Environmental science and

engineering
R.Venkatesh,
Assistant Professor,
Thermal, Fluids and Energy Science- Stream,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
PSG College of Technology,
Coimbatore.
venkiram88@gmail.com
9843387887
 CHAPTER - 1
• NATURAL RESOURCES, ECOSYSTEMS AND
BIODIVERSITY
 ENVIRONMENT- meaning
• Environment is derived from the French word
Environner, which mean encircle or surrounding.
• Environment is a complex of many variables,
which surrounds man as well as the living
organisms.
• Environmental studies describe the
interrelationships among organisms, the
environment and all the factors, which influence
life on earth, including atmospheric conditions,
food chains, the water cycle, etc.
• It is a basic science about our earth and its daily
activities, and therefore, this science is important
for one and all.
 ENVIRONMENT- scope
Environmental studies discipline has multiple and
multilevel scopes. This study is important and
necessary not only for children but also for
everyone. The scopes are summarized as follows:

1.The study creates awareness among the people to

know about various renewable and
nonrenewable resources of the region.
The endowment or potential, patterns of
utilization and the balance of various resources
available for future use in the state of a country
are analyzed in the study.
• 2. It provides the knowledge about ecological
systems and cause and effect relationships.
 ENVIRONMENT- Scope
• 3. It provides necessary information
about biodiversity richness and the
potential dangers to the species of
plants, animals and microorganisms
in the environment.
• 4. The study enables one to
understand the causes and
consequences due to natural and
main induced disasters (flood,
earthquake, landslide, cyclones etc.,)
and pollutions and measures to
minimize the effects.
 ENVIRONMENT- Scope
• 5. It enables one to evaluate alternative
responses to environmental issues before
deciding an alternative course of action.
• 6. The study enables environmentally literate
citizens (by knowing the environmental acts,
rights, rules, legislations, etc.) to make
appropriate judgments and decisions for the
protection and improvement of the earth.
• 7. The study exposes the problems of over
population, health, hygiene, etc. and the role
of arts, science and technology in eliminating/
minimizing the evils from the society.
 ENVIRONMENT- Scope
• 8.The study tries to identify and develop
appropriate and indigenous eco-friendly skills
and technologies to various environmental
issues.
• 9. It teaches the citizens the need for
sustainable utilization of resources as these
resources are inherited from our ancestors to
the younger generating without deteriorating
their quality.
• 10. The study enables theoretical knowledge
into practice and the multiple uses of
environment.
 Importance of environmental study
• Environmental study is based upon a
comprehensive view of various environmental
systems.
• It aims to make the citizens competent to do
scientific work and to find out practical
solutions to current environmental problems.
• The citizens acquire the ability to analyze the
environmental parameters like the aquatic,
terrestrial and atmospheric systems and their
interactions with the biosphere and
anthrosphere.
 Importance of environmental study
• The number and area extinct under protected
area should be increased so that the wild life is
protected at least in these sites.
• The study enables the people to understand the
complexities of the environment and need for
the people to adapt appropriate activities and
pursue sustainable development, which are
harmonious with the environment.
• The study motivates students to get involved in
community action, and to participate in various
environmental and management projects.
• It is a high time to reorient educational systems
and curricula towards these needs.
 Importance of environmental study
• Environmental studies take a multidisciplinary
approach to the study of human interactions with
the natural environment.
It integrates different approaches of the
humanities , social sciences, biological sciences
and physical sciences and applies these
approaches to investigate environmental
concerns.
• Environmental study is a key instrument for
bringing about the changes in the knowledge,
values, behaviors and lifestyles required to
achieve sustainability and stability within and
among countries.
 Importance of environmental study
Education and training are needed to save the
biodiversity and species extinction.
• The urban area, coupled with industries, is
major sources of pollution.
• The pollution and degraded environment
seriously affect the health of all living things
on earth , including man.
• The people should take a combined
responsibility for the deteriorating
environment and begin to take appropriate
actions to space the earth.
 Importance of environmental study
The resources are over-exploited and there is no
foresight of leaving the resources to the future
generations.
• The unplanned exploitation of natural resources
lead to pollution of all types and at all levels.
• World population is increasing at an alarming rate
especially in developing countries.
• The natural resources endowment in the earth is
limited.
• The methods and techniques of exploiting natural
resources are advanced.
Components of Environment Science
• Environmental studies deals with every
issue that affects an organism.
• It is essentially a multidisciplinary
approach that brings about an
appreciation of our natural world and
human impacts on its integrity.
• It is an applied science as it seeks
practical answers to making human
civilization sustainable on the earth's
finite resources.
Components of Environment Science
• Its components include
• 1. Biology
• 2. Geology
• 3. Chemistry
• 4. Physics
• 5. Engineering
Components of Environment Science
• 6. Sociology
• 7. Health
• 8. Anthropology
• 9. Economics
• 10. Statistics
• 11. Philosophy
 FORESTS
• In India, forests form 23 percent of the
total land area.
• The word ‘forest’ is derived from the
Latin word ‘foris’ means ‘outside’ (may
be the reference was to a village
boundary or fence separating the village
and the forest land).
• A forest is a natural, self-sustaining
community characterized by vertical
structure created by presence of trees.
 FORESTS
• Trees are large, generally single-stemmed,
woody plants.
• Forest can exist in many different regions
under a wide range of conditions, but all true
forests share these physical characteristics.
• Because a forest is a natural community, no
forest is static in time.
• That is, because forest communities respond
to outside influences, most forests are in a
state of constant flux.
 FORESTS
• Depending upon the systems within which
forest communities exist, such factors might
include rainfall, fire, wind, glaciation, seismic
activity, flooding, animal activity, insulation,
and so on.
• At any time, a forest is a collection of past
responses to outside influences and internal
competitive interactions.
• Therefore, the present status of any forest,
indeed of any natural community, reflects
what has gone on before.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• A forest is a biotic community predominantly of
trees, shrubs and other woody vegetation,
usually with a closed canopy. This invaluable
renewable natural resource is beneficial to man
in many ways.
• The direct benefits from forests are:
• (a) Fuel Wood:
• Wood is used as a source of energy for cooking
purpose and for keeping warm.
• (b) Timber:
• Wood is used for making furniture, tool-handles,
railway sleepers, matches, ploughs, bridges,
boats etc.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• (c) Bamboos:
These are used for matting,
flooring, baskets, ropes, rafts, cots
etc.
• (d) Food:
• Fruits, leaves, roots and tubers of
plants and meat of forest animals
form the food of forest tribes.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• (e) Shelter:
• Mosses, ferns, insects, birds, reptiles,
mammals and micro-organisms are
provided shelter by forests.
• (f) Paper:
• Wood and Bamboo pulp are used for
manufacturing paper (Newsprint,
stationery, packing paper, sanitary
paper)
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• (g) Rayon:
• Bamboo and wood are used in the
manufacture of rayon (yarns, artificial
silk-fibres)
• (h) Forest Products:
• Tannins, gums, drugs, spices,
insecticides, waxes, honey, horns,
musk, ivory, hides etc. are all provided
by the flora and fauna of forests.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• The indirect benefits from forests are:
(a) Conservation of Soil:
• Forests prevent soil erosion by binding the soil
with the network of roots of the different plants
and reduce the velocity of wind and rain — which
are the chief agents causing erosion.
(b) Soil-improvement:
• The fertility of the soil increases due to the
humus which is formed by the decay of forest
litter.
(c) Reduction of Atmospheric Pollution:
• By using up carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen
during the process of photosynthesis, forests
reduce pollution and purify the environment.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• (d) Control of Climate:
• Transpiration of plants increases the atmospheric
humidity which affects rainfall and cools the
atmosphere.
• (e) Control of Water flow:
• In the forests, the thick layer of humus acts like a
big sponge and soaks rain water preventing run-
off, thereby preventing flash-floods.
• Humus prevents quick evaporation of water,
thereby ensuring a perennial supply of water to
streams, springs and wells.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• Human Interactions with Forests:
• Human are indisputably a part of most forests.
With the exception of extremely inaccessible
forestlands, all forests present on Earth today
have been influenced by human being for tens of
thousands of years. In many cases, forest
communities have never been without the
influence of human activities.
• Because of the widespread nature of human,
activity in forests, it is tempting to think of human
endeavor as one more outside factor influencing
forest development.
• This approach is misleading, however, since it
denies the role of self- awareness in human
activity.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• Because human beings can understand cause and
effect, and because we have amassed an
increasingly deep body of knowledge about
forest processes over the past ten millennia,
human influences simply cannot be likened to the
blind forces of nature.
• Since pre-history, human beings have realized
benefits from forested lands in the form of
spiritual values, medicines, shelter, food,
materials, fuel and more.
• Often, humans have sought to manipulate natural
processes so as to compel forest systems to
produce more of the goods and services desired
by people.
 Use and Over Exploitation:
• Examples range from culturally modified trees
and edge habitat maintained by the Haida and
others in west-coastal North America to Pre-
Colombian enrichment planting of Brazil nut trees
in the Amazon to traditional coppice manage-
ment in the English lowlands.
• At times, human management has become as
intensive as to become the primary set of factors
under which the forest system operates.
• Such systems move towards the near total human
control found in agricultural systems and cannot
be thought of as forests in any natural sense,
although they may continue to resemble forests
superficially.
 Deforestation:
• Deforestation is the permanent destruction of
indigenous forests and woodlands.
• The term does not include the removal of
industrial forests such as plantations of gums or
pines.
• Deforestation has resulted in the reduction of
indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-
agricultural area.
• Indigenous forests now cover 21% of the earth’s
land surface.
• The World Resources Institute regards defor-
estation as one of the world’s most pressing land-
use problems.
 Deforestation:
• The difference between forests and
woodlands is that whereas in a forest the
crowns of individual trees touch to form a
single canopy, in woodland, trees STOW far
apart, so that the canopy is open.
• Of great concern is the rate at which
deforestation is occurring.
• Currently, 12 million hectares of forests are
cleared annually. Almost all of this
deforestation occurs in the moist forests and
open woodlands of the tropics.
 Deforestation:
• At this rate all moist tropical forest could be lost
by the year 2050, except for isolated areas in -
Amazonia, the Zaire basin, as well as a few
protected areas within reserves and parks.
• Some countries such as Ivory Coast, Nigeria,
Costa Rica, and Sri Lanka are likely to lose all their
tropical forests by the year 2010 if no
conservation steps are taken.
• The destruction of forests due to unscrupulous
and indiscriminate felling of trees has lead to an
overall deterioration of our environment and is
posing a serious threat to the quality of “life in
future.
 Deforestation:
• Forest area in world has dwindled from
7,000 million hectares (year 1900) to
2890 million hectares (year 1975).
• It is expected to further reduce to 2300
million hectares by year 2010 AD if the
present trend of deforestation is not
reversed.
 Causes of Deforestation:
• (1) Population Explosion:
• Population explosion poses a grave threat to
the environment.
• Vast areas of forest land are cleared of trees
to reclaim land for human settlements
(factories, agriculture, housing, roads,
railway tracks etc.) growth of population
increases the demand for forest products like
timber, firewood, paper and other valuable
products of industrial importance, all
necessitating felling of trees.
 Causes of Deforestation:
• (2) Forest Fires:
• Fires in the forests may be due to
natural calamities or human
activities:
• (a) Smoldering of the humus and
organic matter forming a thick cover
over the forest floor (i.e. ground
fires).
 Causes of Deforestation:
• (2) Forest Fires:
• (b) Dried twigs and leaves may catch
fire (i.e. surface fires).
• (c) In densely populated forests, tree
tops may catch fire by heat produced
by constant rubbing against each
other (i.e. crown fires).
 Causes of Deforestation:
• (d) Human activities like clearing
forest for habitation, agriculture,
firewood, construction of roads,
railway tracks and carelessness
(throwing burning cigarette stubbs on
dried foliage).
• Fire destroys fully grown trees, results
in killing and scorching of the seeds,
humus, ground flora and animal life.
 Causes of Deforestation:
• (3) Grazing Animals:
• Trampling of the forest soil in the course of
overgrazing by livestock has four reaching effects
such as loss of porosity of soil, soil erosion and
desertification of the previously fertile forest
area.
• (4) Pest Attack:
• Forest pests like insects etc. destroy trees by
eating up the leaves, boring into shoots and by
spreading diseases.
• (5) Natural Forces:
• Floods, storms, snow, lightening etc. are the
natural forces which damage forests.
 Effects of Deforestation:
• Forests are closely related with climatic
change, biological diversity, wild ani-
mals, crops, medicinal plants etc.
• Large scale deforestation has many
far-reaching consequences:
• (a) Habitat destruction of wild animals
(tree-using animals are deprived of
food and shelter.)
 Effects of Deforestation:
• (b) Increased soil erosion due to
reduction of vegetation cover.
• (c) Reduction in the oxygen liberated
by plants through photosynthesis.
• (d) Increase in pollution due to
burning of wood and due to
reduction in Car- bon-dioxide fixation
by plants.
 Effects of Deforestation:
• (e) Decrease in availability of forest
products.
• (f) Loss of cultural diversity
• (g) Loss of Biodiversity
• (h) Scarcity of fuel wood and
deterioration in economy and quality
of life of people residing near forests.
 Effects of Deforestation:
• (i) Lowering of the water table due to
more run-off and thereby increased
use of the underground water
increases the frequency of droughts.
• (j) Rise in Carbon dioxide level has
resulted in increased thermal level of
earth which in turn results in melting
of ice caps and glaciers and
consequent flooding of coastal areas.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization

• Beyond water’s functions in the

hydrological cycle, it has social,
economic and environmental
values, and is essential for
sustainable development.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Unprecedented population growth, a
changing climate, rapid urbanization,
expansion of infrastructure, migration, land
conversion and pollution translate into
changes in the fluxes, pathways and stores of
water – from rapidly melting glaciers to the
decline of groundwater due to
overexploitation.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Population density and per capita resource use
have increased dramatically over the past
century, and watersheds, aquifers and the
associated ecosystems have undergone
significant modifications that affect the vitality,
quality and availability of the resource.

• Current United Nations predictions estimate that

the world population will reach 9 billion people in
2050.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• This exponential growth in
population – a major driver of energy
consumption and anthropogenic
climate change – is also the key
driver behind hydrologic change and
its impacts.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• KEY GLOBAL CHANGE DRIVERS
• global change involves more than climate
change.
• the major drivers of global change are
population growth, climate change,
urbanization, expansion of infrastructure,
migration, land conversion and pollution.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WATER
RESOURCES
• The impacts of climate change – including
changes in temperature, precipitation and sea
level rise – are expected to have varying
consequences for the availability of freshwater
around the world. Climate change impacts the
hydrological cycle and thus impacts the
management of freshwater resources.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON WATER
RESOURCES
• Changes in river runoff, for example, will affect
the yields of rivers and reservoirs, navigation, and
have an impact on the energy sector, finally
affecting the recharging of groundwater.
• An increase in the rate of evaporation will also
affect water supply and contribute to the
salinization of irrigated agricultural lands.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Arid and semi-arid areas globally face the
greatest pressures to deliver and manage
freshwater resources.
• These areas are particularly vulnerable to
climate variability or climate change, with
consequences that may have very serious
social and environmental effects.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Glaciers are an intrinsic element of the
culture, landscape, and environment in high
mountain regions, and are key indicators and
unique demonstrations of global warming
and climate change.
• With rising global temperatures, glaciers are
experiencing a rapid decline in mass.
Changes in mountain glaciers will have
significant effects on livelihoods and ecology.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• The impact of climate change on
water quality is likely to be
considerable. The projected
reductions in precipitation and
runoff will lead to a decrease in both
the quantity and quality of water
supply.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Every year human lives are lost to erosion,
landslides and debris flows.
• The negative impacts of erosion and
sedimentation are further exacerbated by
global changes brought on by a rapidly
growing population and increased
vulnerability to severe climatic conditions,
which increase soil erosion.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Urban water and sanitation services
are directly affected by climate change.
• Changes in rainfall patterns, their
seasonality and spatial distribution will
influence the quantity and quality of
water resources, and will impact both
surface water and groundwater.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Biodiversity is directly affected by climate
change. Biodiversity within wetlands is a
good example of such degradation.
• For many watersheds, there is an
increased likelihood of warmer summers
and therefore an increase in water
temperatures with associated impacts on
aquatic ecosystems and water quality.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• Climate change affects groundwater
recharge and discharge rates, as well as
groundwater quality.
• Since knowledge of current recharge and
levels in both developed and developing
countries is poor, research efforts are
underway to help us better understand the
future impact of climate change on
groundwater.
 Water resources: Use and over-
utilization
• changes in land and water use patterns
have significant implications at local,
regional and global levels.
• most population growth will occur in
developing countries, mainly in regions
that are already experiencing water
stress, with limited access to safe
drinking water
 DAMS- Benefits and Problems
• Dams have one of the most
important roles in utilizing water
resources.
• They were constructed long years
before gaining present information
about hydrology and
hydromechanics.
 DAMS- Benefits and Problems
• Dams have been constructed in order to
prevent floods, to supply drinking and
domestic water, to generate energy and for
irrigation purposes since the old-times.
• Dams have a great deal of positive and
negative effects on the environment
besides their benefits like controlling
stream regimes, consequently preventing
floods, obtaining domestic and irrigation
water from the stored water and
generating energy.
 DAMS- Benefits and Problems
• Dams hold possibilities of
considerable harm for living
beings in addition to their
advantages such as meeting basic
requirements of the society and
increasing living standards
 DAMS- Benefits and Problems
• They are not ordinary engineering
buildings.
• Dam projects, which are useful in
meeting the demand for water in
desired times and in regulating
stream regimes, have undertaken an
important function in the
development of civilization.
 Dams- problems
• As a result of dam construction and
holding of sediments in reservoirs,
sediment feeding of downstream
channel or shore beaches is prevented.
• Corrosions may occur. As the transfer
of sediments is avoided by this way,
the egg lying zone of the fishes living in
the stream ecosystem is restricted,
too.
 Dams- problems
• Microclimatic and even some regional climate
changes may be observed related to the changes
in air moisture percentage, air temperature, air
movements in big scale and the changes in the
region topography caused by the stagnant, big
scaled mass of water.
• Water-soil-nutrient relations, which come into
existence downstream related to the floods
occurring from time to time in a long period of
time, change.
• Depending on this fact, compulsory changes
come into existence in the agricultural habits of
the people living in this region and also in the
flora and fauna.
 DAMS- Benefits
• Flood control benefits; it decreases and
remove the flood effects.
• Land improvement benefits; are the extra
benefits that will occur after an increase
in the soil productivity because of
drainage and land improvement
precautions.
• Electricity energy benefits; are the
energy benefit value of the more
economical project out of two alternative
 DAMS- Benefits
• Providing drinking water and domestic
water benefits are different from each
other and should be investigated one by
one.
• Irrigation benefits; defines the distinction
benefits between dry and irrigated
positions.
• Transportation benefits; are the benefits
that will happen in case of there is
waterway transportation in the project.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Petroleum fuels- A traditional energy
source. It is the largest energy source
in the world. But we are running out
of petroleum oil.
• Coal- Another fossil fuel
• Nuclear energy- Nuclear fission
reactors are used to utilize binding
energy of nucleus.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Solar power:
• Sun is the world's largest renewable
energy source. Literally Sun is the
master source of energy behind
every traditional as well
as renewable energy sources.
• Sun radiates an enormous amount of
energy in the forms of light, heat and
other radiations.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Wind power
• Wind power is the world's fastest
growing renewable energy source.
• Actually sun is the energy source
behind wind power.
• Uneven heating of earth surface due
to solar heating causes wind.
• Wind power depends upon energy
from sun.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Hydroelectric Power
• The potential energy of stored
water can be used to drive a water
turbine. The turbine will be
coupled with an AC generator.
• There is a long pipe from the
reservoir to the power house.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Tidal power
• An ocean tide is a rise or fall of sea level
twice in a day.
• Unlike solar power or wind power, tidal
power is highly predictable.
• Tidal power is a promising energy source
that can serve power to meet our daily
energy needs.
• Tides are produced either by attraction of
celestial bodies or by earth's rotational
energy.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Biomass Power
• Biomass refers to all the materials that
constitute and originate from plants and
animals.
• When biomass burns, it liberates heat
energy.
• The heat energy liberated can be used for
cooking, heating rooms, lighting and
electrification of rural house hold etc..
 ENERGY SOURCES
• WAVE POWER
• Another energy source from The Ocean-
Second Largest Renewable Energy Source.
When wind blows cross the sea waves are
produced.
• Thus wind power is transformed to wave
power. This wave power can be
effectively harnessed by underwater water
turbines.
• Those wave turbines are designed in such a
way that can harness maximum possible
power from the wind.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• There are places where high pressure
steam is exhausting from the earth
crust without any heat supply.
• This natural steam generators
are powered by hot magma.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
• When magma reaches under water
reservoirs through weak earth crust
water boils and steam is produced.
• The steam generated can be used to
drive a steam turbine coupled with a
generator to produce power.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Ocean Thermal Energy
• There is a large difference of temperatures
between deep ocean and surface. Near to
equator this temperature difference is
maximum.
• This difference in temperature can be used to
generate power. This is known as ocean
thermal energy.
• Ocean thermal energy harnessing can
affect the ocean environment and ecosystem.
 ENERGY SOURCES
• Bio-fuel
• Biological carbon fixation is the process
behind biofuel.
• Producer organisms or plants can
perform carbon fixation.
• Examples of biofuels are bio-ethanol,
biodiesel, green diesel, vegetable oil
etc.
Growing energy needs
 Growing energy needs
• By 2035, the world’s population is projected
to reach 8.7 billion, which means an additional
1.6 billion people will need energy
• Over the same period, GDP is expected to
more than double, with non-OECD Asia
contributing nearly 60% of that growth.
• Globally, GDP per person in 2035 is expected
to be 75% higher than today, an increase in
productivity which accounts for three-quarters
of global GDP growth.
 Growing energy needs
• China and India are key drivers of non-
OECD growth and are projected to grow
by 5.5% per annum (p.a.) between 2013
and 2035.
• By 2035, they will be the world’s largest
and 3rd largest economies respectively,
jointly accounting for about one-third of
global population and GDP.
 Growing energy needs

• As China’s level of productivity catches

up with the OECD, its rate of growth is
expected to slow from 7% p.a. in this
decade to 4% p.a. in the decade to 2035.
• India’s growth moderation is more
gradual: slowing from 6% p.a. in this
decade to 5% p.a. in the final decade.
Growing energy needs
 Growing energy needs
• Primary energy consumption increases by
37% between 2013 and 2035, with growth
averaging 1.4% p.a.
• Virtually all (96%) of the projected growth is
in the non-OECD, with energy consumption
growing at 2.2% p.a..
• OECD energy consumption, by contrast,
grows at just 0.1% p.a. over the whole period
and is actually falling from 2030.
 Growing energy needs
• The projected growth rate of global
energy consumption is significantly
slower than the recent trend (2.4% p.a.
for 2000-13).
• This slowdown is most marked in non-
OECD Asia, where growth has averaged
7% p.a.
• since 2000 and is projected to slow to
2.5% p.a. between 2013 and 2035.
 Growing energy needs
• This reflects the end of the phase of rapid
growth in energy demand in developing Asia,
centred on China, driven by industrialization
and electrification.
• Slower economic growth and an
accelerated reduction in energy intensity* (as
economic growth becomes less dependent on
heavy industry) play roughly equal parts in
explaining the slowing of energy growth.
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
Growing energy needs
 Land resource- Degradation
• The most important natural resource, upon
which all human activity is based since time
immemorial, is land.
• Land resource is our basic resource.
Throughout history, we have drawn most of
our sustenance and much of our fuel,
clothing and shelter from the land.
• It is useful to us as a source of food, as a
place to live, work and play. It has different
roles
 Land resource- Degradation
• It is a productive economic factor in
agriculture, forestry, grazing, fishing and
mining.
• It is considered as a foundation of social
prestige and is the basis of wealth and
political power.
• It has many physical forms like mountains,
hills, plains, lowlands and valleys. It is
characterized by climate from hot to cold and
from humid to dry
 Land resource- Degradation
• Similarly, land supports many kinds of
vegetation.
• In a wide sense, land includes soil and
topography along with their physical features
of a given location.
• It is in this context that land is defined closely
with natural environment.
• However, it is also regarded as space,
situation, and factor of production in
economic processes.
 Land resource- Degradation
• Land may be defined as a physical
environment consisting of relief, soil,
hydrology, climate and vegetation in so far as
they are determined by the land use.
• Value of land depends on its size, location,
distance from the market and nature of
potential use besides productivity.
• The sum total of characteristics that
distinguish a certain kind of area in the earth’s
surface in contrast to other kind of areas to
give it a distinguishing pattern is a landscape.
 Land resource- Degradation
• Every individual has responsibility to use natural
resources judiciously. This will give equal
opportunity to all to use the resources for the
benefit of mankind.
• One should not be selfish to spend the available
resources without thinking of other fellow beings.
• There is no limit to spend natural resources if
available plenty but at the same time one should
realize that natural resources are non-renewable
sources.
• The future also depends on such resources. Every
individual should think himself or herself as a
world think himself or himself as a world citizen.
 Land resource- Degradation
• The whole world is a family and all are
inter-dependant for a better life. The
mother earth has given enough for all to
satisfy minimum wants but not enough
to utilize.
• Every individual has a role in the
conservation of natural resource like in
using water electricity woods, foods etc.
 Land resource- Degradation
• water is life and every drop is precious
similarly every chemical power saved is
like it is produced.
• Woods should be used so has not to
destroy the forest procurement of more
food than needed is like putting other
starving.
• Equitable use of resources for sustainable
life styles.
 Land resource- Degradation
Need for Conservation:
• Use of natural resources is increasing but
the amount of these resources by
decreasing.
• Deforestation caused the loss of energy
resources.
• Relational and international capacities
conserving the resources are not properly
organized, must have some common
conservation strategy.
 Land resource- Degradation
• Objectives of conservation of natural
resources:
• To maintain the essential ecological processes
i.e. food chain recycling of mineral resources
etc and the life support system – soil, air,
water, pond, plants, animals etc.
• To ensure the availability and sustainability of
resources which assumes the survival of all
species is a healthy and easy manner.
• To preserve the diversity at the specific habitat
levels.
 Land resource- Degradation
• Methods of conservation:
• For conservation of water.
• Keeping the water taps closed, when
not in use.
• Using less water-consuming toilets.
 Land resource- Degradation
• Watering the plants to be done in the
evening tours.
• Using drip irrigation and sprinkling
irrigation systems water lawns etc.
• Treating water to be provided for
irrigation purpose.
• Water to be used carefully and
economically for domestically for
domestic and industrial.
 Land resource- Degradation
• Conservation of energy:
• Using alternative source of energy and
develops the renewable sources of energy
such as solar energy, sea water energy, wind
energy, tidal energy, nuclear energy, etc. for
our energy requirements.
• Taking care in using fuels: we should exercise
great care is using fuels for getting energy.
• The fossil fuels should be used only when no
other alternative source is available to us.
 Land resource- Degradation
• The fossil fuel should be conserved
as far as possible.
• Avoiding wastage of energy.
• Some methods to avoid wastage:
• We should use the most efficient
fuels available.
 Land resource- Degradation
Conservation of energy:
Most heating devices like stoves, cloths, etc.
should be used conserving soil:
• By addition of fertilizing.
• By green managing.
• By biological nitrogen fixation.
• Together supply of minerals by
decomposition and animal excreta.
• Prevention of soil erosion:
• By crop rotation.
 Land resource- Degradation
Conservation of energy:
• By growing erosion checking crops like
grasses, pulses, ground nuts etc.
• By making suitable outlet channels to carry
out flood water.
• By dancing afforestation and reforestation to
check soil erosion.
• By making tenancies on the slopes to reduce
the speed of water for checking soil erosion.