names. Plant species : Apple, Mango, Wheat, Grapes, Rice etc Animal species : Lion, Tiger, Elephant,Deer etc 3. Genetic diversity : A species with different genetic characte- ristics is known as a sub-species or “genera”. Genetic diver- sity is a measure of the variety of versions of same gene within individual species Within individual species, there are varieties, that are slightly different from one other. These differences are due to differences in the combination of genes. Genes are the basic units of hereditary information transmitted from one generation to the other Ex: (i) Rice varieties : All rice varieties belong to the species “oryza- sativa” However there are thousands of rice varieties that show variation at the genetic level in the form of different size, shape, colour and nutrient content. summa ii) Teak wood varieties : The various teak wood varieties avai- lable are - audi teak, Burma teak, Ninlaysian teak etc‘ustuei0-oxonus qryosn’ Sfp PAP HOS 9m 30 Any ay ;odinozap pue suondnua omae3}oq N somransop soem parntjod: nod s91em Jo soainos unEN, | Suen’ pooy si0ag8 £ wound 42704 fo sosmv.y “M0205 59.04 pom sayy ‘SAL og so7eM parnyl AP 04.LEP proud 7804 28% [E1043 sy Slgsuodsau ky ays wounyjog: ‘intel mn fb po wanes anrla ©) “omer Weumuuaay @ soaReUeS OETR 2” Semester + Environmental Education Measures To Check Global Warming : ! Z 3 4 5 6 CO, emission can be cut by reducing the use of fossil fuel Plant more trees Shifting from coal to natural gas Stabilize population growth Remove efficiently CO. from smoke stocks Removal atmospheric CO, by utilizing photo synthetic alyac [15 wie aeieaienton # fHvail imi means a significant reduction in the pHgement Commuttees (BMC): ¢ Biodiversity Boards at state level uly Authority Dette A. Solid waste management refers to the collecting, treating ag and disposing of sobd material that discarded or is no longery useful Solid wane Managemen 6 an imporiant aspect of urbangf CARR ~ WE CNN ARRAN eraser sos misay at local village levels Stat and Natwnal Brody ve!—E Renan 4 Environmental Education * Oxggé ayer Depletion Effect on Plants CH, (g) + HCI (g) ir 90 3% Semester + Emérormantal Edveation F When winter comes, special clouds form over the region These are polar stratosphenc clouds and they ice surface for chlorine nitrates 10 get hydrolysed After it forms hypochlorous acid, which reacts with HCl and chlorine 10.49) + H,0(g) + HOCI(g) + HNO, () SCIONO (g) + HCl (g) > Cl, (g) + HNO, (g) the sun emerges in Antarcuca, the sun breaks down causing the release of chlorine and thus, mutiating the depletion process & HOC! (g) -+ OH (x) * Cg) Cl, (a) -» 2CKg) fects of Orome Layer Depletion : Ozone Layer depletion can result in many negative effects ‘go buman beings, plant and animal life and the ecology as a whole some ofthe negative impacts of ozone depletion are Depletion Effect on Human Beings : layer gets depleted. more UV rays enter the ere. When these UV rays come in contact with the human ‘malignant skin cancers. {t can also cause cataracts n Dis synthesized when it reacts with UV rays ‘vitamin D can also raise blood calcium levels, increasing sontality rates. + Otone Layer Depletion Effect on Animals High UV rays have shown that there has been epidermal damage in whales due to the thinning of the ozone layer More sun damage has been noticed in many aquatic animals due to ozone layer depletion. et - L O2eee 9" Semen * Environmental Education Causes af Soil Pollution © of soil and cont J Human activines have led to acidificaien nation due to the disposal of industrial waste like | metals tore chemicals, dumping Ol etc ve farming gradually de adaion of land batterie of har Hack of crop rotation and sntens! the quality of soil eausmg degr Disposal of plastics, cans electrical goods like an adverse effect on the soil duc to the presence chemicals 4 Use of chemical fertilizers, inorganic Fertilizers, pest will decrease the fertility of the soll and alter the structure; the soil 5 The storage of waste products may leak into ground vse, 6 Garbage that cannot be recycled is disposed off carcles,) leading to pollution of lind Some of this waste can take thousands of years 10 decompose Acid rain makes (he soil acidic which is harmful for crop, 7 pathogenic organisms are als, & The biological agents like responsible for soi] contamination. Effects of Soit Pallution : 1 Soil pollutants can cause cancer, skin diseases and centra) nervous system disorders in human beings For example hy concentration of lead or mercury the soil can affect func roning of kidneys and liver grown on polluted soils can accumulate 2 Crops and plants poison and become unfit for human consumption Soil pollution contributes to air pollution by emitting ton particles and foul gases into the atmosphere It can also lead to water pollution if the toxic chemicals and materials reach the ground water 68y— tor % Environmental Eduction Recently another kind of polluyy, on has been identified In big fling uch as advertisement boards and yy, 7 1 emit bright light have polluted the oa ' mghts It is disrupting ecosystems any, - vironment, His adversely allectny and psychology and disrupting ecosystems are the causes and effects of air pollution ? A Ai i i" fiers 2 Airts the most vital constituent of environ, ethane cs offifeon earth In pure arr, the pr, seas coi lke oxygen, trogen and other. a Finite Airis polluted when its natural com, {8 disturbed either by natural or by man-made a Causes of Air Pollution : 1 ante dioxide is emitted from the combustion of jis ji ike coal and petroleum Carbon monoxide Is produces us ° compete burning of fossil fuels, Nitrogen ond Produced mainly by automobiles, aircralt, thermal pny, stations and factories. ° Gen dioxide is largely released into atmosphere by burn a fivels It is also emitted by voleanic eruptions 3. erase isa common by product from agriculture relijey eesti of insetiides, pestis and ferilievs agricultural activities emit harmful chemicals into te si * Industries s ae large amount of carbon monoxide, hydro : bons, organic compounds and chemicals into the ai lepleting the quality of air, : Lunt oT See p css of A neal Educ! eter + micals Emvironmer geme' “ eae ein process dust and che 4 pes asin air pollution ns ave emit psnetic goods etc fluoro carbo red from industi ol 6 be conditioners ir Pollution : like sulphur system and cause bronchi leakage of toxic gases {rom Joss of life ike we have see ragedy ab dioxide and carbon! US, 4 cancer Sudden ants causes Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) gas t Visakhapatnam in ‘Andhra Pradesh in India 2) Airpollution severely affects weather and cli ofa region Air pollutants have impact on hut ‘and rainfall 3) Global warming is caused due to the inerease im ‘of certain gases like carbon dioxide, nitroger methane and chlorofluoro carbons in the air 4). Harmful gases ike nitrogen oxides and sulphur _sod into atmosphere during the burming of fossil fi _with water droplets Then they fall on the grown -ofacid rain §). Ozone exists in earths stratosphere and 15 res protecting humans from harmful ultraviolet + “\bzone ayer is depleung due to the presence of ¢ : and fhydro chlorofluoro carbons inthe a ‘chemicals present inthe ar can force wild © 16 riew place and change their habitat sited over the surface of water can ace tOaveaton Semester + Enironmatl ye rainlll re m fall ~The erratic and made Feduton sora m bowie 200 he bay enstactonactmes teeing epee 1g the area for percolation of runt 0 subsutlcy ‘crease in surface runoff 7 India's creasing demand for water for tens Agnicuture, for generating electra, and for Cons, 1 urban and ndustnl cen’, hasbeen met by cry, Large dams Dams suppor 30 to 4 of ths area (Sin expin abou bo der and it's levels, A. Introduction : Biodiversiy isthe abbreviated vor biological diversi (bio or ang organisms, diversity Thus biodiversity isthe oa vari fife on ouput, they ‘numberof races, varieties and species, The sun of total of vari, ‘types of microbes, plants and animals (producers, consumers any decompose) ina sytem Biomes can be considered life zones, environment wt, Similar climatic, topographic and sol conditions and roughly com, parable biological communities Eg, Grassland, forest). The biomes ‘shelter an astounding variety of ling organisms (from driest desen ‘o dripping rain forest, from highest mounain to deepest ocean ‘trenches, if occurs ina marvellous spectrum of size, shape, colour and inter relationship), The variety of living organisms, the biod. versity, makes the world beautiful Definition : Biodiversity isthe variety of life on Earth, it includes all organisms, species, and populations the genetic varia- ‘won among these, and their complex assemblages of communities and ecosystems, wes ine Weber aes 28 6. 9" Semester 4 Enircrnartal Education 4 lo fest the imerrlatednss of genes, species ecosystems and in turn ves OF BIODIVERSITY " The concept of biodiversity may be a jes Tow |, Booster diversity nalysed in 3 different 4 Species dversty 4 Genetic diversity 1 amnaniy or cose dvr: ofbioue compo ‘ ents (plants, ‘animals and microorganisms) and abiotic ‘components (si, at, wate, etc) interacting with each other jg known as an ecosystem Ecosystem or ecological diversity means the richness and complexity of biological community, including tropic levels, ‘ecological processes (which capture energy), food webs and material recycling. The diversity at an ecological level or habitat level is known as ecosystem diversity + Bxs River ecosystem Rivers include fish, aquatic insects, »nvasel anda varity of plants tat have adapted ©» Boosystem diversity isthe aggregate of different environmental typesina region + It explains the imteraction between living organisms and Physical environment in an ecosystem, Species diversity + Adiscrete groups of organisms ofthe same kind is known as species ' on diversity is the diversity baween diferent species = 1 LSP iL Ea SRNR 29Wementer + Environmental Kihication E- ‘s excelent solvent and! act as carrier fn At ‘sips to distribute them to the cells in the Doody, regulates the body temperature and SUPPOL structure and can dissOld« ‘anous pollutant and can act as carrer of lange mumbet vt ttucroorganisms 4 ltisresponsible tor hydrological cycle which acts as resout, ‘ot water to the earth. Its estimated that about | 4 inch thi, layer of water evaporates and majority of water returns i earth through hydrological cycle Water 1s renewable, bit ‘overuse and pollution make t unfit for use Sewaxe, must ‘use, chemicals, ete pollute water with nitrates, metals, on) pesticides Use of Water Resources : Water resources are used for uy cultural, industrial, domestic, recreational, and environmental ac vities Majority of the uses require fresh water However, about percent of water found on the earth is salt water and only thre: percent is fresh water A litle over two-thirds ofthe available fies ‘water is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining fies, water is found mainly as. groundwater and a negligible portion itis present on the ground or in the air Following isa brief accu of how water is used in different sectors. (Agricultural Use : Agriculture accounts for 69 percent of) water consumption basicaly in agricultural economies lic India Agriculture, therefore, is the largest consumer ot ie Earth's available freshwater By 2050, the global water desu of agriculture is estimated to increase by a further 19% du to irrigational needs. Expanding irrigation needs are like {0 put undue pressure on water storaye It is still inconclusiv Unt -1 A SETS 18 2 —4 9" Bomenter $ Environmental Education whether further expansion of rigation, as well as additional water withdrawals fiom rivers and groundwater, will be possible in future (i) Industrial Use : Water is the lifeblood of the industry Its used as a 1aw material coolant, a solvent, a tansport agent, and asa source of energy Manufacturing industries account for a considerable share in the total industezal water consum- ption Besides, paper and alliedproducts, chemicals and pri- mary metals are mayor indusinial users of water Worldwide, the industry accounts for 19 percent of total consumption In industrialised countries, however, industnies use more than half ofthe water av lable for human use (ii) Domestic Use: It includes drinking, cleaning, personal hygiene, garden care, cooking, washing of clothes, dishes, vehicles, etc Since the end of World War II there has been atrend of people moving out of the countryside to the ever- expanding cities This trend has important implications on ‘our water resources Government and communities have had to start building large water-supply systems to deliverwater tonew populations and industries. Of all water consumption in the world, domestic useaccounts for about 12 percent (iv) Use for Hydropower Generation: Electricity produced from water is hydropower Hydropower is the leading renewable source of electricity in the World It accounts for about 16 Percent of total electricity generation globally There are many opportunities for hydropower development throughout the world Today, the leading hydropower generating countries are China, the US, Brazil, Canada, India, and Russia 1 Unit-1 meee aaa 19HMI \ Jy (a) Explain water resources and its uses, : ab A. Water Resources : Water is an indispensable resource for life on earth. Approxi- ch mately 70.8 % surface of earth is covered with water in the form of mje OCeANS. Out of this, about 97% is not fit for human consumption, about 2% is locked as a glacier and only less than 1% available as fresh water that can be used for human consumption and other ’, uses, Water is a very important source and essential for life because 7 it-has-very-unique characteristic such as L Water exists as liquid over a wide range of temperature 0- 1000C with highest specific heat and latent heat of vapori- sation. ~ ap Ts I " Tinie . “ae OS.,—« 3B Semester + Environmental Education iii. Soil conservation: Roots of trees bind the soil tightly and prevent soil erosion. They also act as wind breaks. Regulation of hydrological cycle : Watershed in forest act| like giant sponges and slowly release the water for recharge of spring. vy. Pollution moderators : Forest can absorb many toxic gases: and noises and help in preventing air and noise pollution. vi. Wild life habitat : Forest is the home of millions of wild’ animals and plants.GEREN 3“ Semester ¢ Environmental Education [nll of land needs careful planning. One can develop most ,, these different types of land uses almost anywhere, by Protected Areas (National Park‘s and Wildlife Sanctuaries can only be situated where some of the natural ecosystem, are still undisturbed. These Protected Areas are importan, aspects of good land use planning. (b) Land use change : The most damaging change in land us, is demonstrated by the rapidity with which forests have vanished during recent times, both in India and in the rest , f the world. Forests provide us with a variety of services The include processes such as maintaining oxygen levels in th. atmosphere, removal of carbon dioxide, control overwate, regimes, and slowing down erosion and also produce produc); such as food, fuel, timber, fodder, medicinal plants, etc |, the longterm, the loss of these is far greater than the shor. term gains produced by converting forested lands to othe, uses. (c) Land degradation : It is a process of deterioration of soil o; loss of fertility. Due to increasing population, the demand; for arable land for producing food, fibre and fuel wood \ also increasing. Hence there is more and more pressure or the limited land resources which are getting degraded due tc | over-exploitation. Nearly 56% of total geographical area o the country is'suffering due to land resource degradation Out of 17-million-hectare canallrrigated area, 3.4million hectares Is suffering from water logging and salinity A. REASONS FOR DECLINE OF GROUND WATER Population continues to rise at an unprecedented and unsustainable rate; many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future. 5 Unit -] MESES ET S263" Semester + Environmental Education surface This sunlight is radiated back ab IR which 15 absorbed by gases. As aresult the earth surface and lower atmosphere becomes warm This ts called global warming Effects Of Global Warming : 1 Sea level increases as result of melting and thermal expansion of ocean. High CO, level in the atmosphere have a long term negative effect on crop production and forest growth Global rainfall pattern will change Drought and floods will become more common Raising temperature will increase domestic water demand Many plants and animal species will have a problem of adapt- ing Many will be at the risk of extinction, more towering verities will thrive As the earth becomes warmer the floods and drought becomes more frequent There would be increase in water-borne diseases, Unit - 1 83