Comprehensive overview of Environmental Sciences

(semester I and II) as per Kashmir University and

Cluster University Srinagar syllabus

Dr. Fayaz Ahmad

Assistant Professor Environmental Sciences

ENVIRONMENTAL
SCIENCES
UNDERGRADUATE NOTES
Environmental science, unlike many other basic sciences, is the “science and management change
and relations,” keeping the context of ‘eco’ as forming both terms-“ecology” and “economics.”
 Table of Contents
UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................. 12
DEFINITION, SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENT ................................................ 12
Definition ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Scope Environmental Studies .......................................................................................................... 12
Importance of Environmental Studies ............................................................................................ 12
Social or Cultural dimension of Environment................................................................................ 13
CLASSIFICATION OR COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT ................................................... 13
Lithosphere ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Hydrosphere ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Biosphere ........................................................................................................................................... 14
Atmosphere........................................................................................................................................ 14
Structure of the Atmosphere................................................................................................................ 15
Troposphere....................................................................................................................................... 15
Stratosphere....................................................................................................................................... 15
Mesosphere ........................................................................................................................................ 16
Thermosphere ................................................................................................................................... 16
INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COMPONENTS AND SUBCOMPONENTS ......... 16
CONCEPT OF ECOLOGICAL BALANCE IN NATURE .............................................................. 17
ECOSYSTEM: DEFINITION, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION .................................................. 17
INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS........................................................................................ 18
ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE .............................................................................................................. 18
Biotic (Living) Component ............................................................................................................... 18
Abiotic (Non-Living) Component .................................................................................................... 18
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS OF THE ECOSYSTEM ........................... 19
Ecology and Ecosystem..................................................................................................................... 19
Development and Evolution of Ecosystem ...................................................................................... 19
Structure and Functional Components of Ecosystem.................................................................... 20
Structural aspects.............................................................................................................................. 22
Functional aspects ............................................................................................................................. 23
ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS ............................................................................................................... 23
PRODUCTIVITY OF ECOSYSTEM................................................................................................. 24
Primary productivity ........................................................................................................................ 24
 Secondary productivity..................................................................................................................... 24
Community productivity .................................................................................................................. 24
Food Chain ............................................................................................................................................ 24
Characteristics of food chain ........................................................................................................... 24
Types of food chains.......................................................................................................................... 25
Food Webs ............................................................................................................................................. 25
Characteristics of food web .............................................................................................................. 25
ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEMS................................................................................................. 26
MATERIAL CYCLES IN ECOSYSTEMS ........................................................................................ 27
Water Cycle or Hydrological Cycle ................................................................................................. 27
Carbon Cycle ..................................................................................................................................... 28
Nitrogen Cycle ................................................................................................................................... 29
Oxygen Cycle ..................................................................................................................................... 29
Sulphur Cycle .................................................................................................................................... 30
Phosphorous Cycle ............................................................................................................................ 30
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS .............................................................................................................. 31
Pyramid of Numbers......................................................................................................................... 31
Pyramid of Biomass .......................................................................................................................... 32
Pyramid of Energy ............................................................................................................................ 32
Ecosystem Services................................................................................................................................ 33
Supporting services ........................................................................................................................... 33
Provisioning services ......................................................................................................................... 33
Regulating services............................................................................................................................ 34
Cultural services................................................................................................................................ 34
MAJOR / NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS (BIOMES) ........................................................................... 35
Characteristics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems ................................................................... 35
Artificial Ecosystems ............................................................................................................................ 35
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS........................................................................................................ 36
The Forest Ecosystem ....................................................................................................................... 36
The Desert Ecosystem ....................................................................................................................... 36
The Grassland Ecosystem ................................................................................................................ 36
The Mountain Ecosystem ................................................................................................................. 36
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS (BIOMES) .............................................................................................. 37
 Characteristics of aquatic biome ..................................................................................................... 37
Freshwater regions............................................................................................................................ 37
Ponds and lakes (Lentic) ..................................................................................................................... 37
Streams and rivers (Lotic) ................................................................................................................ 37
WETLANDS .......................................................................................................................................... 38
Marine regions .................................................................................................................................. 38
ECOLOGICAL OR BIOTIC SUCCESSION .................................................................................... 38
Primary succession................................................................................................................................ 38
Secondary succession ........................................................................................................................ 38
Causes of ecological succession ........................................................................................................ 39
Importance of Ecological Succession............................................................................................... 39
NATURAL RESOURCES ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
WATER RESOURCES ........................................................................................................................ 41
SOURCES OF WATER ................................................................................................................... 42
Use of underground water capacity....................................................................................................... 43
WATER BUDGET............................................................................................................................ 43
UTILITY OF WATER ..................................................................................................................... 44
Water uses.............................................................................................................................................. 45
EXPLOITATION OF WATER RESOURCES ................................................................................. 45
WATER STRESS.................................................................................................................................. 46
Conservation of Water Resources ....................................................................................................... 47
RAINWATER HARVESTING ........................................................................................................... 48
WATER CONFLICTS ......................................................................................................................... 48
WATERSHED....................................................................................................................................... 51
Watershed management ....................................................................................................................... 51
BIG DAMS- BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS ..................................................................................... 52
FORESTS RESOURCES ..................................................................................................................... 53
Ecological Role of Forest ...................................................................................................................... 54
Human Interactions with Forests ........................................................................................................ 55
Deforestation: .................................................................................................................................... 55
Causes of Deforestation: ................................................................................................................... 56
Forest Area ............................................................................................................................................ 57
Forest Types .......................................................................................................................................... 57
 Forest Based Industries ........................................................................................................................ 58
Land Resources ..................................................................................................................................... 59
Land Utilization .................................................................................................................................... 60
Culturable waste: .............................................................................................................................. 62
Fallow lands:...................................................................................................................................... 63
Soil erosion............................................................................................................................................. 63
WASTELAND RECLAMATION ....................................................................................................... 64
MINERAL RESOURCES .................................................................................................................... 64
FOOD RESOURCES............................................................................................................................ 65
ENERGY RESOURCES ...................................................................................................................... 66
Renewable energy sources ................................................................................................................ 67
Solar Energy ...................................................................................................................................... 67
BIOMASS .......................................................................................................................................... 69
BIOGAS ............................................................................................................................................. 70
OCEAN ENERGY ............................................................................................................................ 70
WIND ENERGY ............................................................................................................................... 72
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ............................................................................................................. 73
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS (MHD) ..................................................................................... 73
ALTERNATIVE FUELS ................................................................................................................. 73
COAL ................................................................................................................................................. 74
PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS ........................................................................................... 77
NATURAL GAS................................................................................................................................ 78
POWER ............................................................................................................................................. 79
Nuclear Power ..................................................................................................................................... 81
ROLE OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 82
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................... 83
BIODIVERSITY AND ITS CONSERVATION ....................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................................ 84
Levels of Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................ 84
Genetic diversity.................................................................................................................................... 84
Species diversity .................................................................................................................................... 84
Ecosystem diversity............................................................................................................................... 85
 VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY ............................................................................................................. 86
Consumptive use value........................................................................................................................... 86
THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY ........................................................................................................ 88
Habitat degradation .............................................................................................................................. 89
Overexploitation.................................................................................................................................... 89
Invasive species: .................................................................................................................................... 89
Anthropogenic climate change............................................................................................................. 90
CONCEPT OF THREATENED SPECIES ........................................................................................ 90
MAN–WILDLIFE CONFLICT........................................................................................................... 91
Reasons for Man-Wildlife Conflict ...................................................................................................... 92
BIOLOGICAL INVASION ................................................................................................................. 93
ENDEMISM .......................................................................................................................................... 94
BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS............................................................................................................. 95
CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY ........................................................................................... 96
Strategies for Conservation of Biodiversity:....................................................................................... 96
Conservation Methods: ........................................................................................................................ 97
BIOGEOPORAHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA ............................................................... 100
BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS ....................................... 101
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AT NATIONAL LEVEL .................................................................. 101
INDIA AS A MEGA-DIVERSITY NATION ................................................................................... 101
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AT LOCAL LEVEL ......................................................................... 101
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, POLICIES AND PRACTICES ......................................................... 103
POLLUTION....................................................................................................................................... 103
AIR POLLUTION .............................................................................................................................. 103
Causes of Air pollution ................................................................................................................... 104
Effects of Air Pollution ................................................................................................................... 104
Control measure for Air Pollution ................................................................................................ 105
WATER POLLUTION ...................................................................................................................... 105
Causes of Water Pollution .............................................................................................................. 106
EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION ......................................................................................... 107
CONTROL OF WATER POLLUTION ....................................................................................... 108
SOIL POLLUTION ............................................................................................................................ 110
Causes of Soil Pollution .................................................................................................................. 110
 Effects of Soil Pollution................................................................................................................... 111
Control measures of soil pollution ................................................................................................. 111
NATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERS ..................................................................................... 112
FLOODS .............................................................................................................................................. 115
DROUGHT .......................................................................................................................................... 116
LANDSLIDES ..................................................................................................................................... 117
EARTHQUAKE.................................................................................................................................. 118
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE ............................................................................................ 120
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ......................................................................................... 121
GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND GLOBAL WARMING ................................................................ 121
Global warming and greenhouse effect ......................................................................................... 122
GLOBAL WARMING ................................................................................................................... 124
CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................................................... 124
OZONE LAYER DEPLETION......................................................................................................... 126
ACID RAIN ......................................................................................................................................... 128
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTS IN INDIA ............................................................................................ 129
SALIENT FEATURES OF AIR (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION) ACT,
1981 ...................................................................................................................................................... 130
WATER POLLUTION CESS ACT (1977) ...................................................................................... 131
SALIENT FEATURES OF WILDLIFE ACT, 1972 ....................................................................... 132
FOREST (CONSERVATION) ACT, 1980 ....................................................................................... 132
THE ENVIRONMENT (PROTECTION) ACT, 1986 .................................................................... 134
Environmental Education (E.E.) ....................................................................................................... 135
CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ...................................................................... 135
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS .............................................................................................................. 2
Environmental ethics .............................................................................................................................. 3
Environmental Movements .................................................................................................................... 5
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................ 8
 UNDERSTANDING ENVIRONMENT

DEFINITION, SCOPE, AND IMPORTANCE OF ENVIRONMENT

Definition
The word environment is derived from the French word 'environ' meaning surroundings. Hence,
everything surrounding us is known as "ENVIRONMENT. The situation is defined as the sum
total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural forces and other living things,
which provide conditions for development and growth as well as of danger and damage. The
environment can also be defined as the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (such as
climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and
ultimately determine its form and survival
Every organism is surrounded by materials and forces that constitute its environment. It is the
environment where every organism must derive its requirement. The environment creates
favorable conditions for the existence and development of living organisms.The survival of any
organism requires a steady supply of materials and the removal of waste products from its
environment.
Environmental studies/ science deal 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 for making human
civilization sustainable on the earth’s finite resources. Its components include biology, geology,
chemistry, physics, engineering, sociology, health, anthropology, economics, statistics,
computers, and philosophy.
Scope of Environmental Studies
a) Developing an awareness and sensitivity to the total environment and its related problems.
b) It is motivating people for active participation in environmental protection and
improvement.
c) Developing skills for active identification and development of solutions to environmental
problems.
d) Imbibe and teach the necessity for the conservation of natural resources.
e) Evaluation of environmental programs in terms of social, economic, ecological, and
aesthetic factors.
Importance of Environmental Studies
In the industrialized era that we live in today, every component that we intake - be it, air, water,
or food is contaminated by industrial activities. THERE IS NO ZERO POLLUTION. To
minimize this problem, knowledge of environmental studies is essential. A comprehensive study
of environmental studies will help us in the following ways:
a) We will begin to appreciate and adopt the idea of "DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT
DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT."
b) Knowledge about "VARIOUS TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTS & DIFFERENT
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS"
c) Playing an active role in protecting the environment by "DEMANDING CHANGES IN
LAW AND ENFORCEMENT SYSTEMS."
d) Having a "POSITIVE IMPACT" on "QUALITY OF LIFE."
 e) Creating a "CONCERN AND RESPECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT."
Social or Cultural dimension of Environment
The social environment includes cultural norms and values. Political, economic, and religious
institutions constitute an essential part of the social milieu and often decide how the
environmental resources will be utilized by people and for whose benefit these will be used. As
such, these factors put constraints on resource utilization.
The social environment can be understood in terms of broad structural arrangements of the
society. Social structure has been described as a network of social institutions. The minimum
requirements seem to be:
1. An economic system is dealing with the production and distribution of goods.
2. A system of communication includes developing a language and also technology so that
information can flow from one part to another.
3. Arrangements including family and education, or raising a well-balanced family,
including the education of children so that every individual is able to contribute towards
society.
4. A system of authority and power. This is done through political institutions, which are
necessary for the attainment of public goals.
5. A’ system of ritual, serving to maintain or to increase social cohesion and to give social
recognition to significant personal events such as birth, courtship, marriage, and death.

The principal institutions and groups of society are concerned with such basic requirements;
together, they constitute the social environment. Let us talk about some of them in a little more
detail.
Family
Family is one of the primary institutions of social organization. In the broad context of the socio-
cultural environment, it performs various functions, including reproduction of humans,
socialization of children, transferring cultural traditions from one generation to another, and so
on.
Culture
According to Edward Taylor, a British anthropologist, "culture is that complex whole which
includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society." The cultural environment cannot remain unaffected by
its social norms, economics, political, and religious institutions.

CLASSIFICATION OR COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT

The term Environment can be broadly defined as one’s surroundings. To be more specific,
we can say that it is the physical and biological habitat that surrounds us, which can be felt by our
physical faculties (seen, heard, touched, smelled, and tasted.) The two major classifications of the
environment are:
(A) Physical Environment: External physical factors like Air, Water, and Land, etc. This
is also called the Abiotic Environment.
(B) Living Environment: All living organisms around us viz. plants, animals, and
microorganisms. This is also called the Biotic Environment.
Earth’s environment can be further subdivided into the following four segments:
(1) Lithosphere
 (2) Hydrosphere
(3) Atmosphere
(4) Biosphere.

Lithosphere
The earth’s crust consisting of the soil and rocks is the lithosphere. The soil is made up of
inorganic and organic matter and water. The main mineral constituents are compounds or mixtures
derived from the elements of Si, Ca, K, Al, Fe, Mn, Ti, O, etc. (Oxides, Silicates, and Carbonates).
The organic constituents are mainly polysaccharides, organic compounds of N, P, and S. The
organic components, even though form only around 4% – 6% of the lithosphere, are responsible
for the fertility of the soil and hence its productivity.

Hydrosphere
This comprises all water resources, both surface and groundwater. The world’s water is
found in oceans and seas, lakes and reservoirs, rivers and streams, glaciers and snowcaps in the
Polar Regions in addition to the groundwater below the land areas. The distribution of water
among these resources is as under:

Oceans and Seas 96–97 %

Glaciers and polar ice caps 2–3 %

Fresh water < 1%

The water locked up in the Oceans and Seas are too salty and cannot be used directly for
human consumption, domestic, agriculture, or industrial purposes. Only less than 1% of water
resources are available for human exploitation. Water is considered a natural compound with
unique properties. These unique properties (e.g., anomalous expansion of water) are mainly
responsible for supporting terrestrial and aquatic life on earth.

Biosphere
The biosphere is a capsule encircling the earth’s surface wherein all the living things exist.
This portion extends from 10000 m below sea level to 6000 m above sea level. Life forms do not
exist outside this zone. The biosphere covers parts of other segments of the environment viz.
Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, and Atmosphere. Life-sustaining resources like food, water, and
oxygen present in the biosphere are being withdrawn, and waste products in increasing quantities
are being dumped. The biosphere has been absorbing this and assimilating them. However, the
rate of waste dumping has gone beyond the assimilating capability of the biosphere, and signals
of this stress are becoming evident.

Atmosphere
It is the gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth and extends up to 500 km above the earth’s
surface. The composition of the atmosphere is given below:
 Constituent Volume %

Nitrogen 78.1

Oxygen 20.9

Water vapor 0.1–5

Argon 0.9

Carbon dioxide 0.03

Trace Balance
constituents*
*The trace constituents include Helium, Neon, Krypton, Xenon, SO2, NO2, Ammonia,
Ozone, and Carbon monoxide, etc.

The atmosphere, which is a gaseous cover, protects the earth from cosmic radiations and
provides life-sustaining Oxygen, the macronutrient Nitrogen, and Carbon dioxide needed for
photosynthesis. The atmosphere screens the dangerous UV radiations from the sun and allows
only radiations in the range of 300 nm – 2500 nm (near UV to near IR) and radio waves. The
atmosphere plays a significant role in maintaining the heat balance of the earth by absorbing the
re-emitted radiation from the earth. In addition, the atmosphere is the medium of carriage of water
from the oceans to the land in the hydrological cycle.

Structure of the Atmosphere

The atmosphere is broadly divided into four major zones viz. Troposphere, Stratosphere,
Mesosphere, and Thermosphere.
Troposphere
The troposphere is the layer of air nearest to the ground. Temperature decreases with height.
The average temperature drops from 15ºC at sea level to –56.5ºC at 11,000 m above sea level.
Mixing of the air molecules due to their constant movement (winds) keeps the composition of the
gases more or less the same throughout the troposphere. An exception to this is water vapor. Most
water vapor evaporates from the surface of the Earth and is found in the lower troposphere. Most
of the weather occurs in the troposphere. The tropopause is the top of the troposphere, which is a
transition layer between Troposphere and Stratosphere
Stratosphere
The Stratosphere is the layer of air above the troposphere, where temperature increases with
height. The average temperature rises to –2.5ºC at 50,000 m above sea level. Ozone is found in
higher concentrations between 20 and 30 km above the surface. Hence, sometimes this layer is
referred to as the “ozone layer.” Ozone absorbs radiant energy from the sun, and thus warmer
temperatures are encountered in the stratosphere. Stratopause is the top of the stratosphere, which
is a transition layer between the Stratosphere and the Mesosphere.
Mesosphere
The mesosphere is the layer of air above the stratosphere, where temperature decreases with
height. The average temperature drops to –90°C at 90,000 m. This is the coldest layer of the
atmosphere. Mesopause is the top of the mesosphere, which is a transition layer between
Mesosphere and Thermosphere.
Thermosphere
The thermosphere is the layer of air above the mesosphere. The temperatures in the
thermosphere increase with increasing height, but there are not many molecules in this layer. The
air becomes less and less dense as we reach space

.
INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE COMPONENTS AND SUBCOMPONENTS
Matter (chemicals), as well as living beings on earth, are distributed among the four major
Environmental Components viz. Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere, and Biosphere. While
for the purpose of studying and understanding the Global Environment, this division may be
convenient; constant interaction by way of mass and energy transfer between these components
and subcomponents is continuously taking place and is pictorially indicated in Fig. given below:
 Every sphere has a flow of matter and energy to every other sphere, which is a two-way
linkage, as shown in the figure. Such two-way interactions are also taking place within individual
spheres. This indicates the movement of matter/energy from one location to another without
exiting the sphere. Environmental problems are hence not confined only to the component/system
where they arise but spread to other components as well. A clear example of this is the Acid Rain.
Emissions of air pollutants like oxides of Sulphur and Nitrogen are transported over long distances
where they are brought down to land and freshwater bodies by rain, creating damage to crops,
soils, freshwater resources, including groundwater, properties, and aquatic life. Another classic
example is the buildup of gases like Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The emissions may be
localized, but the impact is massive and global in nature leading to global warming, which has
far-reaching consequences in terms of both area and time.

Atmosphere

Lithosphere
Hydrosphere

Biosphere

CONCEPT OF ECOLOGICAL BALANCE IN NATURE

Ecological balance has been defined as “a state of dynamic equilibrium within a community of
organisms in which genetic, species and ecosystem diversity remain relatively stable, subject to
gradual changes through natural succession.” and “A stable balance in the numbers of each
species in an ecosystem.” This dependency is mainly for food. This results in the presence of food
chains and food webs. The food chains and other such interrelationships in the ecosystems create
a balance in the environment that is called the ecological balance. Man is also a part of these food
chains and webs.

ECOSYSTEM: DEFINITION, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTION

INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONS
The word ecology comes from Greek word Oikos, meaning house or place to live. The
community of organisms and populations that are interacting with one another and with the
chemical and physical components of their environment is called the ‘ecosystem.’
The term ecosystem was first proposed by A.G. Tansley (1935), who defied the ecosystem as
follows: “Ecosystem is defined as a self-sustained community of plants and animals existing in
its own environment.”
E.P. Odum (1971) defined an ecosystem as “any unit that includes all the organisms in a given
area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy gives rise to a clearly
defined tropic structure, biotic diversity and material cycles within the system.”
Michael Allaby (1983) defined an ecosystem as a community of interdependent organisms
together with the environment.
ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE
A system is an arrangement of matter so related to form a whole (unit). The living organisms
(biotic community) of an area and their non-living environment function together as one group
called an ecological system or ecosystem. Some examples of natural ecosystems are ponds, lakes,
oceans, grasslands, forests, deserts, and so on.
The most extensive ecosystem of the earth is the biosphere, which is self-sufficient and balanced.
Each ecosystem has two components, i.e., Biotic and Abiotic substances. In short, an ecosystem
can be described as a “Life Support System.”

Biotic (Living) Component

It includes all living organisms of the environment. The biotic component can be divided into two
major groups (basing on food preparation and dependent for food):

a) Autotrophs (Producers): Self food-producing organisms are known as autotrophs. They

depend on the environment for raw materials and utilize sunlight for the production of their
own food, hence called as producers.

Process of food production by autotrophs

b) Heterotrophs (Consumers): These are the organisms, most animals that cannot utilize
sunlight directly like autotrophs for their food preparation because they do not have
chlorophyll. Hence, they consume plants and plant products produced by the autotrophs. They
can also be termed as consumers.

c) Decomposers: These decomposers decompose the dead bodies. In the absence of

decomposers, the earth will be packed only with dead bodies.

Abiotic (Non-Living) Component

Non-living components of an ecosystem include all the physical and chemical factors that
influence living organisms, like air, water, soil, rocks, etc. Non-living
Elements are essential for the living world. With no sunlight, water, air, and minerals, life cannot
exist.
Non-living components include all the physical and chemical factors of an ecosystem that
affect living organisms. Some examples are: physical factors include- Sunlight, Temperature,
precipitation, and nature of soil, Fire, and water currents. Chemical elements: Percentage of water
and air in the soil, the salinity of water, oxygen dissolved in water, nutrients present in the soil.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS OF THE ECOSYSTEM

Ecology and Ecosystem
The study and understanding of Ecology is an integral part of Environment Science learning.
Every living being, however small or big, depends on the environment for its existence and
competes with others for essentials in life. For survival, living beings form groups, and different
groups compete with each other for survival. There are two principal divisions of Ecology.
Autoecology or Species Ecology: This is the study of an individual species. i.e., behavior,
adaptation, and interaction of a particular species in its environment.
Synecology or Ecology of Communities: This is the study of Communities and their
interaction with the environment.
An Ecosystem is defined as a group of plants, animals, or living organisms living together
and interacting with the physical environment in which they live. An Ecosystem has a more or
less a closed boundary, and the flow of mass in and out of the system is very less as compared to
the internal movement of the mass. Ecosystems can be large or small. Examples of large
ecosystems are rainforests, deserts, salt marshes, coral reefs, lakes and ponds, Open Ocean,
grasslands, etc.
Development and Evolution of Ecosystem
When the earth was formed around 4.6 billion years ago, there was no life on it since the
surroundings were inhospitable to living organisms. Earth was created from a solidified cloud of
dust and gases leftover from the creation of the Sun. For around 500 million years, the interior of
Earth stayed solid and relatively cool, at approximately 2000°F. The main ingredients were iron
and silicates, with small amounts of other elements, some of them radioactive. As millions of
years passed, the energy released by radioactive decay-mostly of uranium, thorium, and
potassium gradually heated Earth, melting some of its constituents. The iron melted before the
silicates and, being heavier, sank toward the center and forced up the silicates. After many years,
the iron reached the center and began to accumulate. Exploding volcanoes and flowing lava
covering almost everything. Finally, the iron in the center collected as the core. Around it, a thin
but stable crust of solid rock formed as Earth cooled. Depressions in the crust were natural basins
in which water, rising from the interior of the planet through volcanoes and fissures, collected to
form the oceans. Slowly, Earth acquired its present appearance.
One billion years later, there were prokaryotic life forms, which are considered ancestors to all
present living things. The last common ancestor of all presently living organisms must-have
characteristics, which are now present in the organisms. The typical features of living species can
be enumerated as:
(1) All life is cellular in nature.
(2) All living things are made of 50 to 90% water, the source of protons, hydrogen and oxygen
in photosynthesis, and the solvent of biomolecules.
(3) The primary elements in all living beings are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen,
phosphorus, and sulfur.
(4) There is a set of molecules (i.e., sugars, amino acids, nucleotides, fatty acids,
phospholipids, vitamins, and coenzymes. proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and nucleic
acids) universally found in all living organisms.
(5) There is a universal type of membrane structure (i.e., the lipid bilayer).
An ecosystem is made up of organisms, which established themselves in the given area and have
continued to survive and have not become extinct. The species hence possess genes, which fit the
environment and are tolerant of disturbances like a flood, fire, drought, and a reproductive rate
that balances the natural catastrophes. The birth rate of organisms will have to be optimized to
avoid overpopulation and hence starvation. The human population is a good example. As
technological evolution brings down our average death rate, social evolution lowers the birth rate
to strike a balance. Biological growth is, however, much slower than social or technological.
In ecosystems, organisms continuously adjust themselves to geologic or climatic changes and to
each other. As an example, the bats developed sonar to find the moths, and the moths evolved
ears sensitive to the bat’s frequency. The behavioral adaptations are also reflected in the anatomy
or the body structure of the organisms. This evolutionary pattern is prevalent and is called
character displacement. The process of life evolution started from lower plants and progressing
to higher plants, smaller animals, higher animals, and finally to man.

Structure and Functional Components of Ecosystem

Any Ecosystem consists of both living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components, which
are called Environmental or ecological factors. A factor is hence an environmental status, which
directly or indirectly affects the life of an organism.
Abiotic Components
The physical factors of the environment (which are non-living) have a significant influence
on the life of organisms. The abiotic components are of two types. They are:
(a) Climatic factors
(b) Edaphic factors
Climatic factors consist of Temperature, rainfall, and snow, wind, light, humidity, etc. The climate
of an area is the result of several factors such as latitude, elevation, nearness to the sea, and
monsoon activities and ocean currents.
Temperature influences the rates of biochemical reactions in plants, with the reaction rates
approximately doubling with every 10°C increase. Plant species require a range of temperatures
to survive. Below a minimum temperature, they are inactive, and above a maximum temperature,
biochemical reactions stop. Generally, in many plants, growth is possible above 6°C. In areas with
extremes of temperature, such as the tundra and tropical deserts, the plants have mechanisms to
adapt to such conditions.
Light levels decide the magnitude of photosynthesis reactions. Different plants have their
characteristic light requirements with respect to light intensity, duration, and wavelength. Some
plants, termed heliophytes, require high levels, whereas sciophytes can grow in shady, low light
conditions.
Water is an essential factor for biochemical plant processes, including photosynthesis. Plants
growing on lands obtain their water requirements from the soil through their roots by the osmosis
process. Plants called Hydrophytes to grow in freshwater, and they cannot withstand drought.
Xerophytes survive prolonged periods of drought, and halophytes are able to survive in saline
water. Mesophytes require moderate conditions (neither waterlogged nor drought) and are found
mainly in temperate areas.
Edaphic factors or soil factors are pH, mineral, and organic matter in soil and texture of the soil.
The soil is the primary source of nutrients and moisture in almost all the land ecosystems.
The soil is formed when a rock weathers. The rocks break down into a collection of different
inorganic or mineral particles. The climate influences the type and rate of the weathering of the
rocks, as well as the nature of the vegetation growing on it. Nutrients are recycled in the soil by
the plants and animals in their life cycles of growth, death, and decomposition. Thus, humus
material essential to soil fertility is produced.
Biotic Components
The vital component of an ecosystem comprises plants, animals, and microorganisms
(Bacteria and Fungi). They carry out different functions and based on their role, and they are
classified into three main groups. They are Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers.
Producers are mainly green plants having chlorophyll. They produce carbohydrates through
the photosynthesis process. In effect, the plants convert solar energy into chemical energy using
water and carbon dioxide. These are called Autotrophs (self-feeders) since they produce their own
food. Part of the food provided by the autotrophs is utilized for their own consumption for survival
and growth while the remaining is stored in the plant parts for future consumption. This becomes
the food for other biotic components in the environment.
Consumers are living things, which do not have chlorophyll, and hence they are unable to
produce their own food. They rely on the producers for their food requirements. Consumers are
called Heterotrophs. Consumers are classified into four categories. They are
Primary Consumers or Herbivores: They are also called first-order consumers. They ea
producers or plants. Examples are cattle like cow and goat, deer, rabbit, etc.
Secondary Consumers or Primary Carnivores: They are also called second-order consumers.
They eat herbivores. Examples are snakes, cats, foxes, etc.
Tertiary Consumers: They are also called third-order consumers. They feed on secondary
consumers. They are large Carnivores. An example is Wolf.
Quaternary Consumers: They are also called fourth-order consumers. They feed on
secondary consumers. They are massive Carnivores, feed on tertiary consumers, and are not
consumed by other animals. Examples are lions and tigers.
Decomposers called, as Saprotrophs are mainly microorganisms like Bacteria and Fungi. The
dead organic materials of producers and consumers are their food. They break down the organic
matter into pure compounds during their metabolic process. These simple compounds are
nutrients, which are absorbed by the producers, thus completing a cyclic exchange matter between
the biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem.
Structural aspects
Components that make up the structural aspects of an ecosystem include:
1) Inorganic elements – C, N, CO2, H2O.
2) Organic compounds – Protein, Carbohydrates, and Lipids – link abiotic to biotic aspects.
3) Climatic regimes – Temperature, Moisture, Light & Topography.
4) Producers – Plants.
5) Macro consumers – Phagotrophs – Large animals.
6) Micro consumers – Saprotrophs, absorbers– fungi.
Functional aspects
1) Energy cycles.
2) Food chains.
3) Diversity-interlinkages between organisms.
4) Nutrient cycles-biogeochemical cycles.
5) Evolution.
ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS
Ecosystem function is the capacity of natural processes and components to provide goods and
services that satisfy human needs, either directly or indirectly. By following this definition,
ecosystem functions are conceived as a subset of ecological processes and ecosystem structures.
Each function is the result of the natural processes of the total ecological sub-system, of which it
is a part.
There are four primary groups of ecosystem functions
(1) Regulatory functions, (2) Habitat functions, (3) Production functions and (4) Information
functions.
Classification of ecosystem functions, goods, and services
Gas regulation
Climate regulation
Disturbance prevention
Water regulation
Water supply
Regulation functions and related ecosystem
Soil retention
services
Soil formation
Nutrient cycling
Waste treatment
Pollination
Biological control
Habitat functions and related ecosystem Refugium function
services Nursery function
Food
Raw materials
Production functions and related ecosystem
Genetic resources
goods and services
Medicinal resources
Ornamental resources
Aesthetic information
Recreation and ecotourism
Information functions and related
Cultural and artistic inspiration
ecosystem goods and services
Spiritual and historical information
Scientific and educational information
PRODUCTIVITY OF ECOSYSTEM
The amount of food energy produced by a particular trophic level per unit area in a unit time is
called productivity. It is also defined as the rate of biomass production. It is highest in tropical
rain forests while lowest in the desert ecosystem.
Types of productivity
Productivity is of the following types:-

Primary productivity
Primary production is the synthesis of new organic material from inorganic molecules such as
H2O and CO2. It is dominated by the process of photosynthesis, which uses sunlight to synthesize
organic molecules such as sugars, although chemosynthesis represents a small fraction of primary
production. It is again of two types
A. Gross primary productivity
B. Net primary productivity
Gross primary productivity (GPP): It refers to total photosynthesis or total assimilation, i.e.,
the total amount of food formed by the producers per unit area in a unit time.
Net primary productivity (NPP): It refers to gross production minus losses by way of respiration
and decomposition. It is also called apparent photosynthesis or net assimilation.
NPP=GPP-R

Secondary productivity
Secondary production is the generation of the biomass of heterotrophic (consumer) organisms in
a system. Secondary production is sometimes defined to only include consumption of primary
producers by herbivorous consumers (with tertiary production referring to carnivorous
consumers), but it is more commonly defined to include all biomass generation by heterotrophs.
Net secondary productivity (NSP) = food eaten - faeces - respiration energy
So, NSP = GSP- R (just like plants)

Community productivity. It is the rate of net synthesis of organic matter (biomass) by a

community per unit time and area.

Food Chain
The process of eating and being eaten is known as the food chain, or the transfer of energy from
one trophic level to another trophic level is known as a food chain. The food chain is an ideal
model of the flow of energy in the ecosystem. According to this scheme, the plants or producers
(Autotrophs) are eaten by only the primary consumers; primary consumers are eaten by only the
secondary consumers, and so on. A food chain has three main trophic levels viz. Producers,
Consumers, and Decomposers. The energy efficiency of each trophic level is very low. Hence
shorter the food chain greater will be the availability of food.

Characteristics of the food chain

i. In a food chain, there is repeating eating in which each group eats the smaller one and in eaten
by the larger one.
ii. In a food chain, there is a unidirectional flow of energy from the sun to producers and then to
a series of consumers.
iii. Usually, 80-90% of potential energy is lost as heat at each transfer.
iv. Usually, there are 4 or 5 trophic levels in the food chain. Shorter food chains will provide
more energy.
 v. A food chain is always upright.
vi. Omnivores, e.g., man, generally occupy more than one trophic level in the food chain.

Types of food chains

There are two types of food chains:-
Grazing food chain and
Detritus food chain

Grazing food chain:- The food chain that starts with the producers is known as a grazing food
chain.
Grass (Producer) Grasshopper (Primary Consumer) Frog (Secondary Consumer)
Snake (Tertiary Consumer) Falcon (Quaternary Consumer)
Grass Grasshopper Frog Snake Falcon

Detritus food chain

The food chain that starts with dead organic matter is known as detritus are known as a detritus
food chain.
Detritus Bacteria/Fungi Insect larvae Minnows Birds

Food Webs
It is a network of food chains which become interconnected at various trophic levels so as to form
a number of feeding connections amongst different organisms of a biotic community. Food webs
are more complex and are interlinked at different trophic levels. This means that organisms have
more than one alternative for food and hence survivability is better. Hawks do not limit their food
to snakes, snakes eat things other than mice, and mice eat grass as well as grasshoppers, and so
on. A more realistic depiction of eating habits in an ecosystem is called a food web.

Characteristics of a food web

i. In an ecosystem, no food chain is independent.
ii. It is formed by an interlinking pattern of three types of food chains, e.g., Predatory food
chains, Parasitic food chains, and Saprophytic food chains (starting from dead organic
matter).
iii. Food webs help in checking the overpopulation of various animals and plants.
iv. Food webs also help in ecosystem development.

Food web
ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEMS
The sun is the source of all our energy. It is a continuously exploding hydrogen bomb where
hydrogen is converted to helium with the release of energy. This energy is mostly in the region
of 0.2 to 4 mm (Ultraviolet to Infrared). Around 50% of the radiation is in the visible range. The
energy reaches the earth at a constant rate called the Solar Flux or Solar Constant, which is the
amount of radiant energy crossing unit area in unit time. This value is approximately 1.4 KJ per
sq. meter per second.
Chlorophyll-bearing plants convert this energy from the sun into carbohydrates and sugars using
carbon dioxide and water. This process is known as Photosynthesis. The generalized form of the
photosynthetic reaction is
6CO2 + 12H2O —→ C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O
Carbon dioxide + water —→ glucose + oxygen + water
The carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis undergo further modifications such as the
production of proteins and nucleic acids by combining with nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Sulphur.
Starch polymerizes to cellulose. The sun’s energy thus enters the living beings through
photosynthetic reactions and is passed from one organism to another in the form of food. The
flow of energy is uni-directional and is governed by the thermodynamic law that states that energy
is neither created nor destroyed and can transform into different forms.
When energy travels from producers to different levels of consumers in an ecosystem, there is a
loss at each level due to the energy dissipated as heat during the metabolic processes of the
organisms. Hence as we move systematically away from the primary producers, the amount of
available energy decreases rapidly. Hence, only 3 to 5 feeding levels are possible. These are
referred to as Tropic levels. The figure given below illustrates the energy travel in an ecosystem.
Light falling on the plants is trapped by the producers in the presence of Mg++ containing green
pigment, called chlorophyll, and is used in assimilating the organic food called glucose by the
process of photosynthesis. The total biomass manufactured by plants during photosynthesis is
called gross primary productivity (PN) of an ecosystem. On average, it is about 1-5 percent
energy of incident radiations. A part of this is used by the plants themselves for respiration (R),
while the remaining biomass is called net primary productivity (PN). It is also called apparent
photosynthesis. On average, it is about 0.8-4 percent energy of incident radiation and can be
represented as PN=PG-R
MATERIAL CYCLES IN ECOSYSTEMS
As energy flows through the ecosystem, there is also a constant flow of matter. Living beings take
up several nutrients from their abiotic environment, and when they die, they are returned to the
environment. This cyclic movement of nutrient material between the biotic and abiotic
environment is called the Biogeochemical Cycle. These cycles depict the material movement and
their conservation.
The most essential and common biogeochemical cycles are:
(1) Water Cycle or Hydrological Cycle
(2) Carbon Cycle
(3) Nitrogen Cycle
(4) Oxygen Cycle
(5) Sulphur Cycle
(6) Phosphorous Cycle.
Water Cycle or Hydrological Cycle
There is a constant and continuous exchange of water between air, land, sea, and living beings. A
considerable part of the solar energy incident on the earth is used for the massive evaporation of
water from the oceans, seas, and other exposed water bodies leading to cloud formation and
precipitation in the form of rainfall or snow. This is the major source of freshwater for the living
beings. Surface water runoff results in part of freshwater returning to the sea through rivers and
streams. Underground water or simply Groundwater is replenished by surface accumulated water
from precipitation. Groundwater depletion takes place due to the exploitation of the same by
pumping. The plants also absorb groundwater. This hydrological cycle hence is the continuous
and balanced process of evaporation, precipitation, transpiration, and runoff of water.

Carbon Cycle
Carbon is an essential component of all plant, animal, and organic matter. The atmosphere is an
important source of carbon that is present in the form of carbon dioxide, which the plants or
producers absorb by photosynthesis and generate several organic compounds. These are passed
to the consumers (Herbivores and Carnivores) in the form of food. Part of this is returned to the
atmosphere by respiration. The dead organic matter from plants and animals is decomposed by
microorganisms in the result of Carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels
releases large quantities of carbon dioxide. There is a steady buildup of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere due to the increased utilization of fossil fuels as well as the reduction of green plants
(Deforestation). The seas and oceans also serve as a sink for carbon oxide by absorbing the same
and converting it into bicarbonates and mineral deposits, and thus, they play a vital role in the
regulation of the carbon cycle.
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen and its compounds form a vital ingredient in all forms of life in the biosphere. The
availability of Nitrogen is from the atmosphere as molecular Nitrogen in the gaseous form, which
cannot be directly absorbed by the plants or producers. In order to be absorbed by the plants, it
has to be converted into water-soluble compounds with elements like Hydrogen, Carbon, and
Oxygen. This process is known as the Fixation of Nitrogen. Nitrogen fixation takes place by
Bacteria, Algae, and electrical storms. Synthetic fixation of Nitrogen is done by the manufacture
of nitrogenous fertilizers through the ammonia conversion route. The plants absorb the fixed
Nitrogen from the soil and convert them into proteins and other compounds during the metabolic
process. Decomposers, ammonifying bacteria, and Nitrate bacteria also help in the fixing process
by converting dead animal and plant parts into absorbable nitrates. The denitrifying bacteria
complete the cycle, which helps in releasing gaseous Nitrogen back into the atmosphere from the
soil.

Oxygen Cycle
Oxygen is essential for the existence of all flora and fauna. The source of Oxygen in the
atmosphere. Plants and animals absorb oxygen during respiration from either air or water. Part of
the Oxygen returns to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide and water vapor in the
respiration process itself. Gaseous oxygen is released during the photosynthesis process (Refer
photosynthetic reaction), completing the Oxygen Cycle.
Sulphur Cycle
Amino acids and proteins need Sulphur compounds for their production. In the atmosphere, it is
present as Sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide and in the soil as sulfates or sulfides. Volcanic
emissions and the burning of fossil fuels are the supply of Sulphur dioxide to the atmosphere,
while hydrogen sulfide is from bacterial emissions. Atmospheric Sulphur dioxide is also oxidized
to Sulphur trioxide, which eventually reaches the earth along with rainfall. Anaerobic and aerobic
Sulphur bacteria also play a vital role in the interchange and movement of Sulphur compounds in
the ecosystem. The Sulphur compounds in the plant and animal parts are absorbed by the soil
after their death and decay and converted into sulfides and sulfates by Sulphur bacteria, which
are subsequently used up by the plants. As in the case of carbon dioxide, the atmosphere is
receiving excess quantities of Sulphur dioxide, which is leading to adverse environmental effects.
Phosphorous Cycle
The bones and teeth of animals, including human beings, contain Phosphates, which is necessary
for their development and growth. In addition, phosphates are essential for cells in the production
of DNA and RNA. Phosphates are available in the lithosphere in rocks and soil in inorganic form.
Plants absorb them and convert them into organo-phosphates. Phosphates are also added to the
soil through phosphatic fertilizers. Soluble phosphates reaching rivers and streams from
agricultural lands made rich in phosphates causes excess algae growth leading to eutrophication.
The return of phosphates to the earth is by the decay of plant and animal matter and subsequent
absorption.
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
An ecological pyramid (also trophic pyramid, Eltonian pyramid, energy pyramid, or sometimes
food pyramid) is a graphical representation designed to show the biomass or bio-productivity at
each trophic level in a given ecosystem.
To simplify the complexities of an ecosystem, ecologists often graph the relationships in an
ecosystem as a pyramid, with the primary producer trophic level at the base and the consumer
levels above it. Standard pyramid models include numbers of pyramids, biomass pyramids, and
energy pyramids.
Pyramid of Numbers
Numbers pyramids compare the number of individuals at each trophic level. Numbers pyramids
often reveal that organisms at the base of the pyramid are the most numerous. In some cases,
however, a numbers pyramid can seem inverted. An inversion seems to exist when an organism
that occurs in the highest number does not fall at the bottom of the pyramid. For example, in a
forest ecosystem, a single large producer, such as an oak tree, may support thousands of
caterpillars and hundreds of secondary consumers, such as spiders and birds.

Upright Pyramid of Number This type of pyramid number is found in the aquatic and grassland
ecosystem, in these ecosystems there are numerous small autotrophs which support lesser
herbivores which in turn support a smaller number of carnivores, and hence this pyramid is
upright
Partly Upright pyramid of Number It is seen in the forest ecosystem where the number of
producers are lesser in number and support a higher number of herbivores and which in turn
support a fewer number of carnivores.
Inverted Pyramid of Number This type of ecological pyramid is seen in the parasitic food chain,
where one primary producer supports numerous parasites that support more hyperparasites.
Pyramid of Biomass
Biomass pyramids compare the amount of biomass at each trophic level. Biomass is the total dry
weight of the organisms in the ecosystem. In the grassland Ecosystem, the biomass of primary
producers is over 783 times greater than that of the primary consumers. In contrast, phytoplankton
in a marine ecosystem has less than one-fifth of the biomass of the zooplankton they support.

Pyramid of Energy
Energy pyramids compare the total amount of energy, measured in kilocalories, in each trophic
level. Unlike numbers pyramids and biomass pyramids, energy pyramids are never inverted,
because energy is always lost from one trophic level to the next. As energy flows through the
food chain, there is a dramatic drop in energy each trophic level retains.
Ecosystem Services
As per the 2006 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), ecosystem services are "the benefits
people obtain from ecosystems." The MA also delineated the four categories of ecosystem
services—supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural.
Supporting services
Ecosystem services "that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services.” These
include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production, and soil formation. These
services make it possible for the ecosystems to provide services such as food supply, flood
regulation, and water purification.

Provisioning services
"Products obtained from ecosystems."
• food (including seafood and game), crops, wild foods, and spices
• raw materials (including lumber, skins, fuelwood, organic matter, fodder, and fertilizer)
• genetic resources (including crop improvement genes, and healthcare)
• water
• Biogenic minerals
• medicinal resources (including pharmaceuticals, chemical models, and test and assay
organisms)
• energy (hydropower, biomass fuels)
• ornamental resources (including fashion, handicraft, jewelry, pets, worship, decoration,
and souvenirs like furs, feathers, ivory, orchids, butterflies, aquarium fish, shells, etc.)
Regulating services
"Benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes."
• carbon sequestration and climate regulation
• waste decomposition and detoxification
• purification of water and air
• pest and disease control

Cultural services
"Nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive
development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences."
• Cultural (including the use of nature as a motif in books, film, painting, folklore, national
symbols, architect, advertising, etc.)
• spiritual and historical (including the use of nature for religious or heritage value or
natural)
• recreational experiences (including ecotourism, outdoor sports, and recreation)
• science and education (including the use of natural systems for school excursions,
and scientific discovery)
• Therapeutic (including Ecotherapy, social forestry, and animal-assisted therapy)
There is discussion as to how the concept of cultural ecosystem services can be operationalized.
A useful review of approaches in landscape aesthetics, cultural heritage, outdoor recreation, and
spiritual significance to define and assess cultural values of our environment so that they fit into
the ecosystem services approach is given by Daniel et al. who vote for models that explicitly link
ecological structures and functions with cultural values and benefits. There also is a
fundamental critique of the concept of cultural ecosystem services that builds on three arguments:
1. Pivotal cultural values attaching to the natural/cultivated environment rely on an area’s
unique character that cannot be addressed by methods that use universal scientific
parameters to determine ecological structures and functions.
2. If a natural/cultivated environment has symbolic meanings and cultural values, the object
of these values is not ecosystems but shaped phenomena like mountains, lakes, forests,
and, mainly, symbolic landscapes.
3. Those cultural values do result not from properties produced by ecosystems but are the
product of a specific way of seeing within the given cultural framework of symbolic
experience.
MAJOR / NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS (BIOMES)
Characteristics of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

These natural ecosystems operate by themselves under natural conditions without any significant
interference by man. Based upon the particular kind of habitat, these are further divided as:
1. Terrestrial, e.g., forest, grassland, desert
2. Aquatic which is further distinguished as:
i. Freshwater which may be Lotic (spring, stream or river) or lentic (lake,
pond, pools, ditch, swamp, etc.)
ii. Marine, e.g., sea or ocean (deep bodies) and estuary (shallow bodies).

Artificial Ecosystems
They are also called man-made or man-engineered ecosystems. They are maintained artificially
by man where, by addition of energy and planned manipulation, the natural balance is disturbed
regularly, e.g., croplands such as sugarcane, maize, wheat, rice-fields, orchards, gardens, villages,
cities, dams, aquarium, and manned spaceship.
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
Terrestrial ecosystems are found everywhere apart from water bodies. They are broadly classified
into:
The Forest Ecosystem
These are the ecosystems where an abundance of flora (plants) is seen, and they have a large
number of organisms living in relatively small areas. Therefore, the density of life in forest
ecosystems is very high. Any small change in the ecosystem can affect the whole balance and
collapse the ecosystem. You can see incredible diversity in the fauna of these ecosystems too.
They are again divided into few types.
Tropical evergreen forest: Tropical forests that receive an average rainfall of 80 to 400 inches in a
year. These forests are marked by dense vegetation comprising of tall trees with different levels.
Each level gives shelter to different kinds of animals.
Tropical deciduous forest: Dense bushes and shrubs rule here along with broad levels of trees. This
type of forest is found in many parts of the world, and a large variety of flora and fauna are found
here.
Temperate evergreen forest: They have very few numbers of trees, but ferns and mosses make up
from them. Trees have spiked leaves to minimize transpiration.
Temperate deciduous forest: This forest is found in the moist temperate regions with sufficient
rainfall. Winters and summers are well defined and with trees shedding their leaves during winter.
Taiga: Situated just south of the arctic regions, Taiga is distinguished by evergreen conifers.
While the temperature is subzero for almost six months, the rest of the year, it is buzzing with
insects and migratory birds.

The Desert Ecosystem

Desert ecosystems are found in regions receiving an annual rainfall of less than 25cm. They
occupy around 17 percent of all land on the planet. Due to very high temperatures, intense
sunlight, and low water availability, flora and fauna are very poorly developed and scarce.
Vegetation is mainly bushes, shrubs, few kinds of grass, and rare trees. Leaves and stems of these
plants are modified to conserve water. The best-known desert plants are the succulents like spiny
leaved cacti. Animal life includes insects, reptiles, birds, camels, all of whom are adapted to the
xeric (desert) conditions.

The Grassland Ecosystem

Grasslands are found in both temperate and tropical regions of the world, but the ecosystems are
slightly varying. This area mainly comprises of grasses with a minimal amount of shrubs and
trees. The primary vegetation is grasses, legumes, and plants belonging to the composite family.
Many grazing animals, herbivores and insectivores are found in grasslands. Two main types of
grasslands ecosystems are:
Savanna: These tropical grasslands are seasonally dry with few individual trees. They support a
large number of grazers and predators.
Prairies: This is temperate grassland. It is entirely devoid of trees and large shrubs. Prairies can
be categorized as tall grass, mixed grass, and short grass prairie.

The Mountain Ecosystem

Mountain lands provide a separate but diverse array of habitats in which a broad range of plants
and animals are found. At higher altitudes, harsh environmental conditions generally prevail, and
only treeless alpine vegetation is found. The animals living here have thick fur coats fro
prevention from cold and hibernate in winter months. Lower slopes commonly are covered by
coniferous forests.
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS (BIOMES)
Characteristics of aquatic biome
Water is the common link among the five biomes, and it makes up the most significant part of the
biosphere, covering nearly 75% of the Earth's surface. Aquatic regions house numerous species
of plants and animals, both large and small. In fact, this is where life began billions of years ago
when amino acids first started to come together. Without water, most life forms would be unable
to sustain themselves, and the Earth would be a barren, desert-like place. Although water
temperatures can vary widely, aquatic areas tend to be more humid and the air temperature on the
cooler side.
The aquatic biome can be broken down into two primary regions, freshwater and marine:

Freshwater regions

Freshwater is defined as having a low salt concentration — usually less than 1%. Plants and
animals in freshwater regions are adjusted to the low salt content and would not be able to survive
in areas of high salt concentration (i.e., ocean). There are different types of freshwater regions:
ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands. Characteristics of these three freshwater zones:

Ponds and lakes (Lentic)

The topmost zone near the shore of a lake or pond is the littoral zone. The near-surface open
water surrounded by the littoral zone is the limnetic zone. The limnetic zone is well-lighted (like
the littoral zone) and is dominated by plankton, both phytoplankton, and zooplankton. Plankton
is a small organism that plays a crucial role in the food chain. Plankton has short life spans —
when they die, they fall into the deep-water part of the lake/pond, the profundal zone. This zone
is much colder and denser than the other two. During the summer, the temperature can range from
4°C near the bottom to 22°C at the top. During the winter, the temperature at the bottom can be
4°C, while the top is 0° C (ice). In between the two layers, there is a narrow zone called the
thermocline, where the temperature of the water changes rapidly.

Streams and rivers (Lotic)

These are bodies of flowing water moving in one direction. Streams and rivers can be found
everywhere — they get their starts at headwaters, which may be springs, snowmelt, or even lakes,
and then travel all the way to their mouths, usually another water channel or the ocean. The
characteristics of a river or stream change during the journey from the source to the mouth. The
temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth. The water is also more transparent, has
higher oxygen levels, and freshwater fish such as trout and heterotrophs can be found there.
Towards the middle part of the stream/river, the width increases, as does species diversity —
numerous aquatic green plants and algae can be found. Toward the mouth of the river/stream, the
water becomes murky from all the sediments that it has picked up upstream, decreasing the
amount of light that can penetrate through the water. Since there is less sunlight, there is less
diversity of flora, and because of the lower oxygen levels, fish that require less oxygen, such as
catfish and carp, can be found.
WETLANDS
A lowland area, such as a marsh or swamp, that is saturated with moisture, especially when
regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife. Wetlands are areas of standing water that support
aquatic plants. Marshes, swamps, and bogs are all considered wetlands. Plant species adapted to
the very moist and humid conditions are called hydrophytes. These include pond lilies, cattails,
sedges, tamarack, and black spruce.
Marine regions
Marine regions cover about three-fourths of the Earth's surface and include oceans, coral reefs,
and estuaries. Marine algae supply much of the world's oxygen supply and take in a considerable
amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The evaporation of the seawater provides rainwater for
the land.

OCEANS
The largest of all the ecosystems, oceans are enormous bodies of water that dominate the Earth's
surface. Like ponds and lakes, the ocean regions are separated into separate zones: intertidal,
pelagic, abyssal, and benthic. All four zones have a great diversity of species. Some say that the
ocean contains the most abundant diversity of species even though it contains fewer species than
there are on land.
Estuaries
Estuaries are areas where freshwater streams or rivers merge with the ocean. This mixing of
waters with such different salt concentrations creates an exciting and unique ecosystem.
Microflora like algae, and macroflora, such as seaweeds, marsh grasses, and mangrove trees (only
in the tropics), can be found here. Estuaries support a diverse fauna, including a variety of worms,
oysters, crabs, and waterfowl.
ECOLOGICAL OR BIOTIC SUCCESSION
“Ecological succession is the gradual and orderly process of change in an ecosystem brought
about by the progressive replacement of one community by another until a stable climax is
established.”
The first community to inhibit an area is called a pioneer community, while the last and stable
community in an area is called a climax community. The intermediate communities between the
pioneer and climax communities are called transitional or seral communities. The entire series
of communities are called sere.

Primary succession
If the development begins on an area that has not been previously occupied by a community, such
as a newly exposed rock or sand surface, a lava flow, glacial tills, or a newly formed lake, the
process is known as primary succession.

Secondary succession
If the community development is proceeding in an area from which a community was removed,
it is called secondary succession. Secondary succession arises on sites where the vegetation cover
has been disturbed by humans or other animals (an abandoned crop field or cut-over forest or
natural forces such as water, wind storms, and floods.)
Causes of ecological succession
Autogenic succession (Biotic causes/factors)
Autogenic succession can be brought by changes in the soil caused by the organisms there. These
changes include accumulation of organic matter in a litter or humic layer, alteration of soil
nutrients, change in pH of soil by plants growing there.
Allogenic succession (Physiographic causes/ factors)
Allogenic succession is caused by external environmental influences and not by the vegetation.
For example, soil changes due to erosion, leaching, or the deposition of silt and clays can alter
the nutrient content and water relationships in the ecosystems.
Clements’s theory of succession/Mechanisms of succession
F.E. Clement (1916) developed a descriptive theory of succession and advanced it as a general
ecological concept. His theory of succession had a powerful influence on ecological thought.
Clements’s concept is usually termed classical ecological theory. According to Clement,
succession is a process involving several phases:
1. Nudation: Succession begins with the development of a bare site, called Nudation
(disturbance).
2. Migration: It refers to the arrival of propagules.
3. Ecesis: It involves the establishment and initial growth of vegetation.
4. Competition: As vegetation became well established, grew, and spread, various species began
to compete for space, light, and nutrients. This phase is called competition.
5. Reaction: During this phase, autogenic changes affect the habitat resulting in the replacement
of one plant community by another.
6. Stabilization: The reaction phase leads to the development of a climax community.

Importance of Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is of great importance as
I) It provides information, which helps to have control of the growth rate of one or more species
in a given geographical area.
II) It helps in reforestation and forest management programs.

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 NATURAL RESOURCES
Natural resources are resources that exist without the actions of humankind. It includes sunlight,
atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with all vegetation and animal life that
naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances. In the
case of humans, a natural resource, in his words, refers to any form of energy or matter essential
for the fulfillment of physiological, socioeconomic, and cultural needs, both at the individual
level and that of the community.
According to Ramade (1984), “A natural resource is defined as a form of energy and/or matter
which is essential for the functioning of organisms, populations, and ecosystems.”
The primary ecological variables- energy, space, time, and diversity are sometimes combined
called natural resources. These natural are maintaining ecological balance among themselves.
Man is the only organism that has disrupted this duplicate balance. There are various methods of
categorizing natural resources; these include a source of origin, stage of development, and by
their renewability.
1) Based on origin, natural resources may be divided into two types:
Biotic — Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere (living and organic material), such as
forests and animals, and the materials that can be obtained from them. Fossil fuels such as coal
and petroleum are also included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic
matter.
Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that come from non-living, non-organic material. Examples
of abiotic resources include land, freshwater, air, and heavy metals, including ores such as gold,
iron, copper, silver, etc.
2) Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in the following
ways:
Potential resources — Potential resources are those that exist in a region and may be used in the
future. For example, petroleum occurs with sedimentary rocks in various regions, but until the
time it is actually drilled out and put into use, it remains a potential resource.
Actual resources — Actual resources are those that have been surveyed; their quantity and quality
determined and are being used in present times. The development of an actual resource, such as
wood processing depends upon the technology available and the cost involved.
Reserve resources — the part of an actual resource that can be developed profitably in the future
is called a reserve resource.
Stock resources — Stock resources are those that have been surveyed but cannot be used by
organisms due to lack of technology, for example, hydrogen.
3) Renewability is a prevalent topic, and many natural resources can be categorized as either
renewable or non-renewable:
Renewable resources — Renewable resources can be replenished naturally. Some of these
resources, like sunlight, air, wind, water, etc., are continuously available, and their quantity is not
noticeably affected by human consumption. Though many renewable resources do not have such
a rapid recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use. Resources from a
human user perspective are classified as renewable so long as the rate of replenishment/recovery
exceeds that of the rate of consumption. They replenish easily compared to Non-renewable
resources.
Non-renewable resources – Non-renewable resources either form slowly or do not naturally form
in the environment. Minerals are the most common resource included in this category. From the
human perspective, resources are non-renewable when their rate of consumption exceeds the rate
of replenishment/recovery; a good example of this is fossil fuels, which are in this category
because their rate of formation is prolonged (potentially millions of years), meaning they are
considered non-renewable. Some resources actually naturally deplete in amount without human
interference, the most notable of these being radioactive elements such as uranium, which
naturally decay into heavy metals. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling
them, but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled. Once they are ultimately used, they take millions
of years to replenish.
WATER RESOURCES
Water is so essential for life that we cannot imagine life without it. The evolution of life itself
took place in the water. In the evolution of all kinds of life, water has played an important role.
The amount of water found in living beings is 65 percent and 65 to 99 percent in plants. This
clearly shows the need and utility of water. Water, which is a precious gift of nature, has several
uses. Water is essential for development. From the point of view of availability and suitability,
the potable water is limited in India. Moreover, it has a highly un-own geographical distribution.
Another annoying issue is the deteriorating day-by-day quality of water. It is a matter of great
concern for all of us. Besides coordinating the demand and supply of the water, there is a need to
keep the balance among different sources of water. Hence, conservation of water resources is an
essential requirement.
Water is the most valuable resource in nature. This is a renewable and inexhaustible resource but
is in trouble these days. The demand for water has been increasing its supply continuously
decreasing. If we look at the water resources of India in the global context, India has 4 percent
water, whereas she is housing 16 percent of the world’s population. It means the per capita
availability of water is quite low in our country. India ranks first in the world in the irrigated area.
One-eighth area of the country is flood-prone, and the one-sixth area is under the grip of drought.
The nature of monsoon is mostly responsible for this. Food grains and other agricultural products
are required in large quantities for the growing population. For this reason, the use of water for
irrigation of crops has been increasing. The demand for water has increased in the cities due to
rapid urbanization, industrialization, and modernization. In addition, the demand for water has
been increasing for sewerage and for removing all kinds of wastes.
Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful to humans. Uses of water
include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational, and environmental activities. Virtually
all of these human uses require fresh water. Ninety-seven percent of the water on the Earth is salt
water, and only three percent is freshwater, of which slightly over two-thirds is frozen in glaciers
and polar ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is mainly found as groundwater, with only
a small fraction present above ground or in the air.
Freshwater is a renewable resource, yet the world's supply of clean, fresh water is steadily
decreasing. Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world, and as the world
population continues to rise, so too makes the water demand. Awareness of the global importance
of preserving water for ecosystem services has only recently emerged as, during the 20th century,
more than half the world’s wetlands have been lost along with their valuable environmental
services. Biodiversity-rich freshwater ecosystems are currently declining faster than marine or
land ecosystems. The framework for allocating water resources to water users (where such a
framework exists) is known as water rights.
SOURCES OF WATER
There are four primary sources of water: (i) Surface water (ii) Underground water (iii)
Atmospheric water, and (iv) Oceanic water. In our daily life, we use only surface water and
underground water. Let us study them in detail.
Surface water – The primary source of surface water is precipitation. About 20 percent part of
the precipitation evaporates and mixes with the environment. The large part of surface water is
found in rivers, river lets, ponds, and lakes. The remaining water flows into the seas, oceans.
Water found on the surface is called surface water.
About two – thirds of the total surface water flows into three major rivers of the country – Indus,
Ganges, and Brahmaputra. The water storage capacity of reservoirs constructed in India so far is
about 17400 billion cubic meters. At the time of India’s independence, the water storage capacity
was only 180 billion cubic meters. Hence, water storage capacity has increased about ten times.
Underground water- Rainwater percolates into the earth’s surface and becomes underground
water. The process of percolation also takes place from the surface water. A large amount of water
gets collected under the Earth’s surface by these two methods. This is called underground water.
According to the Central Underground Water Board, renewable underground water capacity in
India (1994-95) was about 4310 billion cubic meters per year. Out of this, about 3960 billion
cubic meter water is available for use. The distribution of underground water is not the same
everywhere. The availability of underground water depends upon the amount of rainfall, nature
of rainfall, nature of the land, and its slope. In the areas of high rainfall where the land is almost
plain and has porous rocks, the water quickly percolates there. Therefore, underground water is
available in plenty at shallow depths in these areas. In areas like Rajasthan, where the land is plain
and has porous sandy soil, the underground water is available in a lesser amount at greater depths
due to lack of rainfall. In the north-eastern areas of the country, where the land is sloppy, the
conditions are not suitable for the percolation of water in spite of more rainfall. With the result,
underground water is available in less quantity at greater depths in these areas also. There are
extensive resources of underground water in the plains of Ganga – Brahmaputra and in coastal
plains. The availability of underground water is less in the peninsular plateau, Himalayan region,
and desert areas.

Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water (generally seawater) is converted to

fresh water. The most common desalination processes are a distillation and reverse osmosis.
Desalination is currently expensive compared to most alternative sources of water, and only a tiny
fraction of total human use is satisfied by desalination. It is only economically practical for high-
valued uses (such as household and industrial uses) in arid areas. The most extensive use is in the
Persian Gulf.

Frozen water- The Himalayas, which are often called "The Roof of the World," contains some
of the most extensive and rough high altitude areas on Earth as well as the most magnificent area
of glaciers and permafrost outside of the poles. Ten of Asia’s largest rivers flow from there, and
more than a billion people’s livelihoods depend on them. To complicate matters, temperatures are
rising more rapidly here than the global average

Use of underground water capacity

Underground water is used on a large scale in the areas where the rainfall is comparatively less.
Underground water is used on a large scale in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat,
and Uttar Pradesh, whereas Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and
Chhattisgarh are such states where in spite of less rainfall, the use of underground water is less.
There is a great need to develop underground water resources here.
WATER BUDGET
Water Budget means – the balance between the available water in the country and the water
underuse. There is a significant variation in the distribution of water resources in space and time.
Water is available in sufficient quantity during the rainy season. As the dry season sets in, there
is a shortage of water. The reserves of our surface and underground water are about 23840 billion
cubic meters. Out of this only, 10860 billion cubic meters of water are required for use. The unit
of measurement of the amount of water is a cubic meter or hectare meter. If water standing one
meter deep on a perfectly flat area of one square meter, then the total volume of the whole of that
water would be one cubic meter. In the same way, if water standing one meter deep on a perfectly
flat area of one hectare, then the total volume of water would be a one-hectare meter. In India, 90
percent of rainfall takes place during the short period of three months from June to August. There
is a significant variation in the number of rainy days in India. The average number of rainy days
on the western coast is 137. In Rajasthan, the average number of rainy days is reduced to less than
10. There is a variation in the nature of rainfall also. The rainfall may be heavy and continuous in
the areas of more rainfall, whereas the rainfall may be low and intermittent in the areas of less
rainfall. Hence, there is a significant variation in the regional distribution of rainfall. About 8
percent of areas of the country receive more than 200 cm rainfall; 20 percent of areas receive
rainfall between 125 to 200 cm, and the remaining 30 percent areas receive less than 75 cm
rainfall. The uneven distribution of rainfall is responsible for the uneven distribution of surface
and underground water.
Graphical distribution of the locations of water on Earth. Only 3% of the Earth's water is
freshwater. Most of it is in ice caps and glaciers (69%) and groundwater (30%), while all lakes,
rivers, and swamps combined only account for a small fraction (0.3%) of the Earth's total
freshwater reserves.
UTILITY OF WATER
The population in India has been increasing continuously. The population of the country has
increased about three times since
independence. Due to this increase
in population, the demand for water
has increased in all the spheres.
Demand for water has increased
comparatively more for drinking,
irrigation, and industries. On the
other hand, per capita annual
availability of water has been
decreasing continuously. In 1951,
per capita annual availability of
water was 5177 cubic meters per
person, which has decreased to 1829
cubic meters per person annually in
2001. In the coming years by 2025,
per capita availability of water is
expected to become 1342 cubic meters annually. It is to be noted that the water crisis arises when
the per capita availability of waterfalls 1000 cubic meters annually. Today many countries have
started facing the water crisis.
There are various uses of water. We need water for drinking, domestic use, irrigation, industries,
public health, cleanliness, and for flushing or draining sewage or human waste. Water is
continuously needed for the generation of hydro-electricity. You cannot imagine fishing, forestry
and water sports without a significant amount of water. In this way, water is essential for all kinds
of developmental work. Its use is essential in all spheres of life. Due to the rapid growth of the
urban population, the demand for water in urban areas has increased tremendously.

Water uses
Agricultural
It is estimated that 70% of worldwide water is used for irrigation, with 15-35% of irrigation
withdrawals being unsustainable. It takes around 2,000 - 3,000 liters of water to produce enough
food to satisfy one person's daily dietary needs. This is a considerable amount when compared to
that required for drinking, which is between two and five liters. To produce food for the now over
7 billion people who inhabit the planet today requires the water that would fill a canal ten meters
deep, 100 meters wide, and 2100 kilometers long.
Industrial: It is estimated that 22% of worldwide water is used in the industry. Significant
industrial users include hydroelectric dams, thermoelectric power plants, which use water for
cooling, ore, and oil refineries, which use water in chemical processes, and manufacturing plants,
which use water as a solvent. Water withdrawal can be very high for specific industries, but
consumption is generally much lower than that of agriculture.
Domestic: It is estimated that 8% of worldwide water use is for domestic purposes. These include
drinking water, bathing, cooking, toilet flushing, cleaning, laundry, and gardening. Basic
domestic water requirements have been estimated by Peter Gleick at around 50 liters per person
per day, excluding water for gardens. Drinking water is water that is of sufficiently high quality
so that it can be consumed or used without risk of immediate or long-term harm. Such water is
commonly called potable water. In most developed countries, the water supplied to domestic,
commercial, and the industry is all of the drinking water standards even though only a tiny
proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation.

Recreation: Recreational water use is usually a tiny but growing percentage of total water use.
Recreational water use is mostly tied to reservoirs.

Environmental: Explicit environmental water use is also a tiny but growing percentage of total
water use. Environmental water usage includes artificial wetlands, artificial lakes intended to
create wildlife habitat, fish ladders, and water releases from reservoirs timed to help fish spawn
or to restore more natural flow regimes

EXPLOITATION OF WATER RESOURCES

Various forms of exploitation of water and its resources have been, since the very beginning of
the existence of mankind, an inevitable prerequisite for survival. Water is the basic biological and
civilization factor, a critical raw material for the economy, a medium allowing transport,
production of energy, disposal of waste from human activities, recreational and sports activities
of a man.

WATER STRESS
The concept of water stress is relatively simple: According to the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development, it applies to situations where there is not enough water for all uses,
whether agricultural, industrial or domestic. Defining thresholds for stress in terms of available
water per capita is more complicated; however, entailing assumptions about water use and its
efficiency. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that when annual per capita renewable freshwater
availability is less than 1,700 cubic meters, countries begin to experience periodic or regular water
stress. Below 1,000 cubic meters, water scarcity begins to hamper economic development and
human health and well-being.

Population growth
In 2000, the world population was 6.2 billion. The UN estimates that by 2050 there will be an
additional 3.5 billion people with most of the growth in developing countries that already suffer
water stress.
Expansion of business activity
Business activity ranging from industrialization to services such as tourism and entertainment
continues to expand rapidly. This expansion requires increased water services, including both
supply and sanitation, which can lead to more pressure on water resources and natural ecosystems.
Rapid urbanization
The trend towards urbanization is accelerating. Small private wells and septic tanks that work
well in low-density communities are not feasible within high-density urban areas.
Climate change
Climate change could have significant impacts on water resources around the world because of
the close connections between the climate and the hydrological cycle. Rising temperatures will
increase evaporation and lead to increases in precipitation, though there will be regional variations
in rainfall.
Depletion of aquifers
Due to the expanding human population, competition for water is growing, such that many of the
world’s major aquifers are becoming depleted. This is due both for direct human consumption as
well as agricultural irrigation by groundwater.

Water a precious Natural Resource.

Water is characterized by certain unique features which make it a marvelous resource:
✓ It exists as a liquid over a wide range of temperatures, i.e., from 0 to 100º C.
✓ It has the highest specific heat, due to which it warms up and cools down very slowly
without causing shocks of temperature jerks to the aquatic life.
✓ It has a high latent heat of vaporization. Hence, it takes a considerable amount of energy
to get vaporized. That’s why it produces a cooling effect as it evaporates.
✓ It is an excellent solvent for several nutrients. Thus, it can serve as an excellent carrier of
nutrients, including oxygen, which is essential for life. But it can also easily dissolve
various pollutants and become a carrier of pathogenic microorganisms.
✓ Due to high surface tension and cohesion, it can only quickly raise through great heights
through the trunk even in the tallest of the trees like Sequoia.
 ✓ It has anomalous expansion behavior, i.e., as it freezes; it expands instead of contracting
and thus becomes lighter. It is because of this property that even in extreme cold, the lakes
freeze only on the surface.
Being lighter, the ice keeps floating, whereas the bottom waters remain at a higher temperature
and, therefore, can sustain aquatic organisms even in extreme cold.
The global distribution of water resources is quite uneven, depending upon several geographic
factors. Tropical rain forest areas receive maximum rainfall while the major world deserts occur
in zones of dry, descending air (20-40 N and S) and receive very little rainfall.

Conservation of Water Resources

Water is being one of the most precious and indispensable resources that need to be conserved.
The following strategies can be adopted for the conservation of water.

1. Decreasing run-off losses: Huge water-loss occurs due to run-off on most of the soils, which
can be reduced by allowing most of the water to infiltrate into the soil. This can be achieved by
using contour cultivation, terrace framing, water spreading, chemical treatment, or improved
water-storage systems.
a. Contour cultivation:
b. Conservation-bench terracing: It involves the construction of a series of benches for
catching the run-off water.
c. Water spreading is done by channeling or lagoon-leveling,
d. Chemical wetting agents (Surfactants):
e. Surface crop residues, tillage, mulch, animal residues, etc. help in reducing run-off by
allowing more time for water to penetrate into the land.
f. Chemical conditioners like gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O), when applied to sodic soils, improve
soil permeability, and reduce runoff. Another useful conditioner is HPAN (hydrolyzed
polyacrylonitrile)
g. Water-storage structures like farm ponds, dug-outs, etc. build by individual farmers can
be useful measures for conserving water through the reduction of runoff.
2. Reducing evaporation losses:
3. Storing water in soil:
4. Reducing irrigation losses:
a. Use of lined or covered canals to reduce seepage
b. Irrigation in the early morning or late evening to reduce evaporation losses
c. Sprinkling irrigation and drip irrigation to conserve water by 30-50% d) growing hybrid
crop varieties with fewer water requirements and tolerance to saline water help conserve
water.
5. Reuse of water:
a) Treated wastewater can be used for irrigation
b) Using greywater from washings, bath-tubs, etc. for watering gardens, washing cars, or
paths help in saving freshwater.
6. Preventing wastage of water: This can be done in households, commercial buildings, and public
places.
a) Closing taps when not in use
b) Repairing any leakage from pipes
c) Using small capacity flush in toilets.
7. Increasing block pricing: The consumer has to pay a proportionately higher bill with higher use
of water. This helps in the economical use of water by consumers.
RAINWATER HARVESTING
Rainwater harvesting is a technique of increasing the recharge of groundwater by capturing and
storing rainwater. This is done by constructing individual water harvesting structures like dug
wells, percolation pits, lagoons, check dams, etc.
Rainwater harvesting has the following objectives:
1. To reduce runoff loss
2. To avoid flooding of roads
3. To meet the increasing demands of water
4. To raise the water table by recharging groundwater
5. To reduce groundwater contamination
6. To supplement groundwater supplies during lean seasons

Rainwater can be mainly harvested by anyone of the following methods:

1. By storing in tanks or reservoirs above or below ground
2. By constructing pits, dug wells, lagoons, trench or check dams on small rivulets
3. By recharging the groundwater.
Before adopting a rainwater harvesting system, the soil characteristics, topography, rainfall
pattern, and climatic conditions should be understood.

Modern Techniques of Rainwater Harvesting:

In arid and semi-arid regions, artificial groundwater recharging is done by constructing shallow
percolation tanks. Check-dams made of any suitable native material (brush, poles, rocks, plants,
loose rocks, wire nets, stones, slabs, sacks, etc.) are constructed for harvesting runoff from vast
catchment areas.
Rajendra Singh of Rajasthan, popularly known as “Waterman,” has been doing a commendable
job for harvesting rainwater by building check-dams in Rajasthan, and he was honored with the
prestigious Megsaysay Award for his work. Groundwater flow can be intercepted by building
groundwater dams or storing water underground. As compared to surface dams, groundwater
dams have several advantages like minimum evaporation loss, reduced chances of contamination,
etc.
WATER CONFLICTS
Water conflict is a term describing a conflict between countries, states, or groups over access to
water resources. The United Nations recognizes that water disputes result from opposing interests
of water users, public or private.
These conflicts occur over both freshwater and saltwater, and both between and within nations.
However, conflicts occur mostly over freshwater; because freshwater resources are necessary, yet
limited, they are the center of water disputes arising out of a need for potable water and irrigation.
As freshwater is a vital, yet unevenly distributed natural resource, its availability often impacts
the living and economic conditions of a country or region. The lack of cost-effective water supply
options in areas like the Middle East, among other elements of water crises can put severe
pressures on all water users, whether corporate, government, or individual, leading to tension and
possibly aggression.
Krishna-Godavari water dispute-The Krishna-Godavari water dispute among Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh (AP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), and Orissa could not be resolved
through negotiations. Here Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the lower riparian states on the
river Krishna, and Maharashtra is the upper riparian state. The dispute was mainly about the inter-
state utilization of untapped surplus water.
The Krishna Tribunal reached its decision in 1973, and the award was published in 1976. The
Tribunal relied on the principle of “equitable apportionment” for the actual allocation of the water.
It addressed three issues:
1) The extent to which the existing uses should be protected as opposed to future or
contemplated uses.
2) Diversion of water to another watershed.
3) Rules governing the preferential uses of water.
The Tribunal's rulings were as follows:
• On the first issue, the Tribunal concluded that projects that were in operation or under
consideration as in September 1960 should be preferred to contemplated uses and should
be protected. The Tribunal also judged that except by the individual consent of the parties,
a project committed after 1960 should not be entitled to any priority over contemplated
uses.
• On the second issue, the Tribunal concluded that diversion of Krishna waters to another
waterline was legal when the water was diverted to areas outside the river basin but within
the political boundaries of the riparian states. It was silent regarding the diversion of water
to areas of non-riparian states.
• On the third issue, the Tribunal specified that all existing uses based on diversion of water
outside the basin would receive protection.
The Godavari Tribunal commenced hearings in January 1974, after making its award for the
Krishna case. It gave its final award in 1979, but meanwhile, the States continued negotiations
among themselves and reached agreements on all disputed issues. Hence the Tribunal was merely
required to endorse these agreements in its award. Unlike in the case of other tribunals, there was
no quantification of flows, or quantitative division of these flows: the states divided up the area
into sub-basins, and allocated flows from these sub-basins to individual states – this was similar
in approach to the successful Indus agreement between India and Pakistan. Another difference
was that the agreement was not subject to review, becoming in effect, perpetually valid.

The Cauvery dispute- The core of the Cauvery dispute relates to the re-sharing of waters that are
already being fully utilized. Here the two parties to the dispute are Karnataka (old Mysore) and
Tamil Nadu (the old Madras Presidency). Between 1968 and 1990, 26 meetings were held at the
ministerial level, but no consensus could be reached. The Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal was
constituted on June 2, 1990, under the ISWD Act, 1956. There has been a fundamental difference
between Tamil Nadu on the one hand and the central government and Karnataka on the other in
their approach towards the sharing of Cauvery waters. The government of Tamil Nadu argued
that since Karnataka was constructing the Kabini, Hemavathi, Harangi, Swarnavathi dams on the
river Cauvery and was expanding the ayacuts (irrigation works), Karnataka was unilaterally
diminishing the supply of waters to Tamil Nadu, and adversely affect the prescriptive rights of
the already acquired and existing ayacuts. The government of Tamil Nadu also maintained that
the Karnataka government had failed to implement the terms of the 1892 and 1924 Agreements
relating to the use, distribution, and control of the Cauvery waters. Tamil Nadu asserts that the
entitlements of the 1924 Agreement are permanent. Only those clauses that deal with the
utilization of surplus water for further extension of irrigation in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,
beyond what was contemplated in 1924.
The agreement can be changed. In contrast, Karnataka questions the validity of the 1924
Agreement. According to the Karnataka government, the Cauvery water issue must be viewed
from an angle that emphasizes equity and regional balance in future sharing arrangements.
There are several reasons why the negotiations of 1968-1990 failed to bring about a consensus.
1. There was a divergence of interest between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on the question of
pursuing negotiations. Karnataka was interested in prolonging the negotiations and
thwarting the reference to a tribunal, in order to gain time to complete its new projects.
2. The Cauvery issue became intensely politicised in the 1970s and 1980s. The respective
governments in the two states were run by different political parties. Active bipartisan
politics in both states made an ultimate solution more difficult.
3. Between 1968 and 1990, there were three chief ministers in Karnataka belonging to three
different political parties, while in Tamil Nadu, there were four chief ministers belonging
to two parties. There were two extended periods of President’s Rule in Tamil Nadu. At
the centre, there were six changes of Prime Minister, spanning four political parties and
eight different Union Ministers of irrigation. So, consecutive occasions when the same set
of ministers from the same state and the centre met were rare.
4. The ministerial meetings were held at regular intervals, but no attempt was made to
generate technical options to the sharing of Cauvery waters. Expert engineers were not
able to work together for a common solution; instead they got involved in party politics.

The Ravi-Beas dispute-Punjab and Haryana, the main current parties in this dispute, are both
agricultural surplus states, providing large quantities of grain for the rest of India. Because of the
scarcity and uncertainty of rainfall, irrigation is the mainstay of agriculture. An initial agreement
on the sharing of the waters of the Ravi and Beas after partition was reached in 1955, through an
inter-state meeting convened by the central government.
The present dispute between Punjab and Haryana about Ravi-Beas water started with the
reorganisation of Punjab in November 1966, when Punjab and Haryana were carved out as
successor states of erstwhile Punjab. The four perennial rivers, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Yamuna
flow through both these states, which are heavily dependent on irrigated agriculture in this arid
area. Irrigation became increasingly important in the late 1960s with the introduction and
widespread adoption of high yielding varieties of wheat.
As a result of the protests by Punjab against the 1976 agreement allocating water from Ravi-Beas,
further discussions were conducted (now including Rajasthan as well), and a new agreement was
accepted in 1981. This agreement, reached by a state government allied to the central government,
became a source of continued protest by the political opposition, and lobbies outside the formal
political process. Punjab entered a period of great strife, and a complex chain of events led to the
constitution of a tribunal to examine the Ravi-Beas issue in 1986. Both states sought clarifications
of aspects of the award by this tribunal, but the centre has not provided these. Hence, the award
has not been notified and does not have the status yet of a final, binding decision.
WATERSHED
A watershed is the area of land that drains into a body of water such as a river, lake, stream or
bay. It is separated from other watersheds by high points in the area such as hills or slopes. It
includes not only the waterway itself but also the entire land area that drains to it. For example,
the watershed of a lake would include not only the streams entering that lake but also the land
area that drains into those streams and eventually the lake. Drainage basins generally refer to
large watersheds that encompass the watersheds of many smaller rivers and streams.
Watershed is not merely the hydrological unit but also a socio-political-ecological entity which
plays a crucial role in determining food, social, and economic security and provides life support
services to rural people. The criteria for selecting watershed size also depend on the objectives of
the development and terrain slope. A large watershed can be managed in plain valley areas or
where forest or pasture development is the main objective. In hilly areas or where intensive
agriculture development is planned, the size of watershed relatively preferred is small
Watershed management
Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the
sustainable distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans,
programs, and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions that affect the plant, animal,
and human communities within the watershed boundary. Features of a watershed that agencies
seek to manage include water supply, water quality, drainage, stormwater runoff, water rights,
and the overall planning and utilisation of watersheds. Landowners, land use agencies, stormwater
management experts, environmental specialists, water use surveyors and communities all play an
integral part in watershed management.
Runoff from rainwater or snowmelt can contribute significant amounts of pollution into the lake
or river. Watershed management helps to
control pollution of the water and other
natural resources in the watershed by
identifying the different kinds of pollution
present in the watershed and how those
pollutants are transported and
recommending ways to reduce or eliminate
those pollution sources.
All activities that occur within a watershed
will somehow affect that watershed’s
natural resources and water quality. New
land development, runoff from already-
developed areas, agricultural activities, and household activities such as gardening/lawn care,
septic system use/maintenance, water diversion and car maintenance all can affect the quality of
the resources within a watershed. Watershed management planning comprehensively identifies
those activities that affect the health of the watershed and makes recommendations to adequately
address them so that adverse impacts from pollution are reduced.
Watershed management is also critical because the planning process results in a partnership
among all affected parties in the watershed. That partnership is essential to the successful
management of the land and water resources in the watershed since all partners have a stake in
the health of the watershed. It is also an efficient way to prioritise the implementation of
watershed management plans in times when resources may be limited.
Because watershed boundaries do not coincide with political boundaries, the actions of adjacent
municipalities upstream can have as much of an impact on the downstream municipality’s land
and water resources as those actions carried out locally. Impacts from upstream sources can
sometimes undermine the efforts of downstream municipalities to control pollution.
Comprehensive planning for the resources within the entire watershed, with participation and
commitment from all municipalities in the watershed, is critical to protecting the health of the
watershed’s resources.

The first steps in watershed management planning are to:

• Delineate and map the watershed’s boundaries and the smaller drainage basins within the
watershed;
• Inventory and map the resources in the watershed;
• Inventory and map the natural and manmade drainage systems in the watershed;
• Inventory and map land use and land cover;
• Inventory and map soils;
• Identify areas of erosion, including stream banks and construction sites;
• Identify the quality of water resources in the watershed as a baseline; and
• Inventory and map pollution sources, both point sources (such as industrial discharge
pipes) and nonpoint sources (such as municipal stormwater systems, failing septic
systems, illicit discharges).

Objectives of Watershed Management:

Rational utilization of land and water sources for optimum production causing minimum
damage to the natural resources is known as watershed management. The objectives of
watershed management are as follows:

1. To rehabilitate the watershed through proper land use adopting conservation strategies
for minimizing soil erosion and moisture retention so as to ensure good productivity of
the land for the farmers.
2. To manage the watershed for beneficial developmental activities like domestic water
supply, irrigation, hydropower generation etc.
3. To minimize the risks of floods, droughts and landslides.
4. To develop rural areas in the region with clear plans for improving the economy of the
regions.

BIG DAMS- BENEFITS AND PROBLEMS

Benefits:
River valley projects with big dams have usually been considered a vital role in the development
process due to their multiple uses. India has the distinction of having the most significant number
of river valley projects. These dams are often regarded as a symbol of national development.
There are hopes all over from every corner of the region where such dam is planned to be
constructed. Such projects result providing much employment of opportunities, raise in the
standard of living and improvement in quality of life. Such projects have tremendous potential
for economic upliftment and growth. It can check floods and famines, generate electricity and
reduce water and power shortage, provide irrigation water to lower areas, provide drinking water
in remote areas and bring out overall development of the region.

Environmental problems:
The environmental impacts of big dams are also too many due to which very often big dams
become an issue of controversy. The impacts can be at the upstream as well as downstream levels.

Upstream problems:
❖ Displacement of tribal people
❖ Loss of forests, flora and fauna
❖ Changes in fisheries and the spawning grounds
❖ Siltation and sedimentation of reservoirs
❖ Loss of non-forest land
❖ Stagnation and waterlogging near reservoir
❖ Breeding of vectors and spread of vector-borne diseases
❖ Reservoir induced seismicity (RIS) causing earthquakes
❖ Growth of aquatic weeds
❖ Microclimatic changes

Downstream impacts:
❖ Waterlogging and salinity due to over-irrigation
❖ Micro-climatic changes
❖ Reduced water flow and silt deposition in river
❖ Flash floods
❖ Saltwater intrusion at river mouth
❖ Loss of land fertility along the river since the sediments carrying nutrients get deposited
in the reservoir
❖ Outbreak of vector-borne diseases like malaria
Thus, dams are built to serve the society with multiple uses, but it has several serious side effects.
That is why now there is a shift towards construction of small dams or min-hydel projects.

FORESTS RESOURCES
The word ‘forest’ is derived from the Latin word ‘foris’ means ‘outside’ (maybe the reference
was to a village boundary or fence separating the village and the forest land). A forest is a complex
ecosystem, which is predominantly composed of trees, shrubs and is usually a closed canopy. A
forest is a natural, self-sustaining community characterised by vertical struc-ture created by the
presence of trees. Trees are large, generally single-stemmed, woody plants. Forest can exist in
many different regions under a wide range of conditions, but all actual forests share these physical
characteristics.
Forests are storehouses of a large variety of life forms such as plants, mammals, birds, insects etc.
In addition, the forests have abundant microorganisms and fungi, which do the vital work of
decomposing dead organic matter thereby enriching the soil. Nearly 4 billion hectares of forest
cover the earth’s surface, roughly 30 % of its total land area. In India, forests form 23 % of the
total land area. The term forest implies ‘natural vegetation’ of the area, existing from thousands
of years and supporting a variety of biodiversity, forming a complex ecosystem. The plantation
is different from the natural forest as these planted species are often of the same type and does
not support a variety of natural biodiversity.

Total forest area (mha) - 63.73 (19.39% of geographic area)

Dense forest (mha) - 37.74 (11.48 % of total forest area)
Open forest (mha) - 25.50 (7.76% of total forest area)
Mangroves (mha) - 0.49 (0.15% of total forest area)
The per capita forest land in India is 0.10 Hectare compared to the world average of 1hectare,
Canada 14.2 Hectare, Australia 7.6 Hectare and USA 7.30 Hectare.

Ecological Role of Forest

• Forests provide an environment for many species of plants and animals thus protects and
sustains the diversity of nature.
• Plants provide habitat to different types of organisms. Birds build their nests on the
branches of trees, animals and birds live in the hollows, insects and other organisms live
in various parts of the plant.
• Forests act as hydrologic flow modulators
• Plants provide a protective canopy that lessens the impact of raindrops on the soil, thereby
reducing soil erosion. Roots help to hold the soil in place. They provide shade, which
prevents the soil from becoming too dry. Thus increases the soil moisture-holding
capacity.
• Forests help in maintaining microclimate of the area.
• Plants clean the air, cool it on hot days, conserve heat at night, and act as excellent sound
absorbers. Transpiration from the forests affects the relative humidity and precipitation in
a place. Forests clean the environment by muffling noises, buffering strong winds and
stopping dust and gases.
 • The layer of leaves that fall from the tree prevents runoff and allows the water to percolate
into the soil. Thus helping in groundwater recharge.
• Dead plants decompose to form humus, organic matter that holds the water and provides
nutrients to the soil.
• Through the process of photosynthesis, forests renew the oxygen supply in the atmosphere
by absorbing atmospheric CO2 and moderating the greenhouse effect.
As per the report published by Ministry of Environment and Forests during August 2009,
the annual CO2 removal by India’s forest and tree cover is enough to neutralise 11.25 %
of
• India’s Total Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CO2 equivalent) at 1994 levels. This is
equivalent to offsetting 100% emissions from all energy in residential and transport
sectors; or 40% of total emissions from the agriculture sector. Clearly, India’s forest and
tree cover are serving as a significant mode of carbon mitigation for India and the world.
• Forest cover of an area plays an essential role in the amount of precipitation received by
the area. Thus, play an essential role in maintaining water cycle of the area.
• Some species of trees have the ability to return nitrogen to the soil through root
decomposition of fallen leaves. Such trees are planted to increase the nitrogen content of
the soil.
• Forests absorb suspended particles in air thereby reducing pollution.
• Forests also help in the process of soil formation by causing weathering of rock
• They play a vital role in maintaining a healthy watershed. Rivers originate in a forest area
and carry the organic matter from forest to the downstream thus supporting a variety of
fishes and aquatic animals. The richness of forest in upstream decides the biological value
of the river ecosystem supported by it.
• It provides forest food, which has great medicinal value and used by local people in
respective season.

Human Interactions with Forests

Human is indisputably a part of most forests. With the exception of extremely distant forest lands,
human being today has influenced all forests to present on Earth for tens of thousands of years.
In many cases, forest communities have never been without the influence of human activities.
Since pre-history, human beings have realised 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 to compel forest systems to produce more of the goods and services
desired by people.

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 deforestation as one of the world’s most pressing land-use problems. 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 are 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.

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.
(2) Forest Fires:
Fires in the forests may be due to natural calamities or human activities:
(a) Smouldering of the hummus and organic matter forming a thick cover over the forest floor
(i.e. ground fires).

(b) Dried twigs and leaves may catch fire (i.e. surface fires).

(c) In densely populated forests, treetops may catch fire by heat produced by constant rubbing
against each other (i.e. crown fires).

(d) Human activities like clearing forest for habitation, agriculture, firewood, construction of
roads, railway tracks and carelessness (throwing burning cigarette stubs on dried foliage).

Fire destroys fully-grown trees, results in killing and scorching of the seeds, hummus, ground
flora and animal life.

(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 the 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, lightning etc. are the natural forces, which damage forests.

Effects of Deforestation:
Forests are closely related to climatic change, biological diversity, wild animals, crops, medicinal
plants etc.

Large-scale deforestation has many far-reaching consequences:

o Habitat destruction of wild animals (tree-using animals are deprived of food and shelter.)
o Increased soil erosion due to the reduction of vegetation cover.
o Reduction in the oxygen liberated by plants through photosynthesis.
o Increase in pollution due to burning of wood and due to a reduction in Carbon-dioxide fixation
by plants.
o The decrease in availability of forest products.
o Loss of cultural diversity
o Loss of Biodiversity
o Scarcity of fuelwood and deterioration in economy and quality of life of people residing near
forests.
o Lowering of the water table due to more run-off and thereby increased use of the underground
water increases the frequency of droughts.
o The rise in Carbon dioxide level has resulted in an increased thermal level of the earth which
in turn results in melting of ice caps and glaciers and consequent flooding of coastal areas.

The UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is covered by lofty mountains, which receive heavy
rainfall and snow. Dense forests are found everywhere particularly in outer and inner Himalayan
ranges. High mountains of Ladakh and Kargil receive a very little rainfall; therefore, these are
devoid of forest cover. However vast grasslands and abundant medicinal and aromatic plants grow
there.

Forest Area

The total Forest area of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh UTs as per working plans is 20,230
sq. km. with region wise distribution given as under:-

Region Geographical Area (Sq. Forest Area (Sq. %age of forest area to
Km.) Km.) geographical area

Kashmir 15948 8128 50.97

Jammu 26293 12066 45.89

Ladakh 59146 36 0.06

TOTAL 101387 20230 19.95

The forest area has increased from 20182 Sq. km. (1987) to 20230 Sq. Kms. (1997) due to
bringing more areas under plantation in Leh and Kargil Divisions and due to reclamation in
Ningle range.

Forest Types
The main forest types found in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh UTs are:
Sub-Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests: These forests are generally found in the lower reaches of
Shiwaliks in Jammu region. The typical tree species are Acacia catachu, Dalbergia sissoo, Acacia
modesta, Albizzia spp, Salmlia malabarica, Eucalyptus Spp, Dendrocalamus strictus.

Sub-Tropical Pine Forests: These forests are situated in upper Shiwalik and the outer
Himalayas. The common species found here are Pinus roxburghii, Albizzia spp, Dalbergia sissoo,
Olea cuspidata and other broad-leaved associates.

Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests: This type is found in Chenab Valley. The typical tree
species are Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, Pinus gerardiana, Abies
pindrow (low level), Juglans regia, Acer spp, Populus ciliata, Prunus padus, Aesculus indicia,
Fraxinus floribunda, Quercus spp. etc.

Himalayan Dry Temperate Forests: This type includes the rain forests of Kashmir valley with
the common tree species as Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Picea smithiana, Abies pindrow,
Juglans regia, Acer spp., Prunus spp., Aesculus indicia, and the typical under the wood of
Parrotia jacquamentiana etc.

Alpine Forest: These forests are situated above the main temperate zone. Common spp. found in
this zone are High-level Fir and Kail, Juinpers, Quercus spp, Populus ciliata, Betual spp, Salix
spp. Rhododendron, and a variety of wildflowers and grasses.

Forest in cold arid zone: Leh and Kargil Districts fall in this zone where natural forests are
meagre. Juniperous spp. exists sporadically. Plantations of Poplar and Salix developed by the
Forest Department over a period of time need irrigation. Robinia has been introduced in the recent
past. The natural shrubs include Hypophea and Myrcaria. Among herbs, Artimisia is abundantly
found, besides other species of medicinal importance.

Forest-Based Industries
Forest resources are indispensable for human beings and have played the most significant role in
the economy of the state.

Following are some of the Forest-based industries:

1) Eco-tourism

2) Turpentine and Resin Industry

3) Kashmir Willow Industry

4) Joinery, Ply and other wood-based industries

5) Pharmaceuticals etc.
Land Resources
The land is another most vital resource, as it will be used for the production of crops and other
biological materials needed for food, fodder, medicine, fibre and associated materials. The
volume of production human attitude. The physical limits of cultivable land are temperature,
moisture, topography and soil. Its availability and cultivability also vary according to the human
social pattern, particularly the use pattern of energy.
Land resources mean the resources available from the land, thus the agricultural land that contains
natural fertiliser for the growth of the products sown; the underground water, the various minerals
like coal, bauxite, gold and other raw materials.
India has a total land area of 2.4% (329 m ha) of the world total but supports a population of over
17%of the world. Thus the per capita land availability is only 0.48 ha as against 8.43 hrs in former
USSR and 0.98 ha in China. The dominant land use categories and an aerial estimate of wasteland
are given in the table below:
Major Land use Categories in India
Categories Area (mha)
Cultivated land 142
Forest land 67
Non- agricultural land 20
Barren & pasture land 55
Fallow land 25

Aerial estimate of wasteland in India

Categories Area (mha)
Salt-affected land 3.99
Gullied or Ravine land 6.73
Undulating upland with or without scrub 11.74
Jhum or forest blank 6.24
Sandy area 13.94
Barren Hill Ridge 2.70
Snow-covered or Glacial area 10.07
Total 55.41
Land Utilization
As in all other countries, land in India is put to various uses. The utilisation of land depends upon
physical factors like topography, soil and climate as well as upon human factors such as the
density of population, duration of occupation of the area, land tenure and technical levels of the
people. There are spatial and temporal differences in land utilisation due to the continued interplay
of physical and human factors. India has a total geographical area of about 328.73 million hectors
but statistics pertaining to land utilisation were available for about 306.05 million hectares in
1999-2000.
Net sown area:
Cropped area in the year under consideration is called net sown area. This area has a special
significance in an agricultural country like India because agricultural production largely depends
on this type of land. There is an urgent need to increase the net area sown for meeting the food
and other requirements of the rapidly increasing population in India; although there is not much
scope for increasing area under this category due to natural limitations such as topography, soils,
climate, etc.
The area sowed more than once:
As the name indicates, this area is used to grow more than one crop in a year. This accounts for
over 34.3 per cent of the net sown area and 16.6 per cent of the total reporting area of the country.
This type of area comprises of land with rich fertile soils and regular water supply. It is clear that
the percentage of area sown more than once is rather low in India as a whole.
Forests:
Forest area has increased considerably from 40.45 million hectares in 1950-51 to 69.0 million
hectares in 1999-2000 recording a 70 per cent increase in a span of half a century. However, 22.23
per cent of forest land to the total reporting area is not sufficient for a tropical country like India
where about 33 per cent of the total land should be under forests. This will require massive tree
plantations and vigorous restrictions on the reckless felling of trees. According to the expert
committee recommendations, much of the area reclaimed from the forest for agriculture should
be retired from cultivation and brought back under forests to save the land from the adverse effects
of deforestation.
Land not available for cultivation:
This class consists of two types of land viz. (i) land put to non-agricultural uses and (ii) barren
and unculturable waste. The area put to non-agricultural uses includes land occupied by villages,
towns, roads, railways or underwater i.e. rivers, lakes, canals, tanks, ponds, etc. The barren land
covers all barren and uncultivated lands in mountains and hill slopes, deserts and rocky areas.
These areas cannot be brought under plough except at high input cost with possible low returns.
The amount of this land has been variable right from 1950-51 to 1999-2000, the data for which
are available.
Permanent pastures and other grazing lands:
A total area of 11 million hectares is devoted to permanent pastures and other grazing lands. This
amounts to about 4 per cent of the total reporting area of the country. Grazing takes place mostly
in forests and another uncultivated land wherever pasturage is available.
The area presently under pastures and other grazing lands is not sufficient keeping in view the
large population of livestock in the country. About one-third of the reporting area in Himachal
Pradesh is under pastures. The proportion varies from 4 to 10 per cent in Madhya Pradesh,
Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Orissa. It is less than 4 per cent in the remaining
parts of the country.
Land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves:
Land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves include all cultivable land which is not included
under net area sown but is put to some agricultural use. Land under casuarina trees, thatching
grass, bamboo, bushes, other groves for fuel, etc. that are not included under orchard are classed
under this category. Land under this category declined sharply from 19.8 million hectares in 1950-
51 to only 4.46 million hectares in 1960-61 and further to 4.29 million hectares in 1970-71. Thus
the percentage of this land fell from 6.97 per cent in 1950-51 to a mere 1.49 per cent in 1960-61
and further to 1.41 per cent in 1970-71.

Culturable waste:
The “wasteland survey and reclamation committee” defines “Culturable waste” as the land
available for cultivation but not used for cultivation for one reason or the other. This land was
used in the past but has been abandoned for some reason. It is not being used at present due to
such constraints as lack of water, salinity or alkalinity of the soil, soil erosion, waterlogging, an
unfavourable physiographic position, or human neglect.

Fallow lands:
This category includes all that land which was used for cultivation but is temporarily out of
cultivation. Fallow land is of two type’s viz., current fallow and fallow other than current fallow.
Fallow of one year is called ‘current fallow’ while that of 2 to 5 years is classified as ‘fallow other
than current fallow’. Fallow land is left uncultivated from 1 to 5 years to help soil recoup its
fertility in a natural way depending upon the nature of the soil and the nature of fanning.
Soil erosion
Soil erosion is a naturally occurring process that affects all landforms. In agriculture, soil erosion
refers to the wearing away of a field's topsoil by the natural physical forces of water and wind or
through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage. Erosion, whether it is by water,
wind or tillage, involves three distinct actions – soil detachment, movement and deposition.
Topsoil, which is high in organic matter, fertility and soil life, is relocated elsewhere "on-site"
where it builds up over time or is carried "off-site" where it fills in drainage channels. Soil erosion
reduces cropland productivity and contributes to the pollution of adjacent watercourses, wetlands
and lakes. Soil erosion can be a slow process that continues relatively unnoticed or can occur at
an alarming rate, causing severe loss of topsoil. Soil compaction, low organic matter, loss of soil
structure, poor internal drainage, salinization and soil acidity problems are other severe soil
degradation conditions that can accelerate the soil erosion process.
Desertification is a type of land degradation in which relatively dry area of land becomes
increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused
by a variety of factors, such as through climate change and through the overexploitation of soil
through human activity. Desertification is defined as land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry
sub-humid regions resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human
activities. When deserts appear automatically over the natural course of a planet's life cycle, then
it can be called a natural phenomenon; however, when deserts emerge due to the rampant and
unchecked depletion of nutrients in soil that is essential for it to remain arable, then a virtual "soil
death" can be spoken of, which traces its cause back to human overexploitation. Desertification
is a significant global ecological and environmental problem.
Land use pattern
It is well known that over 60% Indian population live in rural areas of the country, where
significant activity is agriculture. About 44% of the geographic area is under the plough, 12%
under forest and 4% in grassland. With the passage of time the land use pattern is very much
altered. There are land owners selling in urban and rural areas too, but there is strict legislation of
land-use conversion from one category to another. As such orchards, wetlands, crop fields are
very much altered with the passage of time.
In recent decades, with use of GIS application, resource-based land use planning was developed
in each district for optimization of yield of the land categories. Micro-water shed based
development is one of the significant activities in many rural areas of the country.
Land Degradation: Because of increasing of population growth the demands for arable land for
producing food and fuelwood is also increasing. Hence there is more and more pressure on the
limited land resources which are getting degraded due to over-exploitation. Soil erosion,
waterlogging, salinization and contamination of the soil with industrial wastes like fly-ash, press
mud or heavy metals all-cause degradation of land.
In order to prevent soil erosion and conserve the soil the following conservation practices are
employed:
1. Conservational tillage farming
2. Contour farming
3. Terracing
4. Strip cropping
5. Strip cropping
6. Alley cropping
7. Windbreaks or shelterbelts
8. Waterlogging

Landslides: Various anthropogenic activities like hydroelectric projects, large dams, reservoirs,
construction of roads and railway lines, construction of buildings, mining etc. are responsible for
clearing of large forested areas.
Desertification: Desertification is a process whereby the productive potential of arid or semiarid
lands falls by ten per cent or more. Desertification is characterized by de-vegetation and loss of
vegetal cover, depletion of groundwater, salinization and severe soil erosion.
Causes of desertification: 1) Deforestation b) Overgrazing 3) Mining and quarrying.

WASTELAND RECLAMATION
Economically unproductive lands suffering from environmental deterioration are known as
wastelands. The wastelands include salt-affected lands, sandy areas, gullied areas, undulating
uplands, barren hill-ridge etc. Snow-covered areas; glacial areas and areas rendered barren after
Jhum cultivation are also included in wastelands.
Maximum wasteland areas in our country lie Rajasthan (36 million ha) followed by M.P. and
Andhra Pradesh. In Harayana the wastelands cover about 8.4% of the total land area and most of
it comprises saline, sodic or sandy land areas.
Wastelands are formed by natural processes, which include undulating uplands, snow-covered
lands, coastal saline areas, sandy areas etc. or by anthropogenic (man-made) activities leading to
eroded, saline or waterlogged lands.
Wasteland Reclamation Practices:
Wasteland reclamation and development in our country falls under the purview of Wasteland
Development Board, which works to fulfil following objectives:
1. To improve the physical structure and quality of marginal soils
2. To improve the availability of good quality water for irrigating these lands
3. To prevent soil erosion, flooding and landslides
4. To conserve the biological resources of land for sustainable use

MINERAL RESOURCES
Minerals are naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solids having definite chemical
composition and characteristic physical properties.
There are thousands of minerals occurring in different parts of the world. However, most of the
rocks, we see every day are just composed of few common minerals like quartz, feldspar, biotite
etc. These minerals in turn are composed of some elements like silicon, oxygen, iron etc.
Uses of minerals
Minerals are generally used for development of industrial plants, generation of energy,
construction, equipment and armament for defense, transportation means, medical system,
communication, jewellery- gold, silver etc.
Impacts: Environmental impacts of mineral extraction and use are de-vegetation and defacing of
landscape, subsidence of land, groundwater contamination, surface water pollution, air pollution,
and occupational health hazards etc.
Remedial measures
Remedial measures include adoption of eco-friendly technology, microbial leaching technique,
and restoration of mined areas by re-vegetating them with appropriate plant species, stabilization
of the mined lands, gradual restoration of flora etc.

FOOD RESOURCES
Food is an organic substance, which is necessary for existence of all living organisms. Green
plants are alone able to manufacture the food from raw materials. The food consists of
carbohydrates, fats, proteins, organic acids, vitamins, enzymes and number of mineral salts.
According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
(i) Minimum caloric intake on global scale = 2500 calories/day
(ii) Undernourished people receive 80-90% of this requirement.
(iii) Seriously Undernourished people receive even less than 80% of this minimum
caloric intake.
There are thousands of edible plants and animals over the world out of which only about three
dozen types constitute major food of humans. The main food resources include wheat, rice, maize,
potato, barley, oats etc. about twenty or so common fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, fish and
seafood.
World food problems
Our food problems are directly related to population. Because of overgrazing the agricultural land
gets affected as follows, it results into:
►Land degradation
►Soil erosion
►Loss of useful species

Agriculture also makes impact on the usage of land generally as follows:

►Deforestation
►Soil Erosion
►Depletion of nutrients

Impact of modern agriculture is as follows:

►Impact related to high yielding varieties (HYV)
►Fertilizers related problems include micronutrient imbalance, nitrate pollution, eutrophication

Pesticide related problems include creating resistance in pests and producing new pests, death of
non-target organisms, biological magnification.
Some other problems include waterlogging, salinity problems and such others.
ENERGY RESOURCES
The sun is the primary energy source in our lives. We use it directly for its warmth and through
various natural processes that provide us with food, water, fuel and shelter. The sun’s rays power
the growth of plants, which form our food material, give off oxygen which we breathe in and take
up carbon dioxide that we breathe out. Energy from the sun evaporates water from oceans, rivers
and lakes, to form clouds that turn into rain. Today’s fossil fuels were once the forests that grew
in prehistoric times due to the energy of the sun. Chemical energy contained in chemical
compounds is released when they are broken down by animals in the presence of oxygen. In India,
manual labour is still extensively used to get work done in agricultural systems, and domestic
animals used to pull carts and ploughs. Electrical energy produced in several ways, powers
transport, artificial lighting, agriculture and industry.
This comes from hydel power based on the water cycle that is powered by the sun’s energy that
supports evaporation, or from thermal power stations powered by fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is
held in the nucleus of an atom and is now harnessed to develop electrical energy. We use energy
for household use, agriculture, production of industrial goods and for running transport. Modern
agriculture uses chemical fertilisers, which require large amounts of energy during their
manufacture.
Industry uses energy to power manufacturing units and the urban complexes that support it.
Energy-demanding roads and railway lines are built to transport products from place to place and
to reach raw materials in mines and forests
For almost 200 years, coal was the primary energy source fuelling the industrial revolution in the
19th century. At the close of the 20th century, oil accounted for 39% of the world’s commercial
energy consumption, followed by coal (24%) and natural gas (24%), while nuclear (7%) and
hydro/renewables (6%) accounted for the rest.
Among the commercial energy sources used in India, coal is a predominant source accounting
for 55% of energy consumption estimated in 2001, followed by oil (31%), natural gas (8%), hydro
(5%) and nuclear (1%). In India, biomass (mainly wood and dung) accounts for almost 40% of
primary energy supply. While coal continues to remain the dominant fuel for electricity
generation, nuclear power has been increasingly used since the 1970s and 1980s and the use of
natural gas has increased rapidly in the 80s and 90s.
Classification of Energy Resources
1. Commercial Fuels: e.g. coal, lignite, petroleum products, natural gas and electricity.
Non-commercial Fuels: e.g. fuel wood, cow dung, agricultural waste.
2. Conventional Resources: e.g. fossil fuels (coal, petroleum and natural gas), water and
nuclear energy. Non-conventional Resources (or Alternate energy) solar, bio, wind, ocean,
hydrogen, geothermal.
3. Renewable Resources of Energy: Renewable sources of energy are those natural
resources, which are inexhaustible and can be used to produce energy repeatedly.
Examples are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, tidal energy, water energy
and bioenergy. Atomic minerals are inexhaustible sources of energy when used in fast
breeder reactor technology.
4. Non-Renewable Resources of Energy: Those natural resources, which are exhaustible
and cannot be replaced once they are used. Examples are fossil fuels such as coal, oil and
gas, which together supply 98% of the total world energy demand today.
Renewable energy sources
Renewable energy systems use resources that are regularly replaced and are usually less polluting.
Examples include hydropower, solar, wind, and geothermal (energy from the heat inside the
earth). We also get renewable energy from burning trees and even garbage as fuel and processing
other plants into biofuels.
Solar Energy
Since most renewable energy is ultimately "solar energy" that is directly collected from sunlight.
Energy is released by the Sun as electromagnetic waves. This energy reaching the earth’s
atmosphere consists of about 8% UV radiation, 46% visible light and 46% infrared radiations.
Solar energy is the most readily available and free source of energy since prehistoric times. It is
estimated that solar energy equivalent to over 15,000 times the world's annual commercial energy
consumption reaches the earth every year.
2
India receives solar energy in the region of 5 to 7 kWh/m for 300 to 330 days in a year. This
energy is sufficient to set up 20 MW solar power plant per square kilometre land area. Solar
energy can be used in two ways:
• Solar Heating
• Solar electricity
Solar heating is to capture/concentrate sun’s energy for heating buildings and for cooking/heating
foodstuffs etc. Solar electricity is mainly produced by using photovoltaic solar cells which are
made of semiconducting materials that directly convert sunlight into electricity. Obviously, the
sun does not provide constant energy to any spot on the Earth, so its use is limited. Therefore,
often Solar cells are used to charge batteries which are used either as a secondary energy source
or for other applications of intermittent use such as night lighting or water pumping etc. A solar
power plant offers a good option for electrification in areas of disadvantageous locations such as
hilly regions, forests, deserts, and islands where other resources are neither available nor
exploitable in techno-economically viable manner. Ministry of New Energy Sources has
identified 18, 000 such villages to be electrified through non-conventional sources. India is a vast
country with an area of over 3.2 million sq. km. Most parts of the country have about 250-300
sunny days. 140 MW solar thermal/naphtha hybrid power plant with 35 MW solar trough
component will be constructed in Rajasthan raising India into the 2nd position in the world in the
utilisation of solar thermal. Grid-interactive solar photovoltaic power projects aggregating to
2490 KW have so far been installed and other projects of 800 KW capacity are under installation.
The energy from the sun in the form of radiations is the solar energy. Sun is a source of enormous
energy. It is believed that with just 0.1 per cent of the 75,000 trillion kWh of solar energy that
reaches the earth, the planet’s energy requirements can be fulfilled. Solar energy can be utilised
in three ways: (i) converting it into thermal energy; (ii) converting it into electricity, and (iii)
photosynthesis.
Thermal Energy from the sun can be obtained by using a solar collector. A large number of
applications of solar thermal energy particularly those where low-grade thermal energy is required
to have already become commercial. These include solar cookers, solar water heating systems,
solar air heating, crop drying, refrigeration, water pumping, timber seasoning and water
desalination. Work is on to develop economically viable solar collectors for high-temperature
applications. Solar thermal systems are today supplementary thermal energy requirements at
various temperatures from 60°C–380°C for different domestic and industrial applications
including process heating and power generation. Solar water heating systems have vast potential
to save electricity in domestic and commercial sectors and furnace oil in the industrial sector
which otherwise are being used for hot water supply. A proposal for setting up a 35 MW solar
thermal power project at Maithania village in Jodhpur, Rajasthan based online focusing collectors
has been under the consideration of the Ministry. Solar Energy Centre under the MNES is the
nodal agency for R&D effort. Main activities of the centre include solar heating research, systems
design and engineering, solar thermal power generation, solar passive architecture and
greenhouse technology.
Solar Photovoltaic
In solar photovoltaic system (SPV) electricity is generated directly from solar energy. It works
on the principle of photoelectric effect: when light falls on certain metals, like silicon, the
electrons get excited and escape from the metal; these are then collected by another metal and
passed through wires in a steady stream; the electron flow thus set up constitutes the electric
current. The basic unit of SPV is a solar cell which is a wafer of electron-emitting metal. DNES
has the responsibility for the development, production and application of SPV devices. Since
1978, when first R&D Programme was launched in SPV system by public sector Central
Electronics Limited (CEL) at Ghaziabad, significant progress has been made in this field. During
1985–90, solar electricity system went commercial at CEL, Ghaziabad and Rajasthan Electronics
Instrument Ltd., Jaipur. Solar electrification in remote villages has also begun. Salijipally in
Andhra Pradesh became the country’s first village to be electrified using SPV systems. The first
two 100 KW partial grid-interactive SPV power projects at Kalyanpur in Aligarh district and
Saraisadi in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh have been commissioned. At present SPV systems in
India are being used for powering a variety of low power applications in rural, remote and un-
electrified areas for lighting and water pumping, power for railway signalling rural
telecommunication systems, water purifying for drinking and irrigation, microwave repeater
stations, powering electronics on offshore platforms and oil & gas pipeline and TV transmission.
This way of utilisation of solar energy is attractive considering the favourable solar radiation
conditions and significant requirement of electricity for decentralised applications. The easy
installation and maintenance, the absence of noise and pollution and long life make SPV systems
favourable for use in remote and isolated areas, forest, hilly and desert regions. The major
constraint in the spread of SPV is the high initial costs, the most expensive input being the silicon
wafer, which is partly imported. Fortunately, the Metkem Silicon Ltd. of Chemplast group in
conjunction with IISC Bangalore has succeeded in indigenously producing crystalline silicon and
developing the process to make silane gas—the new material for amorphous silicon. Suryovonics
Ltd., Hyderabad has also begun production of amorphous silicon. A fully automated pilot plant
for production of amorphous silicon SPV modules based on a glass substrate has been
commissioned in Gurgaon in 1992.
 Solar Photovoltaic Array

Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis, a phenomenon of chemical conversion of carbon dioxide and water into
carbohydrates in presence of sunlight and chlorophyll by the plants, is one of nature’s most
efficient method of conversion of solar energy into storable form. It has been proved both in algae
and in higher plants that under optimal conditions and over a short period of time and at the
relatively low-intensity light, up to 30 per cent of the light absorbed is transformed into chemical
energy.
BIOMASS
Biomass occupies a predominant place as an energy source in rural India. Biomass is defined as
a living matter or its residues, which is a renewable source of energy. Common examples of
biomass are wood, grass, herbage, grains, bagasse etc. The main sources of biomass can be
classified into two groups: (i) waste material including those derived from agriculture, forestry
and municipal wastes; and (ii) growing energy crops involving short rotation forestry plantations.
Under biomass, programme measures have been initiated to plant fast-growing short rotation,
high calorific value species of plants and trees to meet the needs of fuels, fodder and power. These
are called energy plantations. Grown in wastelands, besides providing energy, they also improve
soil fertility and decrease soil erosion. For producing power from biomass gasifier systems and
Stirling engines have been developed indigenously. These devices convert biomass wastes and
agricultural residues to energy through gasification or combustion. Biomass is also being used for
the production of liquid fuel (for transportation) such as ethanol and methanol and solid fuel
through conversion of agricultural wastes into pellets and briquettes. Vegetable oils, having high
calorific value and ignition quality approximating to those of diesel oil, can act as substitute or
supplement to diesel oil. But due to their high viscosity and carbon residue vegetable oils may
present pumping and vaporisation difficulties in engines and also massive smoke emission in the
exhaust. To overcome these hurdles, IIT Madras has adopted two different approaches: (i) making
the diesel engine more adiabatic and (ii) esterification of vegetable oil with methanol or ethanol.
IIT Delhi is working on efficient utilisation of producer gas in combustion engines. Seven
Biomass Research Centres, under different agro-climatic conditions of the country, have been set
up to provide R&D back up.
India has taken following measures in raising energy from biomass conversion:
• A 10 MW rice straw-based thermal plant—the first of its kind—has been commissioned
by BHEL at Jhalkhari in Punjab.
• A pilot plant to generate electricity from garbage and municipal wastes has been installed
at Timarpur, Delhi.
• The first large-scale plant to produce fuel pellets from municipal garbage has begun trial
runs at Bombay.
• A 100 KW gasifier system has been established at Port Blair and a 15 KW sugarcane
water-based system is under field evaluation.
BIOGAS
Biogas is a sustainable source of energy by virtue of its production from vastly available natural
organic wastes, the simplicity of construction, operation and maintenance of the production units
and multiple benefits accrued at the national and user level. Biogas is a gaseous mixture (in varied
composition); generally composed of 60 per cent methane (a high-value fuel). 40 per cent carbon
dioxide (an inert gas) and traces of other gases such as nitrogen and hydrogen sulphide. It is
produced by anaerobic fermentation (biological process) of natural organic wastes. The organic
wastes may be: (i) cow dung and other animal excreta; (ii) human excreta ; (iii) agricultural wastes
such as straw, plant, leaves, algae, bagasse, paddy husk, water weeds etc. ; (iv) industrial wastes
containing cellulosic material such as distillery sludge, wastes from tannery, food industries,
paper mills etc. Biogas is commonly produced from cattle dung in a biogas plant, known as gobar
gas plant, through a process called digestion that involves anaerobic fermentation. While
producing biogas, the manurial value of the dung is not reduced but the slurry from biogas plant
is an enriched manure as it has a higher content of oxygen, phosphorus and potassium.
Accordingly, such plants help in obtaining both fuel and manure from the same quantity of cattle
dung. Biogas is a clean, cheap and convenient cooking fuel. It can also be used for lighting
purposes and running small motors for lifting and providing power for cottage industries. There
are several other advantages for rural families if they adopt biogas technology. The rural women
and children will be spared the ordeal of daily collection and loading on their heads heavy bundles
of firewood. There will be an end to the fumes (that are part of the traditional chulhas) that are
smarting to the eyes and create lung diseases; a lot of time is also saved in cooking and cleaning
of the utensils and vessels; indiscriminate felling of trees for fuel is also reduced. And if latrines
are attached to these plants it helps village sanitation too. What makes the unit financially viable
is the cash inflow in terms of saving on firewood and production and use of enriched manure with
a high content of oxygen, phosphorus and potassium for agriculture. Scientists have also
developed biogas plant that can operate on a variety of feed materials such as night soil, water
hyacinth, agricultural wastes, deoiled castor cakes, willow dust and food waste. The MNES is
continuing implementation of the National Project on Biogas Development (NPBD), which was
started in 1981–92 as a centrally sponsored scheme.
OCEAN ENERGY
Energy from ocean or sea can be obtained in at least eight ways. They are:
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. India is having an enormous potential of Ocean Thermal
Energy Conversion (OTEC), which could of the order of about 50,000 MW. Some of the best
sites in the world for OTEC are situated off the Indian mainland and near the islands
Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar. An Ocean Energy cell has been set up at IIT, Madras to
keep pace with the international developments in this field. A US company, M/s Sea Solar Power
Inc., is promoting the use of OTEC and the world’s first plant is proposed off the coast of Tamil
Nadu with a capacity of 100 MW. The OTEC makes use of the difference in temperature between
the surface of the sea and at a depth of 1000 m or more, to extract energy. This energy is used to
drive turbines for generating electricity. In tropical countries like India, the temperature gradient
in the seas is as high as 25°C. The main hurdles in OTEC technology are the cost factor,
operational snags and the low operational efficiency of OTEC plants.
Wave Energy. The energy of waves, generated in their continual upward and downward motion,
is harnessed to activate either a water operated or, preferably, air operated turbine to generate
electricity. The wave energy potential of the 6000 km long Indian coast is estimated about 40,000
MW. Trade wind belts in Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are the ideal places for trapping wave
energy. Wave power is renewable and pollution-free but very expensive (Re. 1 per unit). India’s
first wave energy power plant of 150 KW (maximum) capacity based on. Oscillating Water
Column (OWC) has been commissioned at Vzhinjam by IIT, Madras. The Department of Ocean
Development has declared the plant at Vzhinjam as a national facility for wave energy and wave
application studies. A Swedish organisation, Sea Power AB has developed technology for
harnessing wave energy under floating wave power concept (FWPC). Harnessing wave energy
on this principle is being explored in India and a 1 MW wave energy plant is being set up in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Tidal Energy. The regular flow and ebb of tides, produced by the gravitational attraction of the
sun and the moon are also useful for producing electricity, especially where the tidal range, i.e.
the difference between the high and the low tide is extensive. If either a natural or artificial
reservoir is available, power can be produced by moving the incoming and outgoing tides through
turbines. The tidal power potential, in India, is estimated to be about 8000 MW to 9000 MW. The
potential sites identified are Gulf of Cambay (7,000 MW), Gulf of Kutch (1000 MW) and
Sunderbans (100 MW). Asia’s first tidal power point of 900 MW capacity is proposed to be set
up at Kandla in the Gulf of Kutch.
Current Energy. Theoretically, the moving ocean current can be used to generate energy by
allowing the water to pass through a series of turbines installed underwater. But the energy density
that can be harnessed is low; maintaining the turbines in position is a bigger problem.
Ocean Wind Energy. Winds in the coastal areas are relatively stronger and smoother than winds
in the land area and can be harnessed as a source of energy. Several countries are producing
energy from this source. Some of the problems associated with trade wind zone are icing and
hurricane.
Salinity Gradient Energy. If a semi-permeable membrane is placed between two water bodies of
different saline concentration then water with lower salinity begins to flow through the membrane
towards higher salinity until both attain equal concentration. This is called osmosis. This
movement in osmosis can generate an electric current. In Sweden, a pilot study is being conducted
to generate power of 2300 MW from salinity gradient energy.
Ocean Geothermal Energy. Theoretically, this method uses the temperature gradient as in OTEC
but in a reverse way in that the temperature at the earth crust is low and higher at its deeper levels.
But the method has not been practically applied.
BioConversion Energy. Seaweeds can also be converted into fuel and other energy products like
methane, food and fertilisers.
WIND ENERGY
The Wind is emerging as one of the potential sources of alternative energy that will be helpful to
a great extent in bridging the gap between the energy demand and supply. The Wind has kinetic
energy by virtue of the movement of large masses of air caused by differential heating of the
atmosphere by the sun. This energy can be utilised for performing mechanical and electrical
works. Wind turbines can be used to generate electricity, for lifting water from wells and for direct
water pumping. The total wind energy potential in India is estimated at 20,000 MW. A total
capacity of 732 MW has been installed by 1995–96. Coastal areas of Tamil Nadu. Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh and Maharashtra are favourable for wind power generation. Wind power in India has
been developed both in the standalone mode (with diesel back-up and pumped storage to ensure
supply during little wind) and in wind farms which have arrays of turbines for supplying bulk
power needs for grids. Asia’s first wind farm project is at Mandvi in Kutch district of Gujarat.
Asia’s largest wind farm cluster of 150 MW is at Muppandal in Tamil Nadu.
Wind power is not a new development as this power, in the form of traditional windmills -for
grinding corn, pumping water, sailing ships – have been used for centuries. Now wind power is
harnessed to generate electricity in a larger scale with better technology.
Wind Turbine Configurations
Bureau of Energy Efficiency 15212.
Application of Non-Conventional &
Suitability
Renewable Energy Sources Average
Wind Speed km/h (mph)
Up to 15 (9.5) No good
18 (11.25) Poor
22 (13.75) Moderate
25 (15.5) Good
29 (18) Excellent

Wind Energy in India

India has been rated as one of the most promising countries for wind power development, with
an estimated potential of 20,000 MW. Total installed capacity of wind electric generators in the
world as on Sept. 2001 is 23270 MW. Germany 8100 MW, Spain- 3175 MW, USA 4240 MW,
Denmark 2417 MW, and India - 1426 MW top the list of countries. Thus, India ranks fifth in the
world in Wind power generation. There are 39 wind potential stations in Tamil Nadu, 36 in
Gujarat, 30 in Andhra Pradesh, 27 in Maharashtra, 26 in Karnataka, 16 in Kerala, 8 in
Lakshadweep, 8 Rajasthan, 7 in Madhya Pradesh, 7 in Orissa, 2 in West Bengal, 1 in Andaman
Nicobar and 1 in Uttar Pradesh. Out of 208 suitable stations 7 stations have shown wind power
density more than 500 Watts/ m2.
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
Geothermal energy is the energy produced by natural processes occurring within the Earth. The
major source of this energy (in the form of heat) is molten underground rock or magma.
Geothermal energy is extracted for heating and power generation from natural steam, hot water
or dry rocks in the Earth’s crust. Water is pumped down through an injection well where it passes
through joints in the hot rocks and then water rises to the surface through a recovery well. This
water may be converted into steam through a heat exchanger. Dry steam may be passed through
turbines to produce electricity. Approximately ten per cent of the earth surface provides access to
heat inside the earth. The most potent sources are volcanoes and hot springs but there are other
areas too from where heat can be generated under controlled conditions. In India, 340 hot springs
localities with average temperatures of 80°C–100°C have been identified as the potential source
of geothermal energy. Work is on in several parts of India to survey and assess geothermal
potential and utilisation of geothermal energy for direct heat and power generation. A 5 KW
geothermal pilot power plant has been commissioned at Manikaran in Kullu district of Himachal
Pradesh. A potential of 4–5 MW geothermal power has been estimated in the Puga Valley of
Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. The use of geothermal energy for space heating and greenhouse
effect has been demonstrated. A project on mushroom cultivation and poultry farming using
geothermal fluid are under implementation at Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu. The
greenhouse for the project will be established at Puga Valley utilising the existing geothermal
borewell.
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS (MHD)
Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) power generation works on the principle of conversion of
thermal energy directly into electricity, whereas, in a conventional power plant thermal energy is
first converted into mechanical energy which in turn is converted into electrical energy.
Generation of power from thermal energy using MHD technology involves expansion of super
hot (2800 K) electrically conducting gas against the retarding force of a strong magnetic field to
produce electric power directly. Thus in MHD, the turbine and generator are combined into a
single unit but without any moving parts.
A DNES assisted MHD research project based on coal, in India, aims at the creation of a suitable
base for research and development work in the field of MHD power generation by setting up a
thermal power level of 5 MW. Research is going on for designing bigger MHD plants that will
produce clean and cheap power and operate at higher efficiency than existing coal and nuclear
plants. For this purpose, data is being provided by a small-scale MHD power generator set up at
Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu.
ALTERNATIVE FUELS
DNES is endeavouring to develop alternatives to diesel and motor spirit in order to reduce their
consumption as their reserves are limited and to reduce the outflow of precious foreign exchange.
The various alternatives are:
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). For use of compressed natural gas (CNG) as a fuel in vehicles
the natural gas is compressed at 160–200 times the atmospheric pressure and is stored in cylinders
that can be mounted on vehicles. In petrol-driven vehicles with spark-ignition engines, a converter
kit is installed for switch over to gas. The converter expands the gas in a pressure reducing valve
to sub-atmospheric level and feeds it to the engine through a control valve and carburettor
operated by the accelerated pedal. In the car engines CNG-air mixture would be ignited by the
spark plug; in diesel systems, the ignition is effected by injection of small doses of fuel. Diesel is
used during starting and idling. The CNG system functions automatically once the vehicle starts
moving. The advantages of CNG include a reduction in gas flaring, no harmful emissions and
energy savings. The problem is that of the additional weight of the gas cylinders. The technical
feasibility of CNG as a fuel has already been established in Italy, Argentina, CIS, New Zealand,
USA and Canada. In India CNG vehicles are running in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Tripura.
In Bombay buses, taxis and some auto-rickshaws are running on CNG since December 1992
under the World Bank’s Metropolitan Environment Improvement Programme. In Delhi too some
of the Green Line fleets of DTC are running on CNG. GAIL has a project to convert a total of
63,920 petrol run cars into gas within six years in Delhi, Bombay and Baroda. Three main
compressor stations have been set up in these cities. The IBP would take up the project in Assam
and Tripura. Use of CNG in buses and trucks would save diesel by 50%, cars would not need
petrol at all. A car filled with two CNG gas cylinders at 200 bar pressure has a range of 100 km.
Buses and trucks fitted with six cylinders would cover about 300 km. If one runs out of CNG en-
route, the vehicle would be run on conventional fuel by switching off the CNG system.
Hydrogen. Hydrogen is a renewable fuel because the raw material in the form of water is abundant
and solar energy used for the decomposition of water to produce hydrogen will be available for
millions of years. Furthermore, when used as a fuel, hydrogen gas causes no pollution and forms
water thus renewing the raw material. Thus, hydrogen is an environment-friendly, non-
conventional and renewable source of energy. In achieving this objective, the principle used in
photosynthesis by green plants is used. In photosynthesis, a water molecule is split into oxygen,
electrons and hydrogen ions (H+). These hydrogen ions are converted into energy-rich
compounds like glucose. However if these hydrogen ions can be converted into hydrogen gas
(H2), it can be used as fuel.
Gasohol. A mixture of petrol and alcohol called gasohol has been used as a fuel in the motor
without the need of altering the engine.
Hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons produced by some microorganisms can be used as liquid or gaseous
fuel. For instance, microbial production of methane gas from polymers like carbohydrates,
proteins, lipids, etc. Hydrocarbons are also produced by unicellular alga Botryococcus braunii,
which possess a hydrocarbon content as high as 75% of its dry weight, the highest reported in any
kind of biomass.
Non-Renewable Resources of Energy
Those natural resources, which are exhaustible and cannot be replaced once they are used.
Examples are fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, which together supply 98% of the total world
energy demand today.
COAL
Coal is the prime source of energy and accounts for about 67 per cent of the country’s commercial
energy requirement. It is indispensable in metallurgical and chemical industries. Thermal power
produced from low-grade coal accounts for 52 per cent of total installed generating a capacity of
electricity in the country. Coal consists of volatile matter, moisture and carbon besides ash
content. The coal deposits in India belong to Gondwana and Tertiary phase. About 98 per cent of
 the coal resources belong to the Gondwana age. Nearly 75 per cent of the coal deposits are located
in the Damodar River Valley. The places well associated with these deposits are Raniganj in West
Bengal and Jharia, Giridih, Bokaro and Karanpura in Bihar. The other river valleys associated
with coal deposits are the Godavari, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha. Other coal mines areas are in
the Satpura range in Chhattisgarh plains of Madhya Pradesh. The coalfields of Singareni in
Andhra Pradesh, Talcher in Orissa and Chanda in Maharashtra are also vast.
The coal mining industry in India was started at Raniganj in West Bengal in 1774. The coal
mining was nationalised in 1972–73 to avoid exploitation of labour. The production of coal almost
entirely a public sector activity is now organised through Coal India Ltd., a joint venture of central
government and Andhra Pradesh government.
Reserves and Production: The GSI, as on 1 January 1996, has put the country’s coal reserves (up
to a depth of 1200 m) at nearly 2,01,953.70 million tonnes. Of these, about 27 per cent are of
coking variety and 73 per cent of non-coking variety. Because of the limited availability of coking
variety, its use is being limited to metallurgical purposes whereas non-coking coal available in
the country is generally suitable for power generation. The major states known for coal reserves
are Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Coal production, which was around 78.17 million tonnes at the time of nationalisation of the coal
industry in 1973–74, rose to a level of 270.12 million tonnes in 1995-96. India is now the third-
largest coal-producing country in the world. At this rate, the reserves are expected to last about
200 years. It is therefore imperative that coal must be conserved and used selectively.
Classification of Coals. Depending on the relative proportions of fixed carbon, moisture and
volatile matter the coal is classified, from high to low rank, as follows: (i) Anthracite, (ii)
Bituminous, (iii) Senic Bituminous, and (iv) lignite or brown coal.
Coals are also classified according to the percentage of volatile matter into two types:
(i) Low Volatile Coal. It has a low percentage of volatile matter, between 20 to 30 with relatively
lower moisture content and is generally known as coking coal. These have excellent coking
properties with an ash content of up to 24 per cent and with or without beneficiation are used
for the manufacture of hard coke required for metallurgical purposes.
(ii) High Volatile Coal. It contains more volatile matter, over 30 per cent with moisture as high as
10 per cent and is free burning coal mainly suitable for steam raising. It is commonly known
as non-coking coal and is used in industries for general heating and steam raising in thermal
power generation, in steam locomotives, brick burning in chemical industries and as domestic
fuel.
Lignite: Lignite also called brown coal is a low-grade inferior coal containing much moisture.
On exposure, it disintegrates quickly and therefore, before use, it is transformed into briquettes.
It is mainly used for thermal power generation, as industrial and domestic fuel, for
carbonisation and fertiliser production.
The Indian lignite has less ash content than coal and is consistent in quality. Significant
deposits of lignite occur in Tamilnadu, Pondicherry, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan and
Jammu & Kashmir. Lignite reserves in the country are estimated at around 27,400 million
tonnes. The deposits at Neyveli in Tamilnadu are 3,300 million tonnes and constitute the
country’s 90 per cent of the lignite reserves. The mines, however, suffer from the artesian
 structure and constant pumping of water is a formidable task. However, the location of these
deposits is a boon for Tamilnadu. It produces 600 MW of thermal power. The industrialisation
of the State depends considerably on the thermal power generated by Neyveli lignite field.
Annual production in this vast open cast mine is 6.5 million tonnes.
Problems of Coal Mining
(i) India’s reserves of metallurgical coal are limited. In spite of this, the recovery of superior
grade coal suitable for coke manufacture continues to remain low, about 70 to 80 per
cent. It can be increased by mechanising the mines.
(ii) The majority of coal deposits are situated in the eastern and central parts of India whereas
the thermal power stations and other consumers are widely dispersed, necessitating long-
distance transportation of coal.
(iii) Since the majority of coal mines are on small scale, they use crude methods of production
and hence the per capita production is not only low but the cost of production also goes
high.
(iv) Large quantities of impurities which are allowed to remain with coal reduce its quality
besides adding to the high cost of transportation and deterioration of the environment. It
can be avoided by washing the coal.
(v) A large amount of coal is just wasted, being discarded as slack coal, which can be avoided
if coal powder is converted into briquettes.
(vi) Power shortage particularly in the DVC area, non-availability of explosives and labour
unrest are some of the other serious problems faced by the industry.

Conservation of Coal. The coal resources of India are inadequate, both in quality and quantity,
and this situation is aggravated due to the misuse of good quality coal like burning in transport
and industries, small reserves of metallurgical or coking coal which may not last long, selective
mining leading to massive waste of raw coal, frequent fires in mines and unsystematic method
of extracting coal. It is therefore essential that coal must be conserved and used selectively.
The Department of Coal is the nodal agency for development, exploitation and conservation of
coal and lignite reserve in India. Coal conservation is ensured by the maximum recovery of in-
situ reserves of coal. Severe geo-mining conditions prevailing in coal-bearing areas has
necessitated the introduction of some latest suitable technology for exploitation of such deposits
from coal conservation and safety point of view. Some other coal conservation methods being
used or may be adopted are:
(i) Reservation of coking coal for use only in metallurgical industry and in no case or used
in minimum for steam generation, in transport or other industry;
(ii) Upgradation of II and III grade coal by washing and blending it with I grade coking coal
and then use in metallurgical industries;
(iii) Selective mining should be effectively stopped;
(iv) Discovering and assessing new areas of coal reserves;
(v) Burning high ash content coal by fluidised bed composition;
(vi) Smokeless coal for domestic use by carbonisation;
(vii) Use of slack or powdered coal by briquette (binding with tar or tar-lime mixture);
(viii) Oil substitution by coal gasification or liquefaction by Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis;
 (ix) Pithead coal processing;
(x) Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)–direct conversion of heat, produced by burning coal,
into electricity; and
(xi) Slurry transportation of coal to reduce transportation costs.

PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS

Petroleum
Petroleum is an inflammable liquid composed primarily of hydrocarbons (90 to 98 per cent) and
the rest of organic compounds containing oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and traces of organometallic
compounds. Petroleum and petroleum products are used mainly as motive power, lubricating
agents and a source of raw material for manufacturing various chemicals required in industries.
Occurrence. Crude oil or petroleum in India is mainly associated with sedimentary rocks of
Mesozoic and Tertiary times which were once under the shallow seas. The potential oil-bearing
areas in India is estimated to be over 1.5 million sq. km, about two-fifths of the total area. It covers
the Northern Plains in Ganga-Brahmaputra valley, the coastal strips together with their off-shore
continental shelf, the plains of Gujarat, the Thar desert and the area around Andaman and Nicobar
Islands.
Exploration and Organisation. In India oil exploration and production started in an extensive and
systematic way after the setting up of Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) in 1956, now
called Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Oil India Limited (OIL) formed by acquisition
of the shares of Burma Oil Company by the Government in 1981, became the second public sector
undertaking engaged in oil exploration and production in the country.
Until India’s independence, Assam was the only state where mineral oil was drilled and refined
in the refinery at Digboi. Although small in size this is the only oilfield that has lasted for 100
years continuously. After Independence Gujarat Plains and the Cambay off-shore area showed
evidence of hydrocarbon deposits. But the significant reserves were unexpectedly found off the
Bombay coast called Bombay High, 115 km from the shore. So far this has been the wealthiest
oilfield of India.
Distribution. India has 13 important basins bearing oil strata, which can be put under three heads:
(i) Cambay basin in Gujarat, Assam-Arakan belt and Bombay offshore basin, are petroleum
basins from where commercial production is being undertaken;
(ii) Rajasthan, Krishna, Cauvery, Godavari basin, Andaman, Bengal, Himalayan foothills, Ganga
valley and Tripura, Nagaland fold belt, are known to have petroleum-bearing strata but
commercial production from these regions has not begun;
(iii) Kutch-Saurashtra, Kerala-Konkan and Mahanadi have geological structures favouring the
occurrence of petroleum and therefore are considered to be prospective regions.
Reserves and Production. The worldwide proved oil reserves stand at 999.7 billion barrels, as on
1 January 1995. Oil production is looming around 19–22 million barrels per year. Comparing
these two factors (Reserve-Production) the oil reserves of the world will last for 45 years. India
has proved oil reserves are impoverished—just limited to 739 million tonnes as on 1 January 1996
and are going to last only for next 15–20 years. Our domestic production has increased from 0.25
million tonnes in 1950 to 35 million tonnes in 1995–96. Oil production has reached a peak of 34.0
million tonnes in 1989–90. However, this fell to 27 million tonnes during 1992-93, mainly on
account of closure of over-worked oil wells in Bombay High region. Since then it has been
increasing mainly due to the commissioning of significant development schemes such as the
additional development of L-II, L-III, Neelan field and South Heera field in the western offshore.
It is planned to increase the production to 50 million tonnes. Offshore crude from Bombay High
accounts for nearly 75 per cent of domestic production.
About 40 per cent of total consumption of petroleum products of the country is used in the
transport sector. The balance 60 per cent is used in industries including power generation,
domestic and for other miscellaneous purposes.
Refineries. Oil refining in India is done in its 13 refineries, all in public sectors with an aggregate
refining capacity of 60.4 million tonnes as in June 1996. These 13 refineries are : Barauni (Bihar,
Indian Oil), Bongaigaon (Assam, Bongaigaon Refineries), Cochin (Kerala, Cochin Refineries),
Digboi (Assam, Indian Oil), Haldia (West Bengal, Indian Oil), Kovali (Gujarat, Indian Oil),
Manali and Narimanam (Madras, Madras Refineries), Mathura (Indian Oil), Noonmati in
Guwahati (Assam, Indian Oil), Trombay (Bombay, Hindustan Petroleum), Trombay (Bombay,
Bharat Petroleum), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh, Hindustan Petroleum). Two new refineries
are being set up in Mangalore (Karnataka) and Panipat (Haryana) in the joint sector.
Problem Areas. The main policy issues in the petroleum oil sector are:
(i) India’s large and growing reliance on import of oil and oil products makes it
susceptible to changes in international oil prices. Oil imports accounted for 44 per cent
consumption and the value accounted for 27 per cent of total imports in 1995–96. This
also raises concern regarding ensuring oil security for the nation.
(ii) The domestic crude production has stagnated for some years and even gone down.
(iii) Since the finding of Bombay High in the ’80s, we have not found any major oilfield.
We have also been unable to attract foreign oil companies to come for exploration in
India.
(iv) Pricing of oil products is highly politicized and full of distortions.

NATURAL GAS
Natural gas is found both alone or in association with crude oil, but most of the output comes
from associated sources. Exclusive natural gas reserves have been located in Tripura, Rajasthan
and almost in all the offshore oilfields of Cambay in Gujarat, Bombay High, Tamilnadu, Andhra
Pradesh and Orissa. In a power-deficient country like India, natural gas is a precious gift. It can
be used both as a source of energy (for thermal power) and also as an industrial raw material in
petrochemical industry. It takes less time to build a power plant based on natural gas. For Indian
agriculture, it has a capacity to boost its production through the building of fertiliser plants based
on natural gas. The utility of gas is further heightened because of its easy transportability through
gas pipelines. Now gas from Bombay and Gujarat gas fields is taken to states like Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
 Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), set up in 1984 for transportation, processing and
marketing of natural gas, was assigned the priority task of setting up the cross country Hajira-
Bijapur-Jagadishpur (HBJ) gas pipeline which is 1,730 km long and carries 18 million cubic
metres of natural gas per day. It would feed six fertilizer plants and 3 power plants, to begin with,
Hazira, the starting point, is in Gujarat, Bijapur from where one line runs towards Sawaimadhopur
in Rajasthan, is in Madhya Pradesh ; and Jagdishpur, the terminus, is in Uttar Pradesh, HBJ
pipeline is a part of the network for southern gas grid—a concept envisaged for transport of
surplus gas from the western offshore fields to the southern states, supplementing to the extent
feasible, by additional gas finds and the gas proposed to be imported from the Middle East. A
purpose 2,300 km gas pipeline will be laid from Oman to India from where gas could flow to all
southern states.
As of April 1994, India’s recoverable gas reserves stand at 700 billion cubic metres. Presently,
the demand for natural gas is 264 million cubic metres per day (MCMD) against which the total
production during 1995–96 was 61 MCMD only. This leaves a considerable gap in the demand
and supply of natural gas in the country. Production of natural gas during 1995–96 was at 20.86
billion cubic metres. Keeping in view the future demands and proven gas reserves our gas reserves
will last for not more than 20 years.

POWER
Power development in India began in 1910 with the commissioning of the hydel power station at
Sivasamudram in Karnataka. India’s electricity generation capacity has increased tremendously
since Independence, but it has not kept pace with demands resulting from rapid industrialisation,
social and economic development and urbanisation. Installed power generation capacity has risen
from a meagre 1,400 MW in 1947 to 83,288 MW during 1995–96 comprising 20,976 MW hydro,
60,087 MW thermal and 2,225 MW nuclear. Thermal plants at present account for 74 per cent of
total power generation and hydroelectricity plants 24 per cent and balance 2 per cent by nuclear
plants.
Power, whether thermal, hydro or nuclear, is the most convenient and versatile form of energy. It
is in high demand by the industry accounting for 50 per cent of total power consumption,
agriculture 25 per cent and the remaining in transport, domestic and other sectors.
Thermal Power
Coal, petroleum and natural gas are the chief sources of thermal power. These sources are of
mineral origin and are also called as fossil fuels. Their greatest demerit is that they are exhaustible
resources and cannot be replenished by man. Moreover, they are not pollution-free as hydro-
electricity is. Thermal power stations are located mainly in the big industrial regions and coal
fields. Of the total installed thermal power generation capacity. Maharashtra accounts for 14.1%.
West Bengal 13.2%, Uttar Pradesh 12.8%, Gujarat 12.2%, Bihar 12%, Tamilnadu 9.4%, Madhya
Pradesh 7.8%, Andhra Pradesh 5.9% and Delhi 5.2%.
In order to develop thermal power, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), New Delhi
was set up in 1975 as a Central sector company. It aimed at augmenting electricity supply by
setting up Super Thermal Power Stations and began with a 200 MW project at Singrauli in 1982.
Today it has an installed capacity of 16,795 MW, representing about 28% of the all India thermal
capacity. The corporation has successfully commissioned super thermal power projects at
Singrauli (UP), Korba (MP), Ramagundam (AP), Farakka (WB), Vindhyachal (MP), Rihand
(UP), Dadri (UP), Kahalgaon (Bihar), Telcher (Orissa) and five combined cycle gas power
projects at Anta (Rajasthan), Auraiya (UP), Dadri (UP), Kawas (Gujarat) and Gandhar (Gujarat).
Hydro Power
Surface water because of its potential energy in certain areas provides the cheapest, neat and clean
resource of energy. Electricity produced from water represents hydropower. With the limited
resources of coal, lignite and oil, growing reliance is being placed on hydel and nuclear power.
Potential Areas.
India has vast untapped identified potential in the hydel sector. The important hydel power region
of India are:
(i) The most important region lies along the foothills of Himalaya in Western Uttar
Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh having the untapped identified potential of about
50,000 MW;
(ii) The north-eastern region also having huge hydropower potential;
(iii) The region along the Western Ghats running through Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Tamilnadu and Kerala;
(iv) The region along the Satpura, Vindhyas, Mahadeo and Maikal ranges in Central India
(v) The thermal power region extending from east of Nagpur to west embracing coalfields
of Gondwana belt.
The growth of Hydro Power. The first hydropower plant in India was set up at Darjeeling in
1897, followed by a second plant at Sivasamudaram in Karnataka in 1902. The total installed
capacity which was 588 MW in 1951 increased to 20,976 MW in 1995–96.
Merits of Hydro Power. Except for the heavy initial investment hydel, projects have a definite
edge over other power plants. Hydel power projects not only provide cheap generation of
electricity but are renewable in nature (since water is the renewable or inexhaustible source). In
other words, hydel projects have a deficient generation and maintenance cost, while the cost of
input, i.e., coal in thermal power plants is considerably high. There is no problem of pollution of
environment or disposal of waste matter in the generation of hydel power. Oil, coal and gas
resources which can be used for providing electricity are in short supply and exert higher pressure
on foreign exchange resources, hydel power can easily replace them. In addition, hydel projects
can also be used to meet the requirement of irrigation in the downstream areas, and can also
adequately meet the demands of power.
Problems of Hydro Power. Although as per estimates of Central Electricity Authority, the annual
hydroelectricity potential of our country at 60% load factor is 89,830 MW, yet hardly 25% of it
has been harnessed, so far. It is probably because the initial investment and execution period of
hydro-electric projects are comparatively much more. Another major drawback of hydel projects
is displacement of population and damage to the environment and fertile lands. There seems to
be no escape from long gestation periods. But for the displacement of population and damage to
the environment and fertile lands, the focus is shifting from constructing big dams to the “run-of-
the-river” projects. While dams are preferred in the foothills, so that area downstream could be
irrigated also, run-of-the-river projects are preferred in the high hills, which are far from plains.
Such projects do not require big reservoirs and electricity is generated from water available in the
river at a particular point in time. This does not need to displace any population, on the one hand,
and does not affect the forests and environment, on the other. But such projects cannot increase
electricity generation to meet the peaking requirements, as done by the reservoir based hydel
projects. Hence, a blend of both types of hydel projects is recommended.
Nuclear Power
Deficiency of quality coal and natural gas and oil has forced the urgency of developing nuclear
power in India. At present nuclear power accounts for 24% of the total electricity generated in the
country. The nuclear power generation began in India in 1969 with the commissioning of the first
atomic power station at Tarapore with foreign technology. India achieved a landmark in nuclear
power programme by building and commissioning indigenously the Kalpakkam atomic power
plant in Madras in 1983. Since then India has acquired all the capabilities needed to generate
nuclear power.
Three Stage Programme. Dr Homi J. Bhabha in 1954 formulated a three-stage Programme for
attaining self-reliance in nuclear power using uranium and vast thorium resources of India.
First Stage. Use of natural uranium (U-238) as fuel in pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR)
to produce power and plutonium.
Second Stage. Use of plutonium produced in fast breeder reactor (FBR) to produce additional
plutonium/U-233 from thorium and power.
Third Stage. Use of thorium. U-233 is an advanced fuel cycle and reactor system (under
development).
The first stage has reached the commercial stage. The generation of power from nuclear energy
began in India in 1969 with the commissioning of the first atomic power station at Tarapore i.e.
TAPS. The total installed capacity of nuclear power stations in operation at five sites in five states
(see under nuclear power reactors given inbox) is 1940 MWe.
The commissioning in 1985, of the fast breeder test reactor (FBTR) of 40 MW thermal and 13
MW electrical power at IGCAR, Kalpakkam marked the commencement of the second stage of
India’s nuclear power Programme.
For the third stage, some progress has been made like U-233 bearing fuel has been fabricated and
tested in small reactor system; an advanced heavy water reactor system that can make use of
appropriate thorium/U-233 fuel cycle is being developed. India’s long-term strategy is to depend
on thorium reactors because, (i) thorium converted into U-233 would help to keep the cycle going,
without sizeable inputs of external fissile material ; (ii) the energy potential of thorium on thermal
reactors is way above that of natural uranium ; (iii) India has nearly five times as much high-grade
thorium as uranium (abundant availability of thorium from natural resources) ; and (iv) potential
of thorium exceeds that of fast reactors.
Nuclear Energy Minerals. India is rich in certain atomic or nuclear minerals. Uranium is obtained
from Jaduguda mines situated in Singhbhum district of Bihar and also from parts of Rajasthan.
Abundant monazite sands on the coast of Kerala is the chief source of thorium and uranium.
Illmenite and zirconium are found concentrated in the beach sands of Malabar and Coromandal
coasts. Graphite is found in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
ROLE OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Different natural resources like forests, water, soil, food, mineral and energy resources play a vital
role in the development of a nation. With our small individual efforts we can together help in
conserving our natural resources to a large extent. Following are the ways:

Conserve Water:
1. Don’t keep water taps running while brushing, shaving, washing or bathing.
2. In washing machines fill the machine only to the level required for your clothes.
3. Install water-saving toilets that use not more than 6 litres per flush.
4. Check for water leaks in pipes and toilets and repair them promptly.
5. Reuse the soapy water of washing from clothes for gardening, driveways etc.
6. Water the plants and the lawns in the evening when evaporation losses are less.
Never water the plants in mid-day.
7. Install a system to capture rainwater.

Conserve energy:
1. Turn off lights fans and other appliances when not in use.
2. Obtain as much heat as possible from natural sources. Dry the clothes in sun instead of direr if
possible.
3. Use solar cooker for cooking which will be more nutritious and will save your LPG expenses.
4. Build your house with provision for sunspace which will keep your house warmer and will
provide more light.
5. Drive less, make fewer trips and use public transportations whenever possible.
6. Control the use of A.C.
7. Recycle and reuse glass, metals and papers.
8. Use bicycle or just walk down small distances instead of using vehicle.

Protect the Soil:

1. Grow different types of ornamental plants, herbs and trees in your garden.
2. Grow grass in the open areas which will bind the soil and prevent its erosion.
3. Make compost from your kitchen waste and use it for your kitchen-garden.
4. Do not irrigate the plants using a strong flow of water as it would wash off the soil.
5. Better use sprinkling irrigation.

Promote Sustainable Agriculture:

1. Do not waste food; Take as much as you can eat.
2. Reduce the use of pesticides.
3. Fertilize your crop with organic fertilizers.
4. Use drip irrigation.
5. Eat local and seasonal vegetables.
6. Control pests.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The term was used by the Brundtland Commission which coined what has become the most often-
quoted definition of sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
The words “economics” and “ecology” have the same root, ‘Oikos’, which refer to house. In
general, people through these two subjects are not compatible to each other. Economic goal will
definitely damage the ecological goal as a common perception. But in reality, if proper
management can be made available, both could be compatible to each other. As economics deals
with “financial housekeeping” and ecology deals with “environmental housekeeping”. This is the
hour when one should realize that economic planning and environmental protection have identical
goals of sustainable development which, therefore, must be deeply integrated in the planning
process. On the whole, the principle of environmental management will have to be applied to all
the developmental activities in the present as well as in the future.
Essential steps towards sustainable development
1. Population Stabilization
2. Integrated land-use planning
3. Maintain sustainability in agriculture through restoration of healthy croplands and
grasslands
4. Rational exploitation of forest wealth
5. Re-vegetation of wastelands and deforested areas
6. Conservation of forests and biological diversity
7. Control of environmental pollutions
8. Development of non-polluting energy sources
9. Recycling of wastes and residues
10. Introduction of environmental education at both formal and informal levels
11. Updating environmental laws and its strict impositions
12. Assessment of ecological security

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 BIODIVERSITY AND ITS CONSERVATION

Biodiversity
Biodiversity or Biological diversity means the variability among living organisms from all
sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological
complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of
ecosystems.
Biodiversity may also be defined as: “the variety of life at every hierarchical level and spatial
scale of biological organizations: genes within populations, populations within species, species
within communities, communities within landscapes, landscapes within biomes, and biomes
within the biosphere.”
The term biodiversity encompasses a variety of biological life at more than one scale. It is not
only the variety of species (both plant and animal) but also the variety of genes within those
species and the variety of ecosystems in which the species reside.
Levels of Biodiversity
Biodiversity can be observed at three levels; the genetic variability within a species, the variety
of species within a community, and the Organisation of species in an area into the distinctive
plant and animal communities constitutes ecosystem diversity.

Genetic diversity
Each member of any animal or plant species differs widely from other individuals in its genetic
makeup because of a large number of combinations possible in the genes that give every
individual specific characteristic. Thus, for example, each human being is very different from all
others. This genetic variability is essential for a healthy breeding population of a species. If the
number of breeding individuals is reduced, the dissimilarity of genetic makeup is reduced and
inbreeding occurs. Eventually, this can lead to the extinction of the species. The diversity in wild
species forms the ‘gene pool’ from which our crops and domestic animals have been developed
over thousands of years. Today the variety of nature’s bounty is being further harnessed by using
wild relatives of crop plants to create new varieties of more productive crops and to breed better
domestic animals. Modern biotechnology manipulates genes for developing better types of
medicines and a variety of industrial products.

Species diversity
The number of species of plants and animals that are present in a region constitutes its species
diversity. This diversity is seen both in natural ecosystems and in agricultural ecosystems. Some
areas are more abundant in species than others. Natural undisturbed tropical forests have a much
higher species richness than plantations developed by the Forest Department for timber
production. A natural forest ecosystem provides a large number of non-wood products that local
people depend on such as fruit, fuelwood, fodder, fibre, gum, resin and medicines. Timber
plantations do not provide the large variety of goods that are essential for local consumption. In
the long-term, the economic sustainable returns from non-wood forest products are said to be
higher than the returns from felling a forest for its timber. Thus the value of a natural forest, with
all its species richness is much higher than a plantation. Modern intensive agricultural ecosystems
have a relatively lower diversity of crops than traditional agro-pastoral farming systems where
multiple crops were planted.
At present conservation, scientists have been able to identify and categorized about 1.8 million
species on earth. However, many new species are being identified, especially in the flowering
plants and insects. Areas that are rich in species diversity are called ‘hotspots’ of diversity. India
is among the world’s 15 nations that are exceptionally rich in species diversity.

Ecosystem diversity
There are a large variety of different ecosystems on earth, which have their own complement of
distinctive interlinked species based on the differences in the habitat. Ecosystem diversity can be
described for a specific geographical region, or a political entity such as a country, a State or a
taluka. Distinctive ecosystems include landscapes such as forests, grasslands, deserts, mountains,
etc., as well as aquatic ecosystems such as rivers, lakes, and the sea. Each region also has man-
modified areas such as farmland or grazing pastures.

An ecosystem is referred to as
‘natural’ when it is relatively
undisturbed by human activities,
or ‘modified’ when it is changed
to other types of uses, such as
farmland or urban areas.
Ecosystems are most natural in
wilderness areas. If natural
ecosystems are overused or
misused their productivity
eventually decreases and they
are then said to be degraded.
India is exceptionally rich in its
ecosystem diversity.

According to Whittaker (1965), the community diversities are of three types:

(i) α-Diversity:
• It tells the species diversity in a given community.
• It depends upon species richness and evenness.
(ii) β-Diversity:
It describes a range of communities due to the replacement of species which arises due to the
presence of different microhabitats, niches and environmental conditions.
(iii) γ -Diversity:
It describes the diversity of habitat over a total land escape or geographical area.
VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY
Environmental services from species and ecosystems are essential at global, regional and local
levels. Production of oxygen, reducing carbon dioxide, maintaining the water cycle, protecting
soil are essential services. The world now acknowledges that the loss of biodiversity contributes
to global climatic changes. Forests are the primary mechanism for the conversion of carbon
dioxide into carbon and oxygen. The loss of forest cover, coupled with the increased release of
carbon dioxide and other gases through industrialization contributes to the ‘greenhouse effect’.
Global warming is melting ice caps, resulting in a rise in the sea level which will submerge the
low lying areas in the world. It is causing significant atmospheric changes, leading to increased
temperatures, severe droughts in some areas and unexpected floods in other areas.
Biological diversity is also essential for preserving ecological processes, such as fixing and
recycling of nutrients, soil formation, circulation and cleansing of air and water, global life
support (plants absorb CO2, give out O2), maintaining the water balance within ecosystems,
watershed protection, maintaining stream and river flows throughout the year, erosion control and
local flood reduction.
Food, clothing, housing, energy, medicines, are all resources that are directly or indirectly linked
to the biological variety present in the biosphere. This is most obvious in the tribal communities
who gather resources from the forest or fisherfolk who catch fish in marine or freshwater
ecosystems. For others, such as agricultural communities, biodiversity is used to grow their crops
to suit the environment. Urban communities generally use the highest amount of goods and
services, which are all indirectly drawn from natural ecosystems.
It has become apparent that the preservation of biological resources is essential for the well-being
and the long-term survival of humankind. This diversity of living organisms, which is present in
the wilderness, as well as in our crops and livestock, plays a significant role in human
‘development’. The preservation of ‘biodiversity’ is therefore integral to any strategy that aims at
improving the quality of human life.
Consumptive use value
The direct utilization of timber, food, fuelwood, fodder by local communities. The biodiversity
held in the ecosystem provides forest dwellers with all their daily needs, food, building material,
fodder, medicines and a variety of other products. They know the qualities and different uses of
wood from different species of trees and collect a large number of local fruits, roots and plant
material that they use as food, construction material or medicines. Fisherfolk is highly dependent
on fish and knows where and how to catch fish and other edible aquatic animals and plants.

Productive use value

The biotechnologist uses bio-rich areas to ‘prospect’ and searches for potential genetic properties
in plants or animals that can be used to develop better varieties of crops that are used in farming
and plantation programs or to develop better livestock. To the pharmacist, biological diversity is
the raw material from which new drugs can be identified from plant or animal products. To
industrialists, biodiversity is a rich storehouse from which to develop new products. For the
agricultural scientist, the biodiversity in the wild relatives of crop plants is the basis for developing
better crops.
Genetic diversity enables scientists and farmers to develop better crops and domestic animals
through careful breeding. Initially, this was done by selecting or pollinating crops artificially to
get a more productive or disease-resistant strain. Today this is increasingly being done by genetic
engineering, selecting genes from one plant and introducing them into another. New crop varieties
(cultivars) are being developed using the genetic material found in wild relatives of crop plants
through biotechnology.
Even today, species of plants and animals are being discovered continuously in the wild. Thus,
these wild species are the building blocks for the betterment of human life and their loss is a
tremendous economic loss to humankind. Among the known species, only a tiny fraction have
been investigated for their value in terms of food, or their medicinal or industrial potential.
Preservation of biodiversity has now become essential for industrial growth and economic
development. A variety of industries such as pharmaceuticals are highly dependent on identifying
compounds of high economic value from the wide variety of wild species of plants located in
undisturbed natural forests. This is called biological prospecting.
Social values
While traditional societies, which had a small population and required fewer resources had
preserved their biodiversity as a life-supporting resource, modern man has rapidly depleted it even
to the extent of leading to the irrecoverable loss due to the extinction of several species. Thus,
apart from the local use or sale of products of biodiversity, there is the social aspect in which
more and more resources are used by affluent societies. The biodiversity has to a great extent
been preserved by traditional societies that valued it as a resource and appreciated that its
depletion would be a significant loss to their society.
The consumptive and productive value of biodiversity is closely linked to social concerns in
traditional communities. ‘Ecosystem people’ value biodiversity as a part of their livelihood as
well as through cultural and religious sentiments. A great variety of crops have been cultivated in
traditional agricultural systems and this permitted a wide range of products to be grown and
marketed throughout the year and acted as an insurance against the failure of one crop. In recent
years, farmers have begun to receive economic incentives to grow cash crops for national or
international markets, rather than to supply local needs. This has resulted in local food shortages,
unemployment (cash crops are usually mechanized), landlessness and increased vulnerability to
drought and floods.

Ethical and moral values

Ethical values related to biodiversity conservation are based on the importance of protecting all
forms of life. All forms of life have the right to exist on earth. Man is only a small part of the
Earth’s great family of species. Don’t plants and animals have an equal right to live and exist on
our planet which is like an inhabited spaceship? We do not know if life as we know it exists
elsewhere in the universe. Do we have the right to destroy life forms or do we have a duty to
protect them?
Apart from the economic importance of conserving biodiversity, there are several cultural, moral
and ethical values which are associated with the sanctity of all forms of life. Indian civilization
has over several generations preserved nature through local traditions, which has been an essential
part of the ancient philosophy of many of our cultures. We have in our country a large number of
sacred groves or ‘deorais’ preserved by tribal people in several States. These sacred groves around
ancient sacred sites and temples act as gene banks of wild plants.
Aesthetic value
Knowledge and an appreciation of the presence of biodiversity for its own sake is another reason
to preserve it. Quite apart from killing wildlife for food, it is important as a tourist attraction.
Biodiversity is a beautiful and wonderful aspect of nature. Sit in a forest and listen to the birds.
Watch a spider weave its intricate web. Observe a fish feeding. It is magnificent and fascinating.
Option value
Keeping future possibilities open for their use is called option value. It is impossible to predict
which of our species or traditional varieties of crops and domestic animals will be of great use in
the future. To continue to improve cultivars and domestic livestock, we need to return to wild
relatives of crop plants and animals. Thus the preservation of biodiversity must also include
traditionally used strains already in existence in crops and domestic animals.
THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY
Human impacts are now a pervasive facet of life on Earth. All realms—terrestrial, marine, and
freshwater—bear our imprint; our pollution spans the globe, our fisheries extend throughout the
world’s oceans, and our feet tread across almost every surface on Earth. As humans became
widespread and numerous species, our agricultural expansion forever changed vast landscapes;
our hunting and our transport of invasive, commensal species drove numerous aquatic and
terrestrial species extinct. When highly organized societies began to settle and grow throughout
the globe, the pace of transformation of terrestrial and aquatic habitats sharply increased, and our
use of natural resources began to dramatically outstrip natural rates of replacement. Thus, humans
have had enormous impacts on the form and diversity of ecosystems. Ultimately, we have set in
motion the sixth great mass extinction event in the history of the Earth—and the only one caused
by a living species.
Habitat degradation includes the spectrum of total conversion from a usable to an unusable
habitat type (or “habitat loss”), severe degradation and pollution that makes a habitat more
dangerous or difficult for an organism to live in, and fragmentation that can reduce population
viability. Habitat degradation can be caused by a host of human activities including industry,
agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, fishing, mining, sediment and groundwater extraction,
infrastructure development, and habitat modification as a result of species introductions, changes
in native species abundance, or changes in fire or other natural disturbance regimes. In addition,
most forms of pollution affect biodiversity via their degradation of ecosystems.

Overexploitation including hunting, collecting, fisheries and fisheries by-catch and the impacts
of trade in species and species’ parts constitutes a significant threat to biodiversity. Most
obviously, a direct impact of overexploitation is the global or local extinction of species or
populations. Less obvious, the decrease in population sizes with exploitation can lead to a cascade
of effects that may alter the composition and functionality of entire ecosystems.
Invasive species: The spread of invasive species, species that invade or are introduced to an area
or habitat where they do not naturally occur, is also a significant threat to biodiversity. Invasive
species can compromise native species through direct interactions (e.g., predation, parasitism,
disease, competition, or hybridization), and also through indirect paths (e.g., disruption of
mutualisms, changing abundances or dynamics of native species, or modifying habitat to reduce
habitat quality).

Anthropogenic climate change is perhaps the most ominous threat to the biodiversity of the
present era. Climate change appears to have caused mass extinctions seen in the geologic record,
and because the pace of climate change is predicted to be at least as fast and extreme as the most
severe shifts in climate in the geologic record, the effect on biodiversity is expected to be
enormous. Coupled with the extensive transformation of Earth’s ecosystems, widespread
overexploitation of populations, and introductions of species to new areas in the globe, we can
expect the effects of future shifts in climate to usher in an extremely severe mass extinction event.

CONCEPT OF THREATENED SPECIES

Threatened species are those living species which have been significantly reduced in number. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN, Hq. at Morgis in
Switzerland) is maintaining a Red Data Book which contains a record of animals which are
known to be in danger.
Categories of threat
1. Endangered species (E): These are those species whose numbers have been reduced to a
critical level, or whose natural habitats have been adversely affected. So these are near
extinction and may become extinct it causal factors continue operating. Some of the
endangered species of India are, Barberry, Pigmy hog or wild pig, Nicobar palm, Red
panda, Nilgiri langur, Snow leopard, One-horned rhino, Kashmiri stag (Hangul), Desert
cat, Indian elephant, Tiger, Chital, etc. and also other 427 plant species are in Red Data
Book (BSI).
2. Rare species (R): A rare species is a group of organisms that are very uncommon or
scarce. Rare species are those species whose number is less than 10.000 species in
worldwide. Rare species are generally considered threatened simply because the inability
of small population sizes to recover from stochastic events, and the potential of a rapid
decline in population.
3. Vulnerable species (V): Species is vulnerable when it is not endangered but facing high
risk of disappearance e.g. Golden langur and leopard cat.
4. Lower risk species: when species has been evaluated but does not satisfy criteria for
endangered or vulnerable.

MAN–WILDLIFE CONFLICT
Man–wildlife conflict refers to the interaction between wild animals and people and the resultant
negative impact on people or their resources, or wild animals or their habitat. It occurs when
growing human populations overlap with established wildlife territory, creating a reduction of
resources or life to some people and/or wild animals. The conflict takes many forms ranging from
loss of life or injury to humans, and animals both wild and domesticated, to competition for scarce
resources to loss and degradation of habitat.
Conflict management strategies earlier comprised lethal control, translocation, regulation of
population size and preservation of endangered species. Recent management approaches attempt
to use scientific research for better management outcomes, such as behaviour modification and
reducing interaction. As human-wildlife conflicts inflict direct, indirect and opportunity costs, the
mitigation of human-wildlife conflict is an essential issue in the management of biodiversity and
protected areas.
The rising levels of man-animal conflicts at various locations of Kashmir valley in India are due
to close proximity between humans and wild carnivores particularly leopard and black bear. The
data regarding human injuries and mortalities caused during conflicts from 2010 to 2012 was
collected from Shere Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, Srinagar and its
associated medical college hospital at Bemina Srinagar. The data indicate rising levels of man-
carnivore conflicts in Kashmir. The leopard and Asiatic black bear were mainly involved in
causing several forms of conflict. The human population growth and expansion, habitat
degradation and fragmentation, land use transformation and increasing densities of livestock
grazing in protected areas are considered as significant causes of man-carnivore conflicts. The
objective of the study is to highlight causes and consequences of man-animal conflicts and
mitigation measures to be adopted for alleviating the problem. The study reveals that people living
in close vicinity of forests and protected areas are often prone to attacks by wild carnivores like
black bear and leopard.
Reasons for Man-Wildlife Conflict
Road Kills:
India's road network is expanding on a monstrous scale due to the expanding economy and
increase in vehicular traffic. The traffic density is growing at the rate of ten per cent annually.
Some of this road network is being expanded through protected areas. Apart from
fragmentation, roads are becoming a severe threat to wildlife as several wild animals are killed
on a daily basis by speeding vehicles. Vehicles today travel at high speeds and this combined
with poor eyesight and slow response time of animals results in the death of innumerable
wildlife.
Commonly killed species usually include nocturnal animals such as mouse deer, civet, black-
naped hare, leopard and sambar. There have been several instances of the tiger, elephant calves,
chital, dhole, sloth bear, wolf, blackbuck and other large mammals killed due to road accidents.
Scores of reptiles, birds and amphibians are killed due to vehicular traffic in protected areas.
Livestock grazing:
Livestock grazing in forests leads to human-wildlife conflict as carnivores are attracted towards
the easy prey and become direct enemies of livestock graziers. Grazing by livestock has
severely threatened our wildlife and their habitats in various ways. The most noticeable effect is
the decline of wild herbivore populations as they have to compete with livestock for their food
source. As more cattle graze and nibble the natural vegetation there is less palatable biomass for
wild herbivores. As livestock eliminate palatable native plant species often unpalatable species
of plants invade the area.
Increase in Human population:
The increasing human population has also led to an increase in requirements of people. The
settlements have also started expanding in urban and rural parts to meet the pace of growing
populations. Many settlements have come up near the peripheries of protected areas,
encroaching the forest areas and using it for their own benefit.
Land-use transformations
Humans encroach on clear large areas of protected forest patches for development of
agricultural and horticultural lands. They also clear the areas, for monoculture plantations of
Areca nut, Teak, etc. Developmental activities - The construction of hydroelectric projects
results in submergence of nearby forest lands and fragmentation of habitats. The clearance of
lands for mining and industries also leads to breaking of significant natural habitats into small
patches.
Habitat fragmentation and shrinkage
All the previously mentioned reasons contribute to fragmentation of significant habitats and
shrinking sizes of forest patches. This makes that landscape unviable for wild animals as their
needs are not fulfilled. As a result of which they wander in nearby areas searching for resources.
In case of attack from wild animals like tiger and leopard, the village people also lose their
precious cattle like a cow, sheep, goat, etc.
Remedial Measures to Curb the Conflict:
1. Tiger Conservation Project (TCP) has made provisions for making available vehicles,
tranquillizer guns, binoculars and radio sets etc. to tactfully deal with any imminent
danger.
2. Adequate crop compensation and cattle compensation scheme must be started, along with
substantial cash compensation for loss of human life.
3. Solar-powered fencing should be provided along with electric current proof trenches to
prevent the animals from straying into fields.
4. Cropping pattern should be changed near the forest borders and adequate fodder, fruit and
water should be made available for the elephants within forest zones.
5. Wildlife corridors should be provided for mass migration of big animals during
unfavourable periods.
6. In Similipal Sanctuary, Orissa there is a ritual of wild animal hunting during the month of
April-May for which forest is burnt to flush out the animals. Due to massive hunting by
people, there is a decline in prey of tigers and they start coming out of the forest in search
of prey. Now there is WWF-TCP initiative to curb this ritual of “Akhand Shikar” in
Orissa.
BIOLOGICAL INVASION
An invasive species is a plant, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location
(an introduced species), and which has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage
to the environment, human economy or human health.
The term as most often used applies to introduced species (also called "non-indigenous" or "non-
native") that adversely affect the habitats and bioregions they invade economically,
environmentally, or ecologically. Such invasive species may be either plants or animals and may
disrupt by dominating a region, wilderness areas, particular habitats, or wildland-urban interface
land from loss of natural controls (such as predators or herbivores). This includes non-native
invasive plant species labelled as exotic pest plants and invasive exotics growing in native plant
communities. It has been used in this sense by government organizations as well as conservation
groups such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the California
Native Plant Society. The European Union defines "Invasive Alien Species" as those that are,
firstly, outside their natural distribution area, and secondly, threaten biological diversity.
Invasive species appear to have specific traits or specific combinations of traits that allow them
to outcompete native species. In some cases, the competition is about rates of growth and
reproduction. Common invasive species traits include the following:

• Fast growth
• Rapid reproduction
• High dispersal ability
• Phenotypic plasticity (the ability to alter growth form to suit current conditions)
• Tolerance of a wide range of environmental conditions (Ecological competence)
• Ability to live off of a wide range of food types (generalist)
• Association with humans
• Prior successful invasions
An introduced species might become invasive if it can out-compete native species for resources
such as nutrients, light, physical space, water, or food. If these species evolved under high
competition or predation, then the new environment may host fewer able competitors, allowing
the invader to proliferate quickly. Ecosystems in which are being used to their fullest capacity by
native species can be modelled as zero-sum systems in which any gain for the invader is a loss
for the native. Invasive species often coexist with native species for an extended time, and
gradually, the superior competitive ability of an invasive species becomes apparent as its
population grows larger and denser and it adapts to its new location.
ENDEMISM
Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such
as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous
to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of
endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is
Precinctive, which applies to species (and sub-specific categories) that are restricted to a defined
geographical area. The word endemic is from New Latin, “Endēmos” is formed of en meaning
"in", and dēmos meaning "the people".
The term 'endemism' was coined by A.P. de Candolle (1855) for the distribution of an organism
in a limited geographical area. According to Engler (1882), there are two kinds of endemism, one
based on the preservation of ancient forms, which may have originated in entirely different
regions and the other based on the development of new, entirely autochthonous forms. Based on
the theory of age and area, Willis (1922) quantified the youthful endemics with his J-shaped or
"hollow" (hyperbolic) curves. Cain's (1944) put forth the following three statements on endemics:
a) "Endemism includes two types of plants that are confined to single regions-endemics, sensu
stricto, which are relatively youthful species, and Epibiotics which are relatively old relict
species", b) "Youthful endemics may or may not have attained their complete areas by having
migrated to their natural barriers. Epibiotics may, but frequently do not contain the biotype
richness that will allow or has allowed them an expansion of area, following their historical
contraction of area" and c) "a high degree of endemism is usually correlated with age and isolation
of an area, and with the diversification of its habitats, as these factors influence both evolution
and survival".
Stebbins and Major (1965) modified Cain's observations and renamed two types of endemics as
Paleoendemics and Neoendemics. Wherry (1944) classified endemic plants into Primary and
Secondary endemics. The latter has been further classified into a) environmentally repressed, b)
genetically repressed and c) senescent, based on the reasons for their restricted distribution.
According to Stebbins and Major (1965), some species might have lost aggressiveness because
the changing environment restricts them only to a specialized niche. Moreover, the genetic
knowledge lends support to the idea that a small population could have lost its genetic variability
(Stebbins 1942) leading to genetically suppressed endemics (Wherry 1944). Stebbins (1965)
observed that the mode of origin of relicts and newly formed had remained mostly unclarified.
He also noted that the use of cytological data might determine the direction and relative ages of
origin of taxa.
BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS
Biodiversity hotspots are a method to identify those regions of the world where attention is needed
to address biodiversity loss and to guide investments in conservation. The idea was first developed
by Norman Myers in 1988 to identify tropical forest ‘hotspots’ characterized both by exceptional
levels of plant endemism and severe habitat loss, which he then expanded to a more global scope.
Conservation International adopted Myers’ hotspots as its institutional blueprint in 1989, and in
1999, the organization undertook an extensive global review which introduced quantitative
thresholds for the designation of biodiversity hotspots. A reworking of the hotspots analysis in
2004 resulted in the system in place today. Currently, 35 biodiversity hotspots have been
identified, most of which occur in tropical forests. They represent just 2.3% of Earth’s land
surface, but between them, they contain around 50% of the world’s endemic plant species and
42% of all terrestrial vertebrates. Overall, Hotspots have lost around 86% of their original habitat
and additionally are considered to be significantly threatened by extinctions induced by climate
change. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers 2000 edition of the hotspot-map, a region
must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of vascular plants as
endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation.
There are three biodiversity hotspots present in India:
• The Eastern Himalayas (Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, Eastern Nepal)
• Indo-Burma and (Purvanchal Hills, Arakan Yoma, Eastern Bangladesh)
• The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
The Indo-Burma region encompasses several countries.
• It is spread out from Eastern Bangladesh to Malaysia and includes North-Eastern India
south of Brahmaputra river, Myanmar, the southern part of China’s Yunnan province,
Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.
• The Indo-Burma region is spread over 2 million sq. km of tropical Asia.
• Since this hotspot is spread over such a large area and across several significant
landforms, there is a wide diversity of climate and habitat patterns in this region.

The Eastern Himalayas

• The Eastern Himalayas is the region encompassing Bhutan, northeastern India, and
southern, central, and eastern Nepal.
• The abrupt rise of the Himalayan Mountains from less than 500 meters to more than
8,000 meters results in a diversity of ecosystems that range from alluvial grasslands and
subtropical broadleaf forests along the foothills to temperate broadleaf forests in the
mid-hills, mixed conifer and conifer forests in the higher hills, and alpine meadows
above the tree line
The Western Ghats and Sri Lanka
• The Western Ghats, also known as the “Sahyadri Hills” encompasses the mountain
forests in the southwestern parts of India and highlands of southwestern Sri Lanka.
 • The entire extent of hotspot was originally about 1,82,500 square km, but due to
tremendous population pressure, now only 12,445 square Km or 6.8% is in pristine
condition.
• The wide variation of rainfall patterns in the Western Ghats, coupled with the region’s
complex geography, produces a great variety of vegetation types.
• These include scrub forests in the low-lying rainshadow areas and the plains, deciduous
and tropical rainforests up to about 1,500 meters, and a unique mosaic of montane
forests and rolling grasslands above 1,500 meters.
• In Sri Lanka diversity includes dry evergreen forests to dipterocarpus dominated
rainforests to the tropical montane cloud forest.
• The significant populations include Asian elephant, Nilgiri tahr, Indian tigers, lion-
tailed macaque [All Endangered], Indian Giant squirrel [Least Concern], etc.
CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity is being depleted by the loss of habitat, fragmentation of habitat, over-exploitation
of resources, human sponsored ecosystems, climatic changes, pollution invasive exotic spices,
diseases, shifting cultivation, poaching of wildlife etc.
Since the human beings are enjoying all the benefits from biodiversity, they should take proper
care for the preservation of biodiversity in all its form and good health for the future generation
i.e., the human being should prevent the degradation and destruction of the habitats thereby
maintaining the biodiversity at its optimum level.
Conservation of biodiversity is protection, upliftment and scientific management of biodiversity
so as to maintain it at its threshold level and derive sustainable benefits for the present and future
generation. In other words, conservation of biodiversity is the proper management of the
biosphere by human beings in such a way that it gives maximum benefits for the present
generation and also develops its potential so as to meet the needs of the future generations.
Mainly the conservation of biodiversity has three basic objectives:
(a) To maintain essential ecological processes and life support systems.
(b) To preserve the diversity of species.
(c) To make sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems.

Strategies for Conservation of Biodiversity:

The following strategies should be undertaken in order to con-serve biodiversity:
1. All the possible varieties (old or new) of food, forage and timber plants, livestock,
agriculture animals and microbes should be conserved.
2. All the economically important organisms in protected areas should be identified and
conserved.
3. Critical habitats for each species should be identified and safeguarded.
4. Priority should be given to preserving unique ecosystems.
5. There should be the sustainable utilization of resources.
 6. International trade in wildlife should be highly regulated.
7. The poaching and hunting of wildlife should be prevented as far as practicable.
8. Care should be taken for the development of reserves and protected areas.
9. Efforts should be made to reduce the level of pollutants in the environment.
10. Public awareness should be created regarding biodiversity and its importance for the
living organisms.
11. Priority should be given in wildlife conservation programme to endangered species over
vulnerable species and to vulnerable species over rare species.
12. The habitats of migratory birds should be protected by bilateral and multilateral
agreement.
13. The over-exploitation of useful products of wildlife should be prevented.
14. The useful animals, plants and their wild relatives should be protected both in their natural
habitat (in-situ) and in zoological-botanical gardens (ex-situ)
15. Efforts should be made for setting up of National parks and wildlife sanctuaries to
safeguard the genetic diversity and their continuing evolution.
16. Environmental laws should be strictly followed.
Conservation Methods:
There are two types of conservation methods namely in-situ and ex-situ conservations. Let us
discuss the different conservation methods along with their importance.
(a) In situ conservation:
The conservation of species in their natural habitat or natural ecosystem is known as in situ
conservation. In the process, the natural surrounding or ecosystem is protected and maintained so
that all the constituent species (known or unknown) are conserved and benefited. The factors
which are detrimental to the existence of species concerned are eliminated by a suitable
mechanism.
The different advantages of in situ conservation are as follows:
a. It is a cheap and convenient way of conserving biological diversity.
b. It offers a way to preserve a large number of organisms simultaneously, known or
unknown to us.
c. The existence in natural ecosystem provides an opportunity to the living organisms to
adjust to differing’ environmental conditions and to evolve into a better life form.
The only disadvantage of in situ conservation is that it requires considerable space of earth which
is often difficult because of growing demand for space. The protection and management of
biodiversity through in situ conservation involve certain specific areas known as protected areas
which include national parks, Sanctuaries and Biosphere reserves.
Protected areas:
The protected areas are
biogeographical areas where
biological diversity along
with natural and cultural
resources are protected,
maintained and managed
through legal and
administrative measures. The
demarcation of biodiversity in
each area is determined on the
basis of climatic and
physiological conditions.
In these areas, hunting, firewood collection, timber harvesting etc. are prohibited so that the wild
plants and animals can grow and multiply freely without any hindrance. Some protected areas are
Cold desert (Ladakh and Spiti), Hot desert (Thar), Saline Swampy area (Sunderban and Rann of
Kutch), Tropical moist deciduous forest (the Western Ghats and North East) etc. Protected areas
include national parks, sanctuaries and biosphere reserves. There are 37,000 protected areas
throughout the world. As per World Conservation Monitoring Centre, India has 581 protected
areas, national parks and sanctuaries.
National parks:
These are the small reserves meant for the protection of wildlife and their natural habitats. These
are maintained by the government. The area of national parks ranges between 0.04 to 3162 km.
The boundaries are well demarcated and circumscribed. The activities like grazing forestry,
cultivation and habitat manipulation are not permitted in these areas. There are about 89 national
parks in India.
Some important national Parks of India are:
(i) Biological Park, Nandankanan, Orissa,
(ii) Corbett National Park Nainital, U.P. (First National Park)
(iii) Kaziranga National Park, Jorhat, Assam
(iv) Tudula National Park, Maharashtra
(v) Hazaribagh National Park, Hazaribagh, Bihar
(vi) Band havgarh national park, M.P.
(vii) Bandipur national park, Karnataka.
(viii) Kanha National Park, M.P.
(ix) Reibul Lamjao National Park, Manipur
(x) Nawgaon National Park, Maharashtra
Sanctuaries:
These are the areas where only wild animals (fauna) are present. The activities like the harvesting
of timbers, a collection of forest products, cultivation of lands etc. are permitted as long as these
do not interfere with the project. That is, controlled biotic interference is permitted in sanctuaries,
which allows visiting of tourists for recreation. The area under a sanctuary remains in between
0.61 to 7818 km.
Some important sanctuaries of Orissa are as follows:
(i) Nandankanan Zoological Park
(ii) Chandaka Elephant reserve
(iii) Simlipal Tiger Reserve
(iv) Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary
(v) Gharial project at Tikarpada
(vi) Chilika (Nalaban) Sanctuary

Biosphere reserves:
Biosphere reserves or natural reserves are multipurpose protected areas with boundaries
circumscribed by legislation. The main aim of the biosphere reserve is to preserve genetic
diversity in representative ecosystems by protecting wild animals, traditional lifestyle of
inhabitant and domesticated plant/ animal genetic resources. These are scientifically managed to
allow only the tourists to visit.
Some importance of biosphere reserves are as follows:
• These help in the restoration of the degraded ecosystem.
• The primary role of these reserves is to preserve genetic resources, species, ecosystems,
and habitats without disturbing the habitats.
• These maintain cultural, social and ecologically sustainable economic developments.
• These support education and research in various ecological aspects,
Some important biosphere reserves are:
Simlipal, (Orissa), Sunderban (West Bengal), Kanha (M.P Kaziranga (Assam) etc. The biosphere
reserve network was intro-duced by UNESCO in 1971.
(b) Ex-situ conservation:
Ex-situ conservation involves maintenance and breeding of endangered plants and animals under
partially or wholly control-led conditions in specific areas like zoo, gardens, nurseries etc. That
is, the conservation of selected plants and animals in se-lected areas outside their natural habitat
is known as ex-situ con-servation.
The stresses on living organisms due to competition for food, water, space etc. can be avoided by
ex-situ conservation thereby providing conditions necessary for a secure life and breeding.
Some important areas under this conservation are:
(i) Seed gene bank,
(ii) Field gene bank;
(iii) Botanical gardens;
(iv) Zoos.
The strategies for ex-situ conservations are:
Identification of species to be conserved.
➢ Adoption of Different ex-situ methods of conservation.
➢ Long-term captive breeding and propagation for the species which have lost their habitats
permanently.
➢ Short-term propagation and release of the animals in their natural habitat
➢ Animal translocation
➢ Animal reintroduction
➢ Advanced technology in the service of endangered species.
The different advantages of ex-situ conservation are:
(a) It gives longer lifetime and breeding activity to animals.
(b) Genetic techniques can be utilised in the process.
(c) Captivity breed species can again be reintroduced in the wild.
Some disadvantages of this method are:
(a) The favourable conditions may not be maintained always.
(b) Mew life forms cannot evolve.
(c) This technique involves only a few species.

BIOGEOPORAHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA

India has different types of climate and topography in different parts of the country and these
variations have induced enormous variability in flora and fauna. India has a rich heritage of
biological diversity and occupies the tenth position among the plant-rich nations of the world.
There are ten different biogeographic habitats in India.

1. Trans-Himalayan – Upper regions.

2. Himalayan – North-West Himalayas, West, Central and East Himalayas
3. Desert – Kutch, Thar and Ladakh
4. Semi-Arid – Central India, Gujarat-Rajwara
5. Western Ghats – Malabar Coast, Western Ghat Mountains
6. Deccan Peninsula – Deccan Plateau South, Central, Eastern, Chhota Nagpur
7. Gangetic Plain – Upper Gangetic Plain, Lower Gangetic Plain
8. North-East India – Brahmaputra Valley, North Eastern Hills
9. Islands – Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep etc.
10. Coasts- West Coast and East Coast

BIODIVERSITY AT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS

Global Biodiversity
All the three levels are linked and constitute a gene pool. The 1992, United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development at Rio put biological diversity on the international agenda by
signing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This convention addresses many issues
ranging from forests, agriculture to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
India is a signatory to CBD and ratified it in 1993. The Government of India has finalized the
National Policy and Action Strategy for Biodiversity. Legislation was finalized and Indian
Parliament passed Biodiversity Bill in 2002. According to an estimate by the IUCN’s Threatened
Plants Unit, by the year 2050 up to 60000 plant species will become extinct or threatened. These
estimates show that the current rate of extinction is at least 25000 times greater than extinction
that took place during evolutionary times. The rate of extinction of mammals alone has risen from
one species every five years in the 17th century to one every two years in the 20th century.

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AT NATIONAL LEVEL

(Indian Biodiversity)
Every country is characterized by its own biodiversity depending mainly on its climate. India has
a rich biological diversity of flora and fauna. Overall six per cent of the global species are found
in India. It is estimated that India ranks 10th among the plant-rich countries of the world, 11th in
terms of number of endemic species of higher vertebrates and 6th among the centres of diversity
and origin of agricultural crops. Total number of living species identified in our country is
150000. Indian is also one of the 12 mega biodiversity countries in the world.

INDIA AS A MEGA-DIVERSITY NATION

India is one of the 12 mega-diversity countries in the world. The Ministry of Environment and
Forests, (MoEF) Govt. of India (2000) records 47000 species of plants and 81000 species of
animals which is about 7% and 6.5% respectively of global flora and fauna. Those major groups
of species include Endemism, Center of origin, Marine diversity etc. A large proportion of the
Indian Biodiversity is still unexpected. In India there are about 93 major wetlands, coral reefs and
mangroves which need to be studied in detail. Indian forests cover 64.01 million hectares having
rich biodiversity of plants in the Trans-Himalayan, north-west, west, central and eastern
Himalayan forests, western Ghats, coasts, deserts, Gangetic plains, Deccan plateau and the
Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands. Due to very diverse climatic conditions there is a
complete rainbow spectrum of biodiversity in our country.

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AT LOCAL LEVEL

(Biodiversity of Jammu & Kashmir)
Flora of J&K
The flora of Himalayan Kashmir comprises about 3,054 species. About 880 species are found in
Ladakh. The flora of the Jammu district comprises 506 species. These figures include only the
angiosperms (flowering plants), gymnosperms (flowerless plants) and pteridophytes (flower and
seedless plants). The plants of the western Himalayas are well known for their medicinal
properties. This area is a storehouse of medicinal and aromatic plants. There are about 55 species
of important medicinal and aromatic plants e.g. Dioscorea deltoida (local name descorea) is one
of the famous plant which are rich in diosgenin and yield cortisone, a steroid hormone.
Fauna of J&K
The state of Jammu and Kashmir is home to 75 mammal species, belonging to 54 genera, 21
families and 8 orders. Carnivores represent 32% of the total mammalian fauna in the state. Of
the 9 species of the ungulates (having hoofs) reported from the state, 13 have been listed as
globally threatened. Birds from the largest group follow by mammals, reptiles, fishes and
amphibians.
The avian diversity of the state varies seasonally and available data suggests the existence of as
many as 358 species of birds belonging to 179 genera, 51 families under 16 orders. The state is
home to 14 species of amphibians belonging to 6 genera, 5 families and 1 order, and 64 species
of reptiles belonging to 43 genera, 12 families and 2 orders.
List of fauna diversity of J&K
Sr. no No. of Species Genera Families Order
1 75 mammals 54 21 8
2 358 birds 179 51 16
3 14 amphibians 6 5 1
4 68 reptiles 43 12 2
5 44 fishes 14 5 -
6 225 insects including 136 35 4
sub species

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 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, POLICIES AND
PRACTICES
POLLUTION
The word pollution comes from the Latin word,
Pollutionem, which means to soil or defile.
However, it was not initially used in reference to the
environment, but to the human soul. To some of us
environmentalists, polluting the environment can
feel an awful lot like polluting our souls.
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into
the natural environment that causes adverse change.
Pollution can take the form of chemical substances
or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants,
the components of pollution, can be either foreign
substances/energies or naturally occurring
contaminants.
Pollution is classified into point source or nonpoint source pollution.
A point source of pollution is a single identifiable source of air, water, thermal, noise or light
pollution. A point source has negligible extent, distinguishing it from other pollution source
geometries.
Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is a term used to describe pollution resulting from many diffuse
sources, in direct contrast to point source pollution, which results from a single source. Nonpoint
source pollution generally results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition,
drainage, seepage, or hydrological modification (rainfall or snowmelt) where tracing the pollution
back to a single source is difficult.
AIR POLLUTION
The phenomenon of air pollution involves a sequence of events: the generation of pollutants at
and their release from a source; their transport and transformation in and removal from the
atmosphere; and their effects on human beings, materials, and ecosystems. Because it is generally
either economically infeasible or technically impossible to design processes for absolutely zero
emissions of air pollutants, we seek to control the emissions to a level such that effects are either
nonexistent or minimized.
Air pollution refers to the contamination of the air, irrespective of indoors or outside. A physical,
biological or chemical alteration to the air in the atmosphere can be termed as pollution. It occurs
when any harmful gases, dust, smoke enters into the atmosphere and makes it difficult for plants,
animals and humans to survive as the air becomes dirty.
Air pollution may be classified into two sections- Visible air pollution and invisible air pollution.
Another way of looking at Air pollution could be any substance that holds the potential to hinder
the atmosphere or the wellbeing of the living beings surviving in it. The sustainment of all things
living is due to a combination of gases that collectively form the atmosphere; the imbalance
caused by the increase or decrease in the percentage of these gases can be harmful to survival.
Causes of Air pollution
Burning of Fossil Fuels: Sulfur dioxide emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels like coal,
petroleum and other factory combustibles are one the major cause of air pollution. Pollution
emitting from vehicles including trucks, jeeps, cars, trains, aeroplanes cause an immense
amount of pollution. We rely on them to fulfil our daily basic needs of transportation. But, their
overuse is killing our environment as dangerous gases are polluting the environment. Carbon
Monoxide caused by improper or incomplete combustion and generally emitted from vehicles is
another major pollutant along with Nitrogen Oxides, that is produced from both natural and
man-made processes.
Agricultural activities: Ammonia is a very common byproduct from agriculture-related
activities and is one of the most hazardous gases in the atmosphere. Use of insecticides,
pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural activities has grown quite a lot. They emit harmful
chemicals into the air and can also cause water pollution.
Exhaust from factories and industries: Manufacturing industries release a large amount of
carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and chemicals into the air thereby
depleting the quality of air. Manufacturing industries can be found at every corner of the earth
and there is no area that has not been affected by it. Petroleum refineries also release
hydrocarbons and various other chemicals that pollute the air and also cause land pollution.
Mining operations: Mining is a process wherein minerals below the earth are extracted using
large equipment. During the process dust and chemicals are released into the air causing
massive air pollution. This is one of the reasons which is responsible for the deteriorating health
conditions of workers and nearby residents.
Indoor air pollution: Household cleaning products, painting supplies emit toxic chemicals in
the air and cause air pollution. Have you ever noticed that once you paint walls of your house, it
creates some sort of smell which makes it literally impossible for you to breathe?
Effects of Air Pollution
Respiratory and heart problems: The effects of Air pollution are alarming. They are known to
create several respiratory and heart conditions along with Cancer, among other threats to the body.
Several million are known to have died due to direct or indirect effects of Air pollution. Children
in areas exposed to air pollutants are said to commonly suffer from pneumonia and asthma.
Global warming: Another direct effect is the immediate alterations that the world is witnessing
due to Global warming. With increased temperatures worldwide, increase in sea levels and
melting of ice from colder regions and icebergs, displacement and loss of habitat have already
signalled an impending disaster if actions for preservation and normalization aren’t undertaken
soon.
Acid Rain: Harmful gases like nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides are released into the atmosphere
during the burning of fossil fuels. When it rains, the water droplets combine with these air
pollutants, becomes acidic and then falls to the ground in the form of acid rain. Acid rain can
cause great damage to human, animals and crops.
Eutrophication: Eutrophication is a condition where a high amount of nitrogen present in some
pollutants gets developed on sea’s surface and turns itself into algae and adversely affect fish,
plants and animal species. The green coloured algae that are present on lakes and ponds is due to
the presence of this chemical only.
Effect on Wildlife: Just like humans, animals also face some devastating effects of air pollution.
Toxic chemicals present in the air can force wildlife species to move to a new place and change
their habitat. The toxic pollutants deposit over the surface of the water and can also affect sea
animals.
Depletion of Ozone layer: Ozone exists in earth’s stratosphere and is responsible for protecting
humans from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Earth’s ozone layer is depleting due to the presence
of chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere. As ozone layer will go thin,
it will emit harmful rays back on earth and can cause skin and eye-related problems. UV rays also
have the capability to affect crops.
Control measure for Air Pollution
Use public mode of transportation: Encourage people to use more and more public modes of
transportation to reduce pollution. Also, try to make use of carpooling. If you and your
colleagues come from the same locality and have same timings you can explore this option to
save energy and money.
Conserve energy: Switch off fans and lights when you are going out. A large amount of fossil
fuels are burnt to produce electricity. You can save the environment from degradation by
reducing the number of fossil fuels to be burned.
Understand the concept of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: Do not throw away items that are of
no use to you. In-fact reuse them for some other purpose. For e.g. you can use old jars to store
cereals or pulses.
Emphasis on clean energy resources: Clean energy technologies like solar, wind and
geothermal are on high these days. Governments of various countries have been providing
grants to consumers who are interested in installing solar panels for their home. This will go a
long way to curb air pollution.
Use energy-efficient devices: CFL lights consume less electricity as against their counterparts.
They live longer, consume less electricity, lower electricity bills and also help you to reduce
pollution by consuming less energy.
Several attempts are being made worldwide on a personal, industrial and governmental levels to
curb the intensity at which Air Pollution is rising and regain a balance as far as the proportions of
the foundation gases are concerned. This is a direct attempt at slacking Global warming. We are
seeing a series of innovations and experiments aimed at alternate and unconventional options to
reduce pollutants. Air Pollution is one of the larger mirrors of man’s follies, and a challenge we
need to overcome to see a tomorrow.
WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and
groundwater). This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or
indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful
compounds.
Water pollution affects the entire biosphere – plants and organisms living in these bodies of water.
In almost all cases, the effect is damaging not only to individual species and population but also
to the natural biological communities.
Water pollution is an appalling problem, powerful enough to lead the world on a path of
destruction. Water is a natural solvent, enabling most pollutants to dissolve in it easily and
contaminate it. The organisms and vegetation that survive in water, including amphibians, directly
suffer the most fundamental effect of water pollution. On a human level, several people die each
day due to consumption of polluted and infected water.
Causes of Water Pollution
Water pollution is caused due to several reasons. Few significant causes of water pollution are
given below:
Sewage and Waste Water: Sewage, garbage and liquid waste of households, agricultural lands
and factories are discharged into lakes and rivers. These wastes contain harmful chemicals and
toxins, which make the water poisonous for aquatic animals and plants.
Dumping: Dumping of solid wastes and litters in water bodies causes huge problems which
include litters include glass, plastic, aluminium, Styrofoam etc.
Industrial Waste: Industrial waste contains pollutants like asbestos, lead, mercury and
petrochemicals, which are incredibly harmful to both people and environment. Industrial wastes
are discharged into lakes and rivers by using freshwater making the water contaminated.
Oil Pollution: Seawater is polluted due to oil spilt from ships and tankers while transportation.
The spilt oil does not dissolve in water and forms a thick sludge polluting the water.
Acid Rain: Acid rain is pollution of water caused by air pollution. When the acidic particles
caused by air pollution in the atmosphere mix with water vapour, it results in acid rain.
Global Warming: Due to global warming, there is an increase in water temperature. This increase
in temperature results in the death of aquatic plants and animals. This also results in bleaching of
coral reefs in water.
Eutrophication: Eutrophication is an increased level of nutrients in water bodies. This results in
a bloom of algae in the water. It also depletes the oxygen in the water, which negatively affects
fish and other aquatic animal population.
Chemical fertilizers and pesticides: Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used by farmers to
protect crops from pests, pathogens and diseases. They are useful for the plant's growth. However,
when these chemicals are mixed up with water produce harmful to plants and animals. In addition,
when it rains, the chemicals mix up with rainwater and flow down into rivers and canals, which
pose severe damages for aquatic animals.
Urban development: As the population has grown, so has the demand for housing, food and cloth.
As more cities and towns are developed, they have resulted in increased use of fertilizers to
produce more food, soil erosion due to deforestation, increase in construction activities,
inadequate sewer collection and treatment, landfills as more garbage is produced, increase in
chemicals from industries to produce more materials.
Leakage from the landfills: Landfills are nothing but a massive pile of garbage that produces the
awful smell and can be seen across the city. When it rains, the landfills may leak and the leaking
landfills can pollute the underground water with a large variety of contaminants.
Water pollutants also include both organic and inorganic factors. Organic factors include volatile
organic compounds, fuels, waste from trees, plants etc. Inorganic factors include ammonia,
chemical waste from factories, discarded cosmetics etc. The water that travels via fields is usually
contaminated with all forms of waste inclusive of fertilizers that it swept along the way. This
infected water makes its way to our water bodies and sometimes to the seas endangering the flora,
fauna and humans that use it along its path.
EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION
Water pollution adversely affects the health and life of man, animals and plants alike. Polluted
water is also harmful to agriculture as it adversely affects the crops and the soil fertility. Pollution
of seawater damages the oceanic life.
Health Aspects of Water Quality:
Consumption of polluted water is a significant cause of ill health in India. Polluted water causes
some of the deadly diseases like cholera, dysentery, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, jaundice, etc. About
80% of stomach diseases in India are caused by consumption of polluted water.
Effect of Organic Pollution on Water Quality:
All organic materials can be broken down or decomposed by microbial and other biological
activity (biodegradation). Organic and some of the inorganic compounds exhibit a biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) because oxygen is used in the degradation process.
Oxygen is an essential requirement of almost all aquatic life. Aquatic life is adversely affected if
sufficient oxygen is not available in the water. Typical sources of organic pollution are sewage
from domestic and animal sources, industrial wastes from food processing, paper mills, tanneries,
distilleries, sugar and other agro-based industries.
Effect of Nutrients on Water Quality:
Water supports aquatic life because of the presence of nutrients in it. Here the primary focus is
on fertilizing chemicals such as nitrates and phosphates. Although these are important for plant
growth, too much of nutrients encourage the overabundance of plant life and can result in
environmental damage called ‘Eutrophication’.
This can occur at both microscopic levels in the form of algae and macroscopic level in the form
of aquatic weeds. Nitrates and phosphates are contributed by sewage, agricultural run-off and run-
off from un-sewered residential areas.

Effect of High Dissolved Solids (TDS) in Water Quality:

Water is the best solvent and can dissolve a large variety of substances which come in its contact.
The amount of dissolved solids is a very important consideration in determining its suitability for
drinking, irrigation and industrial uses. In general, waters with total dissolved solids of less than
500 mg/ litre are most suitable for drinking purposes and 2100 mg/ litre for irrigation purpose.
The higher amount of dissolved solids may lead to impairment of physiological processes in
human body. Dissolved solid is a very important criterion for irrigation. This is due to the fact
dissolved solid accumulates on the ground resulting in salinization of soil. In this way, it renders
the agricultural land non-productive. Dissolved solids are harmful to industries also because they
form scales, cause foaming in boilers, accelerate corrosion and interfere with the colour and taste
of many finished products.
Effect of Toxic Pollutants on Water Quality:
Toxic pollutants mainly consist of heavy metals, pesticides and other individual xenobiotic
pollutants. The ability of a water body to support aquatic life, as well as its suitability for other
uses depends on many trace elements. Some metals e.g., Mn, Zn and Cu present in trace quantity
are essential for life as they help and regulate many physiological functions of the body. Some
metals, however, cause severe toxicological effects on human health and the aquatic ecosystem.
Effect of Thermal Discharges on Water Quality:
The discharge of cooling water from industrial and commercial operations generally heats up the
aquatic environment. Organisms may become physiologically stress or may even be killed when
exposed to heated water. If water heating is supplemented by the summer heat, the impact on the
aquatic environment can be disastrous.
Thermal pollution also causes a decrease in the driving force or oxygenation, which may directly
kill aquatic life through asphyxiation. If toxic pollutants are present in the aquatic environment,
thermal pollution may increase their toxicity to the aquatic life. Bioavailability of many pollutants
may also increase due to thermal pollution, which may ultimately adversely affect the aquatic life.
CONTROL OF WATER POLLUTION
Sewage treatments: The household water should be treated properly so that they become
environmentally safe. Adequate care should be taken to ensure that effective sewage treatment
process is in place and that contaminated water does not get mixed with the environment. In
order to prevent water pollution, human and animal excreta should be prevented from mixing
with its sources. Construction of pit toilet and proper sewage treatments can offer some solution
to this problem.
Prevent river pollution: The flowing water of the river cannot be cleaned easily by natural
process. Since a large number of external substances are discharged into the water, the river water
becomes polluted. This may cause diseases to the people using river water. Thus, every effort
should be made to prevent the river from being contaminated. People should not be allowed to
throw wastes into the river water.
Treatment of wastes before discharge: Factories are expected to treat its effluent wastes prior
to discharge. The toxic material must be treated chemically and converted into harmless materials.
If possible, factories should try to recycle the treated water.
Compliance with water laws: Laws and legislation relating to pollution should be strictly
followed by all. People should be made aware that adherence to water laws are in their own
interest.
Treatment of drainage water: It cities, a huge amount of water is put into drains every day. The
water that flows through the city drainage system should be treated appropriately. Harmful
pollutants are removed before they are introduced into reservoirs. If this water allowed going into
water reservoirs without treatment, it will pollute them.
Treatment plants: Big cities and towns usually have effluent treatment plants. These plants filter
out undissolved materials. Chemical treatment is also given to separate out unwanted dissolved
chemicals. The treated water is either allowed to go into the water reservoirs or refused in houses.
Occasionally, the treated water is used for farming if the fields to be irrigated lie in the vicinity
of the water treatment plants.
Keep the pond water clean and safe: Washing, bathing of cattle in the pond that is used by a
human should not be done. Washing of dirty clothes and bathing of cattle make the pond water
dirty and unsuitable for human use. If these ponds are continually misuses, then it may lead to
severe consequences.
Routine cleaning: Ponds, lakes and wells meant for human use should be routinely cleaned and
treated, so that it remains fit for human use. It is an essential step that should not be avoided. A
system of regular testing of pond and lake water can be introduced to ensure the safety of the
water.
Don’t pour insecticides in sinks and toilets: Never pour household insecticides, medicines, etc.
down the sink, drain or toilet. At homes, people often throw wastes and old medicines into the
bathroom toilet. This practice is discouraged for the reason that the chemical compounds of
medicines, insecticides, etc., when mixed with other chemicals, may result in the formation of
harmful substances.
Self-hygiene: Self-hygiene must be maintained and drinking water must not be polluted. Drinking
water should be kept undercover in a clean place. One should not put his hands into the drinking
water containers. In addition, the practice of cleaning the drinking water reservoirs on a regular
basis need to be strictly followed. The water meant for drinking should be purified prior to use.
In the absence of proper water purifier, it is recommended to drink boiled water. This is also
important to prevent water-borne diseases.

Sanitation: Sanitation system must be improved. The benefits of cleanliness on human health
need to be understood. Human contact with hazardous materials should be prevented. After using
the toilet, one should always use the flush and wash their hands with soap and water.
Public Awareness: the Common public should be aware of the effect of water pollution. The
voluntary organization should go door-to-door to educate the people about environmental
problems. They should perform street plays for creating awareness about the environment. They
should run environmental education centres. Students can impart health education to enable
people to prevent water pollution.
SOIL POLLUTION
With the rise of concrete buildings and roads, one part of the Earth that we rarely see is the soil.
It has many different names, such as dirt, mud and ground. However, it is definitely essential to
us. The plants that feed us grow in soil and keeping it healthy is essential to maintaining a beautiful
planet. However, like all other forms of nature, soil also suffers from pollution. The pollution of
soil is a common thing these days, and it happens due to the presence of man-made elements.
The main reason why the soil becomes contaminated is due to the presence of man-made waste.
The waste produced from nature itself such as dead plants, carcasses of animals and rotten fruits
and vegetables only adds to the fertility of the soil. However, our waste products are full of
chemicals that are not initially found in nature and lead to soil pollution.
Causes of Soil Pollution
Industrial Activity: Industrial activity has been the most significant contributor to the problem in
the last century, especially since the amount of mining and manufacturing has increased. Most
industries are dependent on extracting minerals from the Earth. Whether it is iron ore or coal, the
by-products are contaminated and they are not disposed of in a manner that can be considered
safe. As a result, the industrial waste lingers in the soil surface for a long time and makes it
unsuitable for use.
Agricultural Activities: Chemical utilization has gone up tremendously since technology
provided us with modern pesticides and fertilizers. They are full of chemicals that are not
produced in nature and cannot be broken down by it. As a result, they seep into the ground after
they mix with water and slowly reduce the fertility of the soil. Other chemicals damage the
composition of the soil and make it easier to erode by water and air. Plants absorb many of these
pesticides and when they decompose, they cause soil pollution since they become a part of the
land.
Waste Disposal: Finally, a growing cause for concern is how we dispose of our waste. While
industrial waste is sure to cause contamination, there is another way in which we are adding to
the pollution. Every human produces a certain amount of personal waste products by way of urine
and faeces.
While much of it moves into the sewer of the system, there is also a large amount that is dumped
directly into landfills in the form of diapers. Even the sewer system ends at the landfill, where the
biological waste pollutes the soil and water. This is because our bodies are full of toxins and
chemicals which are now seeping into the land and causing pollution of soil.

Accidental Oil Spills: Oil leaks can happen during storage and transport of chemicals. This can
be seen at most of the fuel stations. The chemicals present in the fuel deteriorates the quality of
soil and make them unsuitable for cultivation. These chemicals can enter into the groundwater
through the soil and make the water undrinkable.
Acid Rain: Acid rain is caused when pollutants present in the air mix up with the rain and fall
back on the ground. The polluted water could dissolve away some of the important nutrients found
in soil and change the structure of the soil.
Effects of Soil Pollution
Effect on Health of Humans: Considering how soil is the reason we are able to sustain ourselves,
the contamination of it has major consequences on our health. Crops and plants are grown on
polluted soil absorb much of the pollution and then pass these on to us. This could explain the
sudden surge in small and terminal illnesses.
Long-term exposure to such soil can affect the genetic make-up of the body, causing congenital
illnesses and chronic health problems that cannot be cured easily. In fact, it can sicken the
livestock to a considerable extent and cause food poisoning over a long period of time. The soil
pollution can even lead to widespread famines if the plants are unable to grow in it.
Effect on Growth of Plants: The ecological balance of any system gets affected due to the
widespread contamination of the soil. Most plants are unable to adapt when the chemistry of the
soil changes so radically in a short period of time. Fungi and bacteria found in the soil that bind
it together begin to decline, which creates an additional problem of soil erosion.
The fertility slowly diminishes, making land unsuitable for agriculture and any local vegetation
to survive. The soil pollution causes large tracts of land to become hazardous to health. Unlike
deserts, which are suitable for its native vegetation, such land cannot support most forms of life.
Decreased Soil Fertility: The toxic chemicals present in the soil can decrease soil fertility and
therefore decrease in the soil yield. The contaminated soil is then used to produce fruits and
vegetables which lacks quality nutrients and may contain some poisonous substance to cause
serious health problems in people consuming them.
Toxic Dust: The emission of toxic and foul gases from landfills pollutes the environment and
causes severe effects on the health of some people. The unpleasant smell causes inconvenience
to other people.
Changes in Soil Structure: The death of many soil organisms (e.g. earthworms) in the soil can
lead to alteration in soil structure. Apart from that, it could also force other predators to move to
other places in search of food.
Control measures of soil pollution
✓ Soil erosion can be controlled by a variety of forestry and farm practices. Ex: Planting
trees on barren slopes
• Contour cultivation and strip cropping may be practised instead of shifting
cultivation
• Terracing and building diversion channels may be undertaken.
• Reducing deforestation and substituting chemical manures by animal wastes
also helps arrest soil erosion in the long term.
✓ Proper dumping of unwanted materials: Excess wastes by man and animals pose a disposal
problem. Open dumping is the most commonly practised technique. Nowadays, controlled
tipping is followed for solid waste disposal. The surface so obtained is used for housing
or sports field.
✓ Production of natural fertilizers: Bio-pesticides should be used in place of toxic chemical
pesticides. Organic fertilizers should be used in place of synthesized chemical fertilizers.
 Ex: Organic wastes in animal dung may be used to prepare compost manure instead of
throwing them wastefully and polluting the soil.
✓ Proper hygienic condition: People should be trained regarding sanitary habits. Ex:
Lavatories should be equipped with quick and effective disposal methods.
✓ Public awareness: Informal and formal public awareness programs should be imparted to
educate people on health hazards by environmental education. Ex: Mass media,
Educational institutions and voluntary agencies can achieve this.
✓ Recycling and Reuse of wastes: To minimize soil pollution, the wastes such as paper,
plastics, metals, glasses, organics, petroleum products and industrial effluents etc. should
be recycled and reused. Ex: Industrial wastes should be treated adequately at source.
Integrated waste treatment methods should be adopted.
✓ The ban on Toxic chemicals: Ban should be imposed on chemicals and pesticides like
DDT, BHC, etc. which are fatal to plants and animals. Nuclear explosions and improper
disposal of radioactive wastes should be banned.

NATURAL HAZARDS AND DISASTERS

‘Disaster’ is defined as a crisis causing widespread damage which far exceeds our ability to
recover. Thus, by definition, there cannot be a perfect ideal system that prevents damage, because
then it would not be a disaster. It has to suffocate our ability to recover. Only then it can be called
as ‘disaster’. Disasters are not totally discrete events. Their possibility of occurrence, time, place
and severity of the strike can be reasonably and in some cases accurately predicted by
technological and scientific advances. It has been established there is a definite pattern in their
occurrences and hence we can to some extent reduce the impact of damage though we cannot
reduce the extent of damage itself.
A sudden event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe that causes considerable damage to
property and loss of life is called disaster.
Geological processes like earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and landslides are regular natural events
which have resulted in the formation of the earth that we have today. They are however disastrous
in their impact when they affect human settlements. Human societies have witnessed a large
number of such natural hazards in different parts of the world and have tried to learn to control
these processes to some extent.

Frequently occurring natural disasters in India

Type Location/Area
Floods 8 major river valleys spread over 40 million hectares of area in
the entire country
Drought Spread in 14 states
Earthquakes Nearly 55% of the total area of the country falling in the seismic
zone IV and V
 Cyclones Entire 5700 km long coastline of Southern Peninsular India
covering 9 states
Landslides Entire Sub-Himalayan Regions and Western Ghats

Major such disasters include a devastating earthquake which hit Bhuj Town in Gujarat caused
massive damage, Earth-quake generated water waves called Tsunamis caused tremendous
damage in Tamilnadu and Kerala.

There are several causes for such disasters which include:

1. Anthropogenic activities such as Impoundment of vast quantities of water in the lake
behind a big dam e.g. Koyna Dam in Maharashtra have created few incidence of minor
and major earthquakes., underground nuclear testing e.g. Pokharan II testing at desert of
Rajasthan, Deep well disposal of liquid waste.
2. Due to heavy rainfalls or sudden snowmelt can swell the rivers disproportionately- causes
a significant economic loss and health-related problems.
3. Landslides occur when coherent rock of soil masses move downslope due to gravitational
pull. Water and vegetation influence landslides. Chemical action of water gradually causes
chemical weathering of rocks making them prone to landslides.

Following care should be taken as set of measures for Disaster Management:

1. Damage of property and life can be prevented by constructing earth-quake resistant
buildings in the earthquake-prone zones. Wooden houses are preferred in earthquake-
prone areas as in Japan.
2. To check the flood, efforts need to be made to restore wetlands, replace ground cover on
watercourses, build check-dams on small streams, move buildings off the flood plains etc.
Flood plains should be used for wildlife habitat, parks, recreational areas etc.
3. These landslides should be masked by many other exerting factors like earthquakes,
vibrations, disturbances in resistant rock overlying rock of low resistance etc. These
landslides could be minimized by stabilizing the slope by draining the surface and surface
water, providing slope support like gabions (Wired stone blocks) and concrete support at
the base of a slope.
4. It is difficult to stop the recurrence of cyclones. Some long term defence measures can
help to protect us from devastation. Such measures include planting of more trees on the
coastal belt, construction of dams, embankments, storm shelter, windbreaks, proper
drainage and wide roads for quick evacuation etc.
Difference between Hazard and Disaster

Hazard Disaster
1. A hazard is a dangerous physical A disaster disrupts the normal function of the
condition or event. society caused by a hazard.

2. Earthquakes, floods, volcanic It causes damage to property and loss of life but it
eruption, landslides, droughts etc disrupts the opportunities of employment also.
are called natural hazards before
they cause loss of life and damage
to property.
A small number of people are A large number of people are affected.
affected
It may cause injury, loss It causes widespread loss to
of life or damage to property life and property
Earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, It affects the society to such
tsunami, landslide, drought etc.
an extent that external aid becomes, necessary to
are natural hazards
compensate the losses.
FLOODS
With the arrival of Monsoon, people living in 4 crore hectares area of the country become
extremely nervous. No one knows when there will be a flood in the river and their hard-earned
belongings will be washed away. In comparison to other disasters flood cause more damage to
life and property. Twenty per cent of deaths caused by floods in the world, occur in India.
What is a flood?
The inundation of an area by water is called a flood. In other words, when a river overflows its
banks and water spreads in the surrounding areas is a flood. Various causes of the flood, losses
by flood and flood control measures are described below:
The cause of flood The causes of the flood in India are as follows:
(i) Heavy rainfall: Heavy rain in the catchment area of a river causes water to overflow
its banks, which results in the flooding of nearby areas.
(ii) Sediment deposition: Riverbeds become shallow due to sedimentation. The water
carrying capacity of such river is reduced. As a result, the heavy rainwater overflows
the riverbanks.
(iii) Deforestation: Vegetation hampers the flow of water and forces it to percolate into
the ground. Because of deforestation, the land becomes obstruction-free and water
flows with higher speed into the rivers and causes a flood.
(iv) Cyclone: Cyclone generated sea waves of abnormal height spreads the water in the
adjoining coastal areas. In October 1994, Orissa cyclone generated severe floods and
caused unprecedented loss of life and property.
(v) Interference in drainage system: Drainage congestion caused by poorly planned
construction of bridges, roads, railway tracks, canals etc. hampers the flow of water
and the result is flooding.
(vi) Change in the course of the river: Meanders and change in the course of the river
cause floods.
(vii) Tsunami: Large coastal areas are flooded by rising seawater when a tsunami strikes
the coast.
Losses by the flood: Humans and animals both are affected by the flood. People are rendered
homeless. Houses are damaged or collapse. Industries are crippled. Crops are submerged in
floodwater. Domestic, as well as wild animals, die. Boats and fishing nets etc. are lost or damaged
in coastal areas. The outbreak of epidemics like malaria and diarrhoea etc. are typical after the
flood. Potable water is contaminated and sometimes becomes scarce. Foodgrains are lost or
spoiled, their supplies from outside become difficult.
Flood control measures
(i) Reservoirs: By constructing reservoirs in the courses of rivers could store extra water
at the time of the flood. Such measures adopted till now, however, have not been
successful. Dams built to control floods of Damodar could not control the flood.
(ii) Embankments: By building flood protection embankments, floods water can be
controlled from overflowing the banks and spreading in nearby areas Building of
embankments on the Yamuna, near Delhi, has been successful in controlling the flood.
 (iii) Afforestation: The fury of the flood could be minimised by planting trees in
catchment areas of rivers.
(iv) Restoration of original drainage system: Drainage system is generally choked by
the construction of roads, canals railway tracks etc. Floods could be checked if the
original form of the drainage system is restored.
DROUGHT
The tragedy caused by drought affects the people slowly and vastly. This is a different type of
agony but painful. To see domestic animals to die of hunger and thirst before one's own eyes; to
send beloved members of the family in search of employment to far off places in extremely
uncertain and exploitative conditions, reduction in diet to reduce the already meagre diet, to
wander in search of work all day long in relief works and return rejected and empty-handed in the
night, these are some of the heart-rending scenes from the drought-affected areas of India.
What is a drought?
According to meteorologists the rainfall deficiency during a long period over a large area is called
a drought. Sometimes in Hindi language famine Akal and Anavrishty are also used for drought.
Drought can also occur when groundwater level is not within reach of agricultural communities.
The government also declares on the area affected by drought, if more than 50 per cent crop loss
happens in an area due to the meteorological condition.
Causes of drought Major cause of drought in India is a scarcity of rain. But humans have
interfered in the ecological processes by their activities. People have filled up the natural
resources like ponds and lakes. They have destroyed the vegetation cover. Vegetation cover
impedes the flow of rainwater and forces it to percolate into the ground. Humans have dug lakhs
of tube wells and depleted the groundwater reservoirs.
The impact of drought: Droughts cause scarcity of food and water. Hungry and thirsty people
cry for help. People die of hunger, malnutrition and epidemics. People are forced to migrate from
their area of residence. Crops failed due to the scarcity of water. Cattle because fodder and water
are not readily available. Farmers are deprived of their employment. People leave their villages
with their families for a long, unknown and uncertain journey in the pursuit of food, water, green
fodder and employment.
Measures to cope with Drought
(i) Suitable farming methods for arid areas: By adopting the following methods it is
possible to mitigate the intensity of drought. The methods are Production of coarse
and hardy cereals; conservation of soil moisture by deep ploughing, storing water
behind small dams, collecting water in ponds and tanks and use of sprinklers for
irrigation.
(ii) Sowing drought-resistant crops: By sowing drought-resistant crops of cotton, Moong,
pearl millet, wheat etc., the impact of drought could be mitigated to a certain extent.
(iii) Rainwater harvesting: Collection of each and every drop of rain could help in coping
with the drought.
(iv) By making high bunds around the fields, adoption of terrace cultivation, planting trees
on the bunds of fields, the use of rainwater can be maximised.
 (v) Water can also be conserved by taming the irrigation canals with mortar and bricks.
(vi) A small quantity of water can irrigate comparatively larger area by using drip
irrigation method.

LANDSLIDES
A major landslide occurred in the midnight in a place called Lamari on the footpath leading to
Kailash Mansarover about 60 km away from Dharchula, in August 1998. Lamari is situated
between Bendi and Malpa. The debris of this landslide slipped into river Kali and blocked its
flow. The water of the river spread over an area of 1½ square km. Thus, a lake was created in
which the water was flowing. Some pilgrims going to Kailash Mansarovar were resting here on
this fateful night. This landslide killed 60 pilgrims.
What is a Landslide? The slipping of masses of rocks, earth or debris downwards on the
mountain slopes or banks of the rivers is called a landslide. The occurrence of landslides in
mountainous areas is increasing day by day. The impact of landslides on the people in the
mountains is clearly visible
Causes of landslides
1. Heavy rain: Heavy rain is the leading cause of landslides.
2. Deforestation: Deforestation is another major cause of landslides. Tree, brushes and grasses
keep the soil particles compact. Mountain slope loses their protective cover by the felling of trees.
The rainwater flows on such slopes with unimpeded speed.
3. Earthquakes and volcanic explosions: Earthquake is a common feature in the Himalaya.
Tremors destabilise the mountains and the rocks tumble downwards. Volcanic explosions also
trigger landslides in the mountainous areas.
4. The building of roads: Roads are built in mountainous areas for development. During the
process of the construction of the road, a lot of rocks and debris has to be removed. This process
dislodges the rock structure and changes the angle of slopes. Consequently, landslides are
triggered.
5. Shifting agriculture: In the North-Eastern part of India, the number and frequency of landslides
has increased due to the practice of shifting agriculture.
6. Construction of houses and other buildings: Forgiving shelter to the ever increasing, population
and promotion of tourism more and more house and hotels are being built. In building processes
a large number of debris created. This causes the landslides.
Impact of landslide
(i) Degrading of the environment: Landslides are degrading the environment of
mountains. Natural beauty is diminishing slowly and slowly.
(ii) Sources of water are drying up.
(iii) Flooding in rivers is increasing.
(iv) Roads are blocked.
 (v) Life and property are lost
Measures to control landslides and to mitigate their impact
(i) Afforestation: Trees and brushes help in binding the soil particles.
(ii) New technology in road construction: Roads should be constructed in such a way, that
lesser amount of debris is generated.
(iii) The ban on quarrying of stones and mining of minerals

EARTHQUAKE
In simple words, sudden shaking or trembling of the earth surface is an earthquake. Most
earthquakes are a minor tremor. Larger earthquakes usually begin with slight tremors but
suddenly they turn into violent shocks and after that, the intensity of shocks diminishes. Tremors
or shocks are felt for a few seconds only. Earthquake is a hazard that strikes suddenly. A Hindi
poet described the earthquake in this word. “Earthquakes strikes without pre-information but the
breathing stops without informing the man.” Earthquake can occur at any time of the year, day or
night. Its impact is very sudden. There are no warning signs of earthquakes. Extensive and sincere
research has been conducted but success has eluded humans in the forecast or prediction of
earthquake
High-risk earthquake-prone areas: Bureau of Indian Standard has prepared a map of India,
showing earthquake seismic zones of different intensity. Its revised edition has been published in
2002. India has been divided into four zones. The intensity of each zone, result and losses caused
by the earthquake are described below:
Zone II - The earthquake is felt by all, some people run outdoors. Heavy furniture may possibly
move little small pieces of plaster fall. Cracks in chimneys.
Zone III - Everyone runs out of doors, slight damage is there even in better designed and strongly
built building. More breakage in ordinary bridges houses etc. Considerable damage to poorly
designed and sub-standard buildings bridges etc.
Zone IV - Slight damage in specially designed and well-built building bridges etc. Substantial
damage to poorly designed and badly built structures. Chimneys, poles, memorials, walls etc. fall
down.
Zone V - Severe damage to even well-built bridges, buildings, foundations are displaced. Cracks
and fissures develop in the ground. Practically all structures fall or small are greatly damaged or
destroyed.
Impact of Earthquake
a) Damage to property: when an earthquake occurs, all buildings from cottage to palaces
and stronger skyscrapers are significantly damaged or destroyed. Underground
pipelines and railway lines are damaged or broken. Dams on river collapse, resultant
floods cause havoc. The earthquake in 1967 in Koyna damaged the Dam.
b) Human loss - Duration of tremors of an earthquake is generally of only a few seconds,
but thousands of people may die in this short period. Five severely devastating
earthquakes have occurred in India between 1988 and January 26, 2001. Nearly 31000
people lost their lives prematurely. Bihar earthquake of 1934 and Kangra earthquake
of 1905, 10,000 and 20,000 people died respectively. Numerous people lost their
 shelter and many became orphans. The earthquake that occurred in Gujarat on 26
January 2001 was devastating and disastrous. More than 25,000 people died due to the
impact of this earthquake. The destruction of property was tremendous and could not
be appropriately estimated.
c) Changes in river courses: Sometimes river channels are blocked or their courses are
changed due to the impact of the earthquake.
d) Tsunami: are caused by the earthquake which is a Japanese word, meaning extremely
high sea wave. The tsunami that occurred on 26-12-2004 near the coast of Sumatra
(Indonesia) property worth billions of rupee. More than two lakh people lost their lives
in Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka.
e) Fountains of mud: Due to the intense impact of earthquake hot water and mud appear
on the surface and take a form of fountains. In Bihar earthquake of 1934, some cracks
and fissures had developed. The fields of the farmer were covered by knee-deep mud
and the crops were destroyed.
f) Cracks and fissures: Sometimes cracks and fissures develop inroads railway tracks,
and fields, making them useless. Well-known San Andreas Fault formed during the
earthquake of San Fransisco (California).
g) Landslides and avalanches are triggered

Disaster/emergency management is the discipline of dealing with and avoiding risks. It involves
preparing for a disaster before it happens, disaster response (e.g. emergency evacuation,
quarantine, mass decontamination, etc.), as well as supporting, and rebuilding society after natural
or human-made disasters have occurred.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE
Disaster management cycle includes the following stages/ phases
1. Disaster phase
2. Response phase
3. Recovery/ Rehabilitation phase
4. Risk Reduction/ Mitigation phase
5. Preparedness phase

Disaster phase – The phase during which the event of the disaster takes place. This phase is
characterised by profound damage to the human society. This damage/loss may be that of human
life, loss of property, loss of environment, loss of health or anything else. In this phase, the
population is taken by profound shock.
Response phase – This is the period that immediately follows the occurrence of the disaster. In
a way, all individuals respond to the disaster, but in their own ways.
Recovery phase – When the immediate needs of the population are met, when all medical help
has arrived and people have settled from the hustle-bustle of the event, they begin to enter the
next phase, the recovery phase which is the most significant, in terms of long-term outcome. It is
during this time that the victims actually realise the impact of the disaster. It is now that they
perceive the meaning of the loss that they have suffered.
Risk reduction phase – During this phase, the population has returned to pre-disaster standards
of living. But, they recognise the need for specific measures which may be needed to reduce the
extent or impact of damage during the next similar disaster. For example, after an earthquake
which caused a lot of damages to improperly built houses, the population begins to rebuild more
substantial houses and buildings that give away less easily to earthquakes. Or, in the case of
tsunami, to avoid housings very close to the shore and the development of a ‘green belt’- a thick
stretch of trees adjacent to the coastline in order to reduce the impact of the tsunami waves on the
land. This process of making the impact less severe is called Mitigation.
Preparedness phase – This phase involves the development of awareness among the population
on the general aspects of disaster and on how to behave in the face of a future disaster. This
includes education on warning signs of disasters, methods of safe and successful evacuation and
first aid measures.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Increased human activity, urbanization, industrialization have led to rapid deterioration of the
environment. This has severely affected the life-supporting system. The developmental
inconsistencies in different regions of the world pose a severe threat to our common global
environment. Consequently, we are confronted with complex environmental issues deserving
attention. The important global environmental issues are:
• Greenhouse effect and global warming
• Biodiversity loss
• Desertification
• Depletion of the ozone layer
• Acid rain
• Oil Spills
• Dumping of hazardous wastes

GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND GLOBAL WARMING

What is the greenhouse effect?
The temperature surrounding the earth has been rising during the recent past. This is due to the
‘greenhouse effect’. A greenhouse is a glass chamber in which plants are grown to provide them
warmth by trapping sunlight. Sunlight (a form of energy) passes through the glass and it gets
absorbed inside releasing heat radiations unlike sunlight, heat radiation cannot escape through the
glass the heat generated therefrom, cannot escape out of the glass chamber. Thus, even on a cold
winter day, the inside of a greenhouse can become quite warm to support plant growth. The
phenomenon of heat build-up inside a glass chamber from the absorption of solar radiation is
called greenhouse effect.
But, you may well ask, where is the glass around the earth that prevents escaping of heat from
the earth’s surface. Look at the figure below and trace the following sequence to understand the
greenhouse effect.
Solar radiations strike the earth. Some of these radiations are reflected back by the atmosphere
into space, but some pass through the atmosphere towards earth. About half of these are absorbed
by the atmosphere and heat the air. The rest reaches the earth’s surface. The earth’s surface now
heats up and gives off longer wavelength, lower energy (infrared or heat) radiations. These
infrared radiations pass back up into the atmosphere. Instead of being radiated 100 per cent back
into space, much of it is absorbed by the atmosphere and are reradiated back to the earth’s
surface. The temperature near the earth’s surface, as well as that of the atmosphere, then rises.

Global warming and greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon and has been occurring for millions of years on
the earth. Life on the earth has been possible because of this natural greenhouse effect which is
due to water vapour and small particles of water present in the atmosphere. Together, these
produce more than 95% of total greenhouse warming. Average global temperatures are
maintained at about 15ºC due to the natural greenhouse effect. Without this phenomenon, average
global temperatures might have been around –17º C and at such low temperature, life would not
be able to exist. Before industrialization, simple human activity did not cause any significant
increase in the atmospheric temperature. What is particularly worrisome is the increase in the
emission of greenhouse gases due to urbanization and industrialization. These greenhouse gases
have increased significantly in the atmosphere in recent years. Some important greenhouse gases
and their major sources are listed in the table below. Global warming affects both living and non-
living components of our planet.
 Gases Sources and Causes
Carbon dioxide (CO2) The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation
Chlorofluorocarbons Refrigeration, solvents, insulation foams, aero propellants,
(CFCs)
industrial and commercial uses
Methane (CH4) Growing paddy, excreta of cattle and other livestock, termites,
burning of fossil fuel, wood, and landfills.
Nitrous oxides (N2O) Burning of fossil fuels, fertilizers; burning of wood and crop
residue.

Impacts of enhanced greenhouse effect:

The enhanced greenhouse effect will not only cause global warming but will also affect various
other climatic and natural processes.

Global temperature increase: It is estimated that the earth’s mean temperature will rise between
1.5 to 5.5˚c by 2050 if input of greenhouse gases continues to rise at the present rate.

Rise in Sea Level: With the increase in global temperature seawater will expand. Heating will
melt the polar ice sheets and glaciers resulting in further rise in sea level. Current models indicate
that an increase in the average atmospheric temperature of 3˚c would raise the average global sea
level by 0.2-1.5 meters over the next 50-100 years.

Effects on human health: The global warming will lead to changes in the rainfall pattern in
many areas, thereby affecting the distribution of vector-borne diseases like malaria, filariasis,
elephantiasis etc. Higher temperature and humidity will increase/aggravate respiratory and skin
diseases.

Effects on Agriculture: There are different views regarding the effect of global warming on
agriculture. It may show positive or negative effects on various types of crops in different regions
of the world. Tropical and subtropical regions will be more affected since the average temperature
in these regions is already on the higher side.

Measures to check global warming:

To slow down enhanced global warming the following steps will be important:
1. Cut down the current rate of use of CFCs and fossil fuel.
2. Use energy more efficiently
3. Shift to renewable energy resources
4. Increase in nuclear power plants for electricity production
5. Shift from coal to natural gas
6. Trap and use methane as a fuel
7. Adopt sustainable agriculture
8. Stabilize population growth
9. Efficiently remove carbon dioxide from smokestacks
10. Plant more trees.
11. Remove atmospheric carbon dioxide by utilizing photosynthetic algae.

GLOBAL WARMING
Troposphere, the lowermost layer of the atmosphere traps heat by natural process due to the
presence of certain gases. This effect is called Green House Effect as it is similar to the warming
effect observed in the horticultural Green House made of glass.
The amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere depends mostly upon the concentration of heat-
trapping or greenhouse gases and length of time they stay in the atmosphere. The major
greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, nitrous oxide etc. and water vapours. The
average global temperature is 15˚c. In the absence of greenhouse gases this temperature would
have been -18˚ c. Therefore, greenhouse effect contributes a temperature rise to the tune of 33˚ c.
Warming or cooling by more than 2˚C over the past few decades may prove to be disastrous for
various ecosystems on the earth including humans as it would alter the conditions faster than
some species could adapt or migrate. Some areas will become inhabitable because of droughts or
floods following rise in average sea level.

CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate is the average weather of an area. It is the general weather conditions, seasonal variations
and extremes of weather in region. Such conditions which average over a long period at least 30
years is called climate.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1990 and 1992 published best
available evidence about past climate change, the greenhouse effect and recent changes in global
temperature. It is observed that earth’s temperature has changed considerably during the
geological times. It has experienced several glacial and interglacial periods. However, during the
past 10000 years of the current interglacial period, the mean average temperature has fluctuated
by 0.51˚C over 100 to 200 year period. We have relatively stable climate for thousands of years
due to which we have practised agriculture and increased population. Even small changes in
climatic conditions may disturb agriculture that would lead to migration of animals including
humans.
Anthropogenic activities are upsetting the delicate balance that has been established between
various components of the environment. Greenhouse gases are increasing in atmosphere resulting
in increase in the average global temperature.
This may upset the hydrological cycle; result in floods and droughts in different regions of the
world, cause sea level rise, changes in agricultural productivity, famines and death of humans as
well as livestock.

Effect on climate
Observe the following diagram and both the effects of global warming:
Effect on living beings
Increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere may increase the photosynthetic productivity of
plants. This, in turn, produces more organic matter. It may seem a positive effect. But, then
• Weeds may proliferate rapidly and that too at the expense of useful plants.
• Insects and other pests that feed on plants may also increase in number.
• Survival of other organisms gets affected.

Strategies to cope with the greenhouse effect

We must take immediate steps to minimize global warming by reducing the emission of
greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxides. Following steps would be useful in reducing
emission/release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere:
• The increased fuel efficiency of power plants and vehicles;
• Development/implementation of solar energy/non-fossil fuel alternatives;
 • Halting deforestation;
• Supporting and undertaking tree-planting (afforestation);
• Reduce air pollution.

OZONE LAYER DEPLETION

Ozone is a bluish gas that is formed by three atoms of oxygen. The form of oxygen that humans
breathe in consists of two oxygen atoms, O2. When found on the surface of the planet, ozone is
considered a dangerous pollutant and is one substance responsible for producing the greenhouse
effect

Formation of the ozone layer

Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive molecule containing three oxygen atoms. The upper part of the
earth’s atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the earth surface called stratosphere contains
a thin layer of ozone. This ozone layer serves as a natural filter for blocking deadly incoming
UV radiation from the sun.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, with wavelengths shorter than visible spectrum has
high energy. UV radiations can be divided into three forms: UV-A (wavelength
between 320-400nm), UV-B (wavelength lesser than 280 nm), and UV-C
(wavelength lesser than 280 nm). UV-C is most damaging to biological systems.

Since, the early 1970’s levels of the stratospheric ozone have thinned markedly over
some areas of the earth, particularly over the Antarctic region. The Antarctic region
contains one of the worlds’ most productive marine ecosystems. The thinning of the
stratospheric ozone layer is termed ‘“ozone hole”. The atmospheric Ozone is measured
by Dobson spectrometer (DU), (1DU=0.01mm thickness).

Causes of ozone layer depletion

Ozone (O3) layer can be destroyed both by natural and man-made causes-

(i) Natural causes: A number of naturally occurring substances destroy stratospheric

ozone. Most important of these compounds are:
Hydrogen oxide (HOx), Methane (CH4), Hydrogen gas (H2), Nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Chlorine monoxide (ClO); during volcanic eruptions, a significant amount of
chlorine may be released into the stratosphere. Tiny particulate matter in the
stratosphere, known as stratospheric aerosols, may also lead to ozone destruction.
(ii) Human activity-related causes: Any event, which releases chlorine atoms into the
atmospheric, can cause severe ozone destruction because chlorine atoms in the
stratosphere can destroy ozone very efficiently. Most damaging among such agents are
human-made chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which is widely used as refrigerants and to
 pressurize sprays cans. In the stratosphere, chlorine atoms from CFCs react with ozone
to form chlorine monoxide and oxygen molecule.

Cl + O3————— ClO + O2

Chlorine monoxide may then react with oxygen atoms to release more chlorine atoms:

2ClO + O2————— 2Cl + 2O2

One chlorine atom can break down 1,00,000 ozone molecules.

O3+O2 O

O2 O +O

High-energy
UV radiation
uv
O+
Oxygen ozone atom molecule

Formation of the ozone molecule

Name of the Used in

compound

CFCs Refrigeration, aerosol, foam, food freezing, warming devices,

cosmetics, heat detectors solvents, cosmetics, refrigerants,
firefighting

Halon Firefighting

HCFC-22 Refrigeration, aerosol, foam, fire fighting

Methyl chloroform Solvent

Carbon tetrachloride Solvent

Measures to prevent ozone (O3) layer depletion

Global awareness and action on the part of the world community in the form of Helsinki (1989),
Montreal (1990’s) conventions and protocol have had some important success on this front. A
complete ban on the use of CFCs and other ozone-destroying chemicals is recommended. Further,
use of HCFCs (Hydrochloric fluorocarbons) as a substitute for CFCs is being recommended on a
temporary basis because HCFCs are relatively less damaging to the ozone layer as compared to
CFCs, but they are not completely ozone-safe.
Health and Environmental Effects of Ozone Layer Depletion
Some important diseases caused by ozone depletion are:-
1. Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinomas
2. Malignant Melanoma
3. Cortical Cataracts
4. Increased production of vitamin D

Effects on Plants
Physiological and developmental processes of plants are affected by UVB radiation, even by the
amount of UVB in present-day sunlight. UVB, plant growth can be directly affected by UVB
radiation.
An increase of UV radiation would be expected to affect crops. A number of economically
important species of plants, such as rice, depend on cyanobacteria residing on their roots for the
retention of nitrogen. Cyanobacteria are sensitive to UV light and would be affected by its
increase.

ACID RAIN
Acid rain refers to any precipitation (rain, fog, mist, snow) that is more acidic than normal. Acid
rain is caused by atmospheric pollution from acidic gases such as sulphur dioxide and oxides of
nitrogen emitted from the burning of fossil fuels. Acid rain is formed when the air that contains
acidic gases emitted mostly from power plants industries and automobiles, combines with the
raindrops. The acid rain affects ecosystems in diverse ways (see fig.).

Fuel

Therefore, emission of sulphur dioxide oxide and of oxides nitrogen into the atmosphere can lead
to the formation of acid rain. It is also recognized that acidic smog, fog, mist, move out of the
atmosphere and settle on dust particles which in turn accumulate on vegetation as acid
depositions. When rain falls, the acid from these depositions leaks and form acid dews. The table
below shall help you to know the sources of gases/materials that contribute to acid rains (table
below)

Acid Gases Sources

CO2 (Carbon dioxide) Fossil fuel burning, industrial process, respiration.
 CH4 (Methane) Paddy fields, wetlands, gas drilling, landfills, animals,
termites
CO (Carbon monoxide) Biomass burning, Industrial sources, Biogenesis, Plant
isoprenes.
SOx (Sulphur oxides) Fossil fuel burning, industrial sources, volcanoes, oceans.
NOx (nitrogen oxides) Fossil fuel burning, lightning, biomass burning, oceans,
power plants

Harmful effects of acid rain

Acid precipitation affects both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. It also damages buildings and
monuments.
(i) Effects on aquatic life
The pH of the surrounding or medium is essential for metabolic processes of aquatic organisms.
The eggs or sperms of fish, frogs and other aquatic organisms are susceptible to pH change. Acid
rain kills their gametes affecting the life cycles and productivity. Death or their inability to
increase in numbers affect aquatic food chains in acidic water bodies, causing severe ecosystem
imbalances.
Acidic lake waters may kill bacteria/microbes/planktons and the acidic lakes become
unproductive and lifeless. Such acidic and lifeless ponds/lakes adversely affect fisheries and
livelihood.
(ii) Effect on terrestrial life
Acid rain damage cuticle of plant leaves resulting etiolation of foliage. This, in turn, reduces
photosynthesis. Reduced photosynthesis accompanied by leaf fall reduces plant and crop
productivity.
Acidic medium promotes leaching of heavy metals such as aluminium, lead and mercury.
Such metals when percolating into groundwater affect soil microflora/ microfauna. The soil
becomes lifeless. Absorption of these toxic metal ions by plants and microorganisms affect their
metabolism.
(iii) Effects on forests
Acid rains damage forests and kill vegetation and cause severe damage to the landscape.
(iv) Effect on buildings and monuments
Many old, historic, ancient buildings and works of art/textile etc. are adversely affected by acid
rain. Limestone and marble are destroyed by acid rain. Smoke and soot cover such objects. They
slowly dissolve/flake away from the surfaces because of acid fumes in the air. Many
buildings/monuments such as Taj Mahal in Agra have suffered from acid rain.

Strategies to cope with acid rain

Any procedure that shall reduce, minimize, or halt emission of sulphur and nitrogen oxides into
the atmosphere shall control acid rain. Use of low sulphur fuel or natural gas or washed coal
(chemical washing of pulverized coal) in thermal plants can reduce incidences of acid rain.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTS IN INDIA

India is the first country in the world to have made provisions for the protection and conservation
of environment in its constitution. On 5th June, 1972, environment was first discussed as an item
of international agenda in the U.N. Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm and
thereafter 5th June is celebrated all over the world as World Environment Day. Soon after the
conference our country took substantive legislative steps for environmental protection. The
Wildlife (Protection) Act was passed in 1972, followed by the Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Air (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981 and subsequently the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Constitutional Provisions:
The provisions for environmental protection in the constitution were made through the 42nd
amendment as follows:
Article 48-A of the constitution states: “The State shall Endeavour to protect and improve the
environment and to safeguard forests and wildlife of the country.”
Article 51-A (g) states: “It shall be the duty of the every citizen of India to protect and improve
the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife and to have compassion for
living creatures.” Thus our constitution includes environmental protection and conservation as
one of our fundamental duties

SALIENT FEATURES OF AIR (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF

POLLUTION) ACT, 1981
The Air act provides for the establishment of central and state boards for implementation of
rules under the act.
• The Air act aims at prevention, control and abatement of air pollution
• Pollution beyond certain limits due to various pollutants discharged through industrial
emission is monitored by pollution control boards set up in every state
• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) implements legislation to improve quality
of air, prevent and control air pollution in the country.
• The board advises the central government on matters concerning the quality of air. It
also coordinates activities, provides technical assistance and guidance to state boards in
addition to setting the standards for quality of air.
• It collects and disseminates information in respect to air pollution and performs
functions prescribed by the act.
• The state boards advise the state government on matters concerning prevention and
control of air pollution
• The state boards possess the right to inspect at all reasonable times any control
equipment, industrial plant or manufacturing process and give orders to take necessary
steps to control pollution.
• The state board inspects air pollution control areas at regular intervals or whenever
necessary.
• They are empowered to provide standards for emissions to be laid down for different
industrial plants with regard to quantity and composition of emissions.
• A state board may recognize or establish a laboratory for this purpose.
• The state government has powers to declare air pollution control areas after consulting
with state boards.
• In the same manner, state government can give instructions to ensure standards of
emission from automobiles and restrict the operation of specific industrial units.
 • Penalties are imposed by the state board and it might appeal to the court to restrain
persons from causing air pollution.
• Any person who contravenes any provision of the act is punishable with imprisonment
for a term extending to three months or a fine of Rs.10,000 or both. If the offence continues, an
additional fine may extend to Rs. 5000 per day for every day during which the contravention
continues after conviction for the first contravention.

SALIENT FEATURES OF WATER (PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF

POLLUTION) ACT, 1974
This Act was enacted on 23rd March, 1974. The Act is adopted by all states in India.
It provides for maintaining restoring the wholesomeness of water by preventing and controlling
its pollution. Pollution is defined as such contamination of water, or such alteration of the
physical, chemical or biological properties of water or such discharge as is likely to cause a
nuisance or render the water harmful or injurious to public health and safety or harmful for any
other use or to aquatic plants and other organisms or animal life.
The definition of water pollution has thus encompassed the entire probable agents in water that
may cause any harm or have a potential to harm any kind of in any way.
Water act came into effect in 1974 to prevent pollution of water by industrial, agricultural and
household water. The main objectives of this act are listed below:
• Prevention, control and abatement of water pollution.
• The act also aims at restoration of wholesomeness of water
• The water act is designed to assess pollution levels and punish polluters
• The central government and state governments have set-up pollution control boards to
monitor water pollution.
• The water act of 1974 along with amendments in 1978 is an extensive legislation with
more than sixty sections for prevention and control of water pollution.
• Central and state boards have been created under this act for preventing water pollution
• The act empowers the board to take:
- water samples for analysis
- govern the discharge of sewage
- trade effluents
- study or inspect appeals
- revision of policies
- set minimum and maximum penalties
- publication of names of offenders
- offences by companies or government departments
- establish or recognize water testing laboratories and standard testing
procedures

• Prevention and control of water pollution is achieved through a 'permit' or a 'consent

administration' procedure
• Discharging effluents is permitted by obtaining the consent of state water boards

WATER POLLUTION CESS ACT (1977)

The objective of this act is that anyone consuming water has to pay cess depending on the type
of use as listed below:

• Industries using water for industrial cooling, spraying in mine pits or as boiler feed
 • Domestic Purposes
• Processing (pollutants are biodegradable. Eg: water from slaughterhouses)
• Processing (pollutants are not biodegradable and are toxic. Eg: water from tannery
waste, industrial wastewater from electroplating industries)
• Industries that have a treatment plant installed for treating their effluents can get a
rebate of 70% on the cess payable.
SALIENT FEATURES OF WILDLIFE ACT, 1972
The wildlife act is aimed at preserving and protecting wildlife and came into effect in
1972.
• This act envisages national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as protected areas to conserve
wildlife.
• Under this act, wildlife populations are regularly monitored and management strategies
are formulated to protect them.
• The act covers the rights of forest dwellers. The act permits restricted grazing in
sanctuaries but prohibits the same in national parks. The act also prohibits collection
of non-forest timber that might not harm the system.
• The rights of forest dwellers recognized by forest policy of 1988 were taken away by the
amended wildlife act of 1991
• The act enables central government to enact the legislation.
• The act appoints a wildlife advisory board, wildlife warden and specifies their duties and
powers.
• The act provides a comprehensive list of endangered species and prohibits hunting of the
same.
• It protects endangered plants like Bed dome Cycad, Blue Vandana, Ladies Sliper
Orchid, Pitcher Plant, etc
• The act provides for setting up national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, etc.
• The act provides for constitution of central zoo authority
• There is provision for trade and commerce in some wild species with a license for sale,
purchase, transfer, etc
• The act imposes a ban on trade or commerce of commercial animals
• The act provides legal powers to officers to punish offenders.
• Under the act, captive breeding programs for endangered species have been initiated.
Eg: Conservation project for Lion (1972), Tiger (1974), Crocodile (1974) & Brown
antlered deer (1981)
Drawbacks of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
Some of the major drawbacks of the Act include mild penalty to offenders, illegal wildlife trade
in J & K, personal ownership certificate for animal articles like tiger and leopard skins, no
coverage of foreign endangered wildlife, pitiable condition of wildlife in mobile zoos and little
emphasis on protection of plant genetic resources.

FOREST (CONSERVATION) ACT, 1980

Forest (Conservation) Act, was enacted on 25th October, 1980. Except J & K, the act is adopted
all over India. This act deals with the conservation of forests and related aspects. The Act covers
under it all types of forests including reserved forests, protected forests or any forested land
irrespective of its ownership.
The salient features of the Act are as follows:
 1. The State Government has been empowered under this Act to use the forests only for
forestry purposes. If at all it wants to use it in any other way, it has to take prior approval
of Central Government, after which it can pass orders for declaring some part of reserve
forest for non forest purposes (e.g. mining) or for clearing some naturally growing trees
and replacing them by economically important trees (reforestation).
2. It makes provision for conservation of all types of forests and for this purpose there is any
Advisory committee which recommends funding for it to the Central Government.
3. Any illegal non-forest activity within a forest area can be immediately stopped under this
Act.

Non-forest activities include clearing of forest land for cultivation of any type of plants/crops or
any other purpose (except reforestation). However, some construction work in the forest for
wildlife or forest management is exempted from non-forest activity (e.g. fencing, making water-
holes, trench, pipelines, check posts, wireless communication etc.) 1992 Amendment in the
Forest Act
1. In 1992, some amendment was made in the Act which made provisions for allowing some
non-forest activities in forests, without cutting trees or limited cutting with prior approval
of Central Government, These activities are setting of transmission lines, seismic surveys,
exploration, drilling and hydroelectric projects. The last activity involves large scale
destruction of forest, for which prior approval of the Center is necessary.
2. Wildlife sanctuaries, National Parks etc. are totally prohibited for any exploration or
survey under this Act without prior approval of Central Government even if no tree-felling
is involved.
3. Cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber and plants which are cash-crops, are included
under non-forestry activity and not allowed in reserve forests.
4. Even cultivation of fruit-bearing trees, oil-yielding plants or plants of medicinal value in
forest area need to be first approved by the Central Government. This is because newly
introduced species in the forest area may cause an imbalance in the ecology of the forest.
If the species to be planted is a native species, then no prior clearance is required.
5. Tusser cultivation (a type of silk-yielding insect) in forest areas by tribal as a means of
their livelihood is treated as a forestry activity as long as it does not involve some specific
host tree-like Asan or Arjun. This is done in order to discourage monoculture practices in
the forests which are otherwise rich in biodiversity.
6. Plantation of mulberry for rearing silkworm is considered a non-forest activity. The reason
is same as described above.
7. Mining is a non-forestry activity and prior approval of Central Government is mandatory.
The Supreme Court in a case T.N.Godavarman Thirumulkpad vs. Union of India (1997)
directed all on-going mining activity to be ceased immediately in any forest area of India
if it not got prior approval of Central Government.
8. Removal of stones, bajri, boulder etc. from river-beds located within the forest area fall
under non-forest activity.
9. Any proposal sent to central government for non-forest activity must have a cost-benefit
analysis and Environmental Impact statement (EIS) of the proposed activity with
reference to its ecological and socio-economic impacts.
Thus, the Forests (Conservation) Act has made ample provisions for conservation and
protection of forests and prevents deforestation.
THE ENVIRONMENT (PROTECTION) ACT, 1986
The Act came into force on November 19, 1986. The Act extends to whole of India. Some terms
related to environment have been described as follows in the Act:
1. Environment includes water, air and land and the interrelationship that exist among and
between them and human beings, all other living organisms and property.
2. The environmental pollution means the presence of any solid, liquid or gases substance present
in such concentration as may be or tend to be injurious to environment.
3. Hazardous substance means any substance or preparation which by its Physico-chemical
properties or handling is liable to cause harm to human beings, other living organisms, property
or environment.

The Act has given powers to the central government to take measures to protect and improve
environment while the state government coordinate the actions. The most important function of
central government under this act includes: Setting up of
i. The standards of quality of air, water or soil for various areas and purposes.
ii. The maximum permissible limits of concentration of various environmental pollutants
for different areas.
iii. The procedures and safeguards for the handling of hazardous substances.
iv. The prohibition and restrictions on the handling of hazardous substances in different
areas.
v. The prohibition and restriction on the location of the industries and to carry on process
and operations in different areas.
vi. The procedures and safeguards for the prevention of accidents which may cause
environmental pollution and providing for remedial measures for such accidents.
The power of entry and inspection, power to take sample etc. under this act lies with the Central
Government or any officer empowered by it.
For the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing and
abating pollution, standards have been specified under Schedule I-IV of Environment (Protection)
Rules 1986 for emission of gaseous pollutants and discharge of effluents/wastewater from
industries. These standard vary from industry to industry and also vary with the medium into
which the effluent is discharged or the area of emission.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB):
The functions of CPCB supposed to:
1. Advise the central government in matters related to prevention and control of water
pollution.
2. Coordinate the activities of State Pollution Control Boards and provides them technical
assistance and guidance.
3. Organize training programs for prevention and control of pollution.
4. Organize comprehensive programs on pollution-related issues through mass media.
5. Collect and compile and publish technical and statistical data related to pollution.
6. Prepare manuals for treatment and disposal of sewage and trade effluents.
7. lay down standards for water quality parameters,
8. Plan nation-wide programs for prevention, control or abatement of pollution.
9. Establish and recognize laboratories for analysis of water, sewage or trade effluent sample.

Functions of (SPCB, s)
The State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB, s) also have similar functions to be executed at state
level and are governed by the directions of CPCB.
 • The board advises the state government with respect to the location of any industry that
might pollute a stream or well.
• It lays down standards for effluents and is empowered to take samples from any stream,
well or trade effluent or sewage passing through an industry.
• The State Board is empowered to take legal samples of trade effluent in accordance with
the procedure laid down in the Act, The sample taken in the presence of the occupier or
his agent is divided into two parts, sealed, signed by both the parties and sent for analysis
to some recognized lab. If the samples do not conform to the prescribed water quality
standards (crossing maximum permissible limits), then ‘consent’ is refused to the unit.
• Every industry has to obtain consent from the Board (granted for a fixed duration) by
applying on a prescribed Proforma providing all technical details, along with a prescribed
fee following which analysis of the effluent is carried out.
• The Board suggests efficient methods of utilization, treatment and disposal of trade
effluents.
• The Act has made detailed provisions regarding the power of the Boards to obtain
information, take trade samples, restrict new outlets, restrict expansion, enter and inspect
the units and sanction or refuse consent to the industry after effluent analysis.

While development is necessary it is all the more important to prevent pollution which can
jeopardize the lives of people. Installation and proper functioning of effluent treatment plants in
all polluting industries is a must for checking pollution of water and land. Despite specific
weaknesses in the Act, the Water Act has ample provisions for preventing and controlling water
pollution through legal measures.

Environmental Education (E.E.)

It is a process to promote the awareness and understanding of the environment, its relationship
with a man and his activities. It is also aimed at developing responsible actions necessary for
preservation, conservation and improvement of the environment and its components.
Despite these differences of meanings, we shall include all these under the umbrella of E.E. for
the purpose of this study. Any curriculum working for all or any of these objectives shall be
considered as E.E. curriculum.
There are some excellent accounts that throw light on different aspects of E.E. and have provided
guidelines from time to time. Bakhi and Naveh (1980) Roth (1976) Saxena (1983) and UNESCO
(1981) are some of there.

CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Various combinations of words such as Environmental Education (E.E.). Environmental study
(E.S.) and Environmental Approach (E.A.) are being used in the literature in the context of
environment and education. Although according to the semantics of the words, E.E., E.S and E.A.
have different meanings in the strict sense of the terms, one finds that these are being used many
a time synonymously and interchangeably. We consider here the implications of E.E., E.S and
E.A. and see in which context these are relevant and important, and how these are related to teacher
training Programmes.

Environmental Education (E.E.):

Encyclopaedia of Educational Research (Mifzel 1982) states :
Defining 'environmental education' is not an easy task. Unlike other curriculum areas, the specific
content of E.E. has never been well defined. It is universally agreed, however, that environmental
education should be interdisciplinary, drawing from biological, sociological, anthropological,
economic political and human resources. It
is also agreed that a conceptual approach to teaching E.E. is best.

The majority also agrees that E.E. is the process of recognising values and clarifying concept
related to environment and its problems in order to develop skills and attitudes necessary to
understand surroundings. It also entails practices in decision making and self-formulating a code
of behaviour about issues concerning environmental quality.

The most prevalent opinion is that E.E. can be treated as 'discipline' which heavily banks upon
basics of existing subjects such as Physics Chemistry, Mathematics, Zoology and Botany. This
opinion supports the training of specialists in E.E. which will be much needed for planning,
management, development and taking remedial steps for existing problems. Some courses
(Geldorloos 1975, & Levon,
1971) have been formulated on these lines. A typical course of this type has been mentioned by
Wuzzelbacher (1976) which has the following components:

1. Man and Environment

2. Population and Urbanization
3. Ecology
4. Government Policy and Citizen
5. Economics and the Environment
6. Urban and Regional Planning
7. Social Resources
8. Tree Resources
9. Water Resources
10. Fisheries Resources
11. Wildlife Resources
12. Air Pollution
13. Outdoor Recreation
14. The Role of Citizens.
At the primary level Sale and Lee (1972) describe the Objectives of E.E. as (1) to help the
individuals acquire on an understanding of the biophysical environment and society,
(2) to encourage understanding of man as an inseparable part of his environment but with the
ability to altering it in important ways through his activities or lack of it and (3) to generate an
understanding of the organizational strategies and social arrangements.

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
Human obligations towards the environment and living beings are called environmental ethics.
Environmental ethics refers to the issues, principles and guidelines relating to human interactions
with their environment. It is rightly said, “the environmental crisis is an outward manifestation of
the crisis of mind and spirit.’ It all depends on how do we think and act. If we think “Man is all-
powerful and the supreme creature on this earth and man is the master of nature and can harness it
at his will”, it reflects our anthropo-centric thinking. On the other hand, if we think “Nature has

US Environmental Education Act, 1970 defines EE as:

"For the purpose of this Act, the term 'Environmental Education' means the educational process dealing with man's relationship with
his natural and man-made surroundings and includes the relation of population, pollution resource allocation and depletion,
conservation, transformation, technology and urban and rural planning to the total human environment".
provided us with all the resources for leading a beautiful life and she nourishes us like a mother,
we should respect her and nurture her”, this is an earth-centric thinking.

A) Anthropocentric Worldview:
Man is considered to be most capable for managing the planet earth. The guiding principles of this
view are:
▪ Man is the planet’s most important species and is in the in-charge of the rest of the
nature.
▪ Earth has an unlimited supply of resources and it all belongs to us.
▪ Economic growth is very good and more the growth, the better it is, because it raises
our quality of life and the potential for economic growth is unlimited.
▪ A healthy environment depends upon a healthy economy.
▪ The success of mankind depends upon how good managers we are for deriving benefits
for us from nature.

B) Eco-centric Worldview:
This is based on earth-wisdom. The basic beliefs are as follows:
▪ Nature exists not for human beings alone, but for all the species.
▪ The earth resources are limited and they do not belong only to human beings.
▪ Economic growth is good till it encourages earth-sustaining development and
discourages earth-degrading development.
▪ A healthy economy depends upon a healthy environment.
▪ The success of mankind depends upon how best we can cooperate with the rest of the
nature while trying to use the resources of nature for our benefit.

Environmental ethics can provide us the guidelines for putting our beliefs into action and help us
decide what to do when faced with crucial situations. Some important ethical guidelines known as
Earth ethics or Environmental Ethics are as follows:
►One should love and honour the earth since it has blessed you with life and governs your
survival.
►One should keep each day sacred to earth and celebrate the turning of its seasons.
►One should not hold you above other living things and have no right to drive them to extinction.
►One should be grateful to the plants and animals which nourish you by giving you food.
►One should limit his offspring’s because too many people will overburden the earth.
►One should not waste your resources on destructive weapons.
►One should not run after gains at the cost of nature rather should strive to restore its damaged
majesty.
►One should not conceal from others the effects you have caused by your actions on earth.
►One should not steal from future generations their right to live in a clean and safe planet by
impoverishing or polluting it.
►One should consume the material goods in moderate amounts so that all may share the earth’s
precious treasure of resources.

Environmental ethics
Environmental ethics is the discipline in philosophy that studies the moral relationship of human
beings, and also the value and moral status of, the environment and its nonhuman contents.
Environmental ethics focuses on questions concerning how we ought to inhabit the world; what
constitutes a good life or a good society; and who, where, or what merits moral standing. The field
emerged most significantly in the 1960s from an increasing awareness of the global environmental
condition. The field of environmental ethics emerged as a reaction to the perception of growing
environmental crises.
It is concerned with the issue of responsible personal conduct with respect to natural landscapes,
resources, species, and non-human organisms. It is a cluster of beliefs, values and norms regarding
how humans should interact with the environment.
Human effects on the environment today have consequences for the future, and therefore,
discussions of environmental ethics involve the rights of future generations. The arguments for
and against various principles in environmental ethics are made more complex because of
conflicting values. The resolution of the resulting conflict requires that we recognize differing
values and have a basic scientific knowledge about the environment as well as the ability to clearly
formulate a logical argument.

The Environmental philosophy

Environmental philosophy is that wing of philosophy that expresses trepidation with natural
environment and livelihood of humans. Main areas of interest for philosophers include defining
the environment and its value, environmentalism and deep ecology, endangered species and
restoration of nature. Its major components are environmental ethics, theology, environmental
aesthetics and ecofeminism.
Aldo Leopold formulated ecological restoration focusing on Land ethic in a book „A Sand County
Almanac, 1949, defined a new link between nature and people and has a stage for the modern
conservation movement. For embracing this ethic ecologically literate citizens are required who
can also solve global environmental challenges. “This Land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries
of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.”
Environmental ethics and factors that necessitate it:
In early 1970’s philosopher’s formulated environmental ethics as a study concerned with the value
of the physical and biological environment. The focus of this study contrasts with traditional
ethical studies, which had to do with the relationships among people. There are utilitarian,
ecological, aesthetic and moral reasons for placing a value on the environment. The major factors
that necessitate environmental ethics are:
(i) New effects on nature: Because our modern technological civilisation affects nature
greatly, we must examine the ethical consequences of these new actions.
(ii) New knowledge about nature: Modern science demonstrates how we have changed and
are changing our environment in ways not previously understood, thus raising new
ethical issues. For example, until the past decade, few people believed that human
activities could be changing the Earth‟s global environment. Now, however, scientists
 believe that burning fossil fuels and clearing forests have changed the amount of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere, and this causes changes in our climates, and hence the need
for global action. This new perspective raises new moral issues.
(iii) Expanding moral concerns: Some people argue that animals, trees and even rocks have
moral and legal rights and that it is a natural extension of civilisation to begin including
the environment in ethics. These expanded concerns lead to needing for new ethics.

Environmental Movements
The environmental movement (ecology movement), also including conservation and green
politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental
issues.
Chipko Movement (Tree Hugging Movement)
The Chipko movement was started by Mr Sundarlal Bahuguna in Tehri-Garhwal district of
Uttaranchal against ruthless felling of trees and destruction of forests by contractors.
The movement gathered momentum in 1978 when the women faced police firings and other
tortures. Though the objectives of the movement were broad-based, the main objective was to
protect the trees on the Himalayan slopes from the axes of contractors of the forest.
The movement was organized to oppose the ruthless destruction of nature to achieve short-term
gains. Mr Bahuguna emphasized the importance of trees in an environment which checks the
erosion of soil, cause rains and provide pure air. The women of Advani village of Tehri-Garhwal
tied the sacred thread around trunks of trees and they hugged the trees, hence it was called Chipko
Movement When anybody tried to cut trees villagers faced police firing and later courted arrest in
February 1978.
This Chipko Movement under the leadership of Sri Sundarlal Bahuguna spread in other villages
of Tehri-Garhwal. Mr Bahuguna presented a plan for the protection of soil and water through a
ban on tree felling in the Himalayas at the meeting of United Nations Environmental Protection
(UNEP) held in London in June 1982. He emphasized that every standing green tree in the forest
protects us from avalanches and landslides, purifies our atmosphere, saves our soil, water and other
components of the environment.
Chipko Movement is now a movement for the planting of food, fuel, fibre, fodder and fertilizer
yielding trees to make the people self-sufficient in all their basic needs. It would generate a
decentralized and long-term policy which will conserve the environment and bring everlasting
peace, prosperity and happiness to mankind. Mr Bahuguna took this mission along with his
dedicated workers and marched 3,000 km from Srinagar (Garhwal) to Siliguri. Mr Bahuguna has
focused public attention for protection and conservation of forests, which were being destroyed
due to the construction of Tehri Dam.
Tehri Dam on the Bhagirathi Ganga in Uttaranchal at the foothills of Himalayas is a big project of
billions of rupees. The dam has displaced 85,000 people and has submerged the Tehri town and
100 villages. The site is prone to intense seismic activity. The 3,200 million tonnes of water could
cause a major earth tremor.
In the event of a disaster, Deoprayag, Haridwar and Rishikesh would be divested and thousands
of acres of agricultural land will be submerged The efforts were made to pressurize Government
of India to stop further construction of this dam because this dam could destroy the forests, wildlife,
tribal habitation and disturb the ecosystem of that area. It is unfortunate that the construction of
Tehri dam completed and has started functioning.
People from France, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and several other countries have approached
Mr Bahuguna to get the experience of this movement. In an International meeting held on June 5,
in Stockholm to celebrate “World Environment Day” the following statement was given about
Chipko Movement.
“A powerful environmental movement has grown up on the slopes of mountains of Himalaya
Villagers have created an effective non-violent way to stop the devastation by forest industries.
When the axemen come, the people made a circle around the trees and they embrace the trees. This
has given the movement its name Chipko Andolan, the tree-hugging movement.”
The following suggestions are made by the organizers of Chipko movement:
• All commercial green tree feelings should be stopped forthwith.
• No new contracts should be entered by forest departments with the industrialists to supply
raw materials and old contracts should be revised, especially those made for the long-term
supply of raw materials at cheap rates.
• Pine trees damaged due to the extraction of resin should be given rest for a period of 10
years.
• A massive programme for setting up biogas plants, especially in the lower region be taken
up. Night soil and another refuge of the cities be utilized by biogas industries.
• Every water source should be trapped to generate hydroelectric power. People should be
encouraged to set up their community powerhouses.
• Plantation of the trees for food, fodder, fuel, fertilizer etc., should be encouraged.
• All branches of forest department should be integrated into one. At a later stage integration
of Agriculture, Horticulture and Forest department should be considered into one Land
Use Dept.”
• There should be strong people’s participation in the protection of environment alone
cannot achieve success. Foot-marches should be organized in all districts to create general
awareness in public regarding protection of the environment.
In Chipko Movement, there is greater people participation for soil, conservation and plant
protection. The rural people have preferred their own priorities. Conservation work first began
in the Chipko villages not for protecting trees but walls were built around agricultural fields to
protect from wild animals.
The grasses grew rapidly in the protected area in the fieldsmen this benefit became clear to
women, they began to organize themselves for protecting and afforesting other patches of
common lands. While trees take many years to bear fruit, grasses grow faster in a protected
area and can provide fodder in few months. The Chipko women have devised a simple way for
sharing this product. The head of the village Mahila Mangal Dal announces once a month a
particular day on which one member from each family can take away as much grass as she can.
Thus, the role of women in ecological regeneration is very significant.
Today many voluntary organizations in the country are involved in environmental issues
although their objects are different. Some have an aim in preventing deforestation, while others
are interested in afforestation. Some are interested to prevent the construction of dams. Some
prevent water and air pollution. Among all these organizations Chipko movement in the
Uttaranchal Himalayas is the oldest and most famous of all the organisations which have
played a major role in deforestation.
There is another parallel movement in the South ‘the Apiko Movement’ in the Western Ghats
of Karnataka started by Medha Patekar. Dams like silent valley and Bethi have already been
stopped because of strong people’s protests through this movement but again these are heading
towards completion. Kerala Sasta Sahitya Parishad is another important organization which
made efforts against water pollution of the Chaliyar River in Kerala by a Rayon mill. Many
others are doing excellent work in mobilizing people to prevent further ecological destruction
and bring about ecological regeneration and protection.
Silent Valley – A People’s Movement that Saved a Forest
The densely-forested valley in the Palghat district of north Kerala is known as the ‘Silent
Valley’. It has a triangular shape. On two sides are the Kozhikode and Palghat cities in Kerala
and on the other side is located the Coimbatore city in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The forest is so deep and dark and peaceful that the slightest chirping of crickets can be heard.
The general silence of the valley has given the name ‘Silent Valley’. It is told that the
‘Pandavas’ settled in this valley after they lost their kingdom. This valley extends over 90
square kilometres. The river Kunthipura flows across the valley from north to south. ‘Pura’ in
Malayalam means river. The river originates from a height of 2400 m. after covering 15 km.
of plain land, the river has abruptly narrowed down flowing along slopes about 1000 meters
down.
Quite long back, the state government announced the construction of a dam at the upper reach
of the sloping stream. A British technical expert suggested in 1928 and 1929 that hydel power
can be generated easily from this stream. The first survey on this project was carried out in
1958. The Planning Commission approved this project in 1973. The project planned to generate
120 megawatts of electricity initially and 240 megawatts subsequently. There was not much
protest initially. In 1976, the project attracted the attention of some environmentalists. A task-
force was formed under the leadership of the then Vice-President of the World Wild-Life Fund,
India. After one year, the task-force in its survey-report advised not to undertake the project.
The report observed that the implementation of the project would result in the destr4uction of
‘the richest expression of life that has evolved on this planet’. It, however, concluded that if
the state government had no option but to go ahead with the project, the construction of the
 dam must comply with the suggested 17-point guideline. Subsequently, in his letter of
9th October 1979, the leader of the task-force owned his earlier proposal as a personal mistake
and pleaded for a total banning of the project.
In 1976, Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP), the largest popular-science organization in
Kerala, engaged its serious attention on this project. A proposal to abandon the project was
accepted in the State Conference of the organization and KSSP launched a mass signature
campaign. Some members of the State Legislative Assembly were pressing for early
implementation of the project. As a result, a resolution endorsing the project was accepted in
the Legislative Assembly. The KSSP published a campaign booklet titled: “The Silent Valley
Hydroelectric Project – A Techno-Economic and Socio-Political Assessment”. At one point in
time, the KSSP movement made the state government postpones the implementation of the
project. In May 1979, Morarji Desai, the then Prime Minister of India directed the state
government to expedite the completion of the project. Many environmentalists including the
noted ornithologist Salim Ali voiced their objections. The International Union of Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) also registered its disapproval. A public interest
litigation case was filed in the High Court, which was, however, dismissed subsequently.
Finally, in December 1980, the Kerala Government announced the scrapping of the project.
The Silent Valley was declared as a National Park, KSSP has never played an anti-
developmental role, it only pleased that the usefulness or otherwise of a project be judged both
from the perspectives of development and environment.

--------

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. The world environment day is

(a) 10th June (b) 5th June
(c) 6th June (d) 4th June
2. WWF stands for
(a) World wide fund for nature (b) World wildlife fund
(c) World wide forest (d) Both a & b
3. A distinct unit of life in nature is
(a) Microbes (b) Organism
(c) Ecology (d) Biome
4. The environment is mutually related with
(a) The organism (b) Nature
(c) Human beings (d) All the above
5. The word ‘Ecology’ is derived from
(a) Latin (b) Greek
(c) French (d) Spanish
6. Basic unit of ecological hierarchy is
(a) Biome (b) Genome
(c) Organism (d) Population
7. The characters of species are except
(a) Breeding (b) Similar organisms
(c) Produce off springs (d) Colony
8. The microscopic, photosynthetic organisms that float on water surface are called
(a) Grinnel (b) Phytoplankton
(c) Niche (d) Fungi
9. The extend of biosphere from ocean floor to mountain top is
(a) 40 Km (b) 60 Km
(c) 22.5 Km (d) 80.5 Km
10. Short term property of atmosphere is
(a) Climate (b) Weather
(c) Precipitation (d) None of the above
11. Which sector consumes highest amount of fresh water in world?
(a) Industries (b) Agriculture
(c) Domestic (d) Commercial
12. Which state of India has made roof top rainwater harvesting compulsory?
(a) Rajasthan (b) Andhra Pradesh
(c) Tamil Nadu (d) Haryana
13. Watershed comprises of?
(a) Catchment area, Command area (b) Recharge Zone, Transition Zone &
& Delta area Discharge Zone
(c) Both a & b (d) None of the above
14. In which year for the 1st time national water policy was declared?
(a) 2012 (b) 2002
(c) 2010 (d) 1975
15. Cauvery river water dispute is between which of the following states of India?
(a) Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu (b) Karnataka & Tamil Nadu
(c) Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh (d) Karnataka & Kerala
16. Which country recycles 100% of the wastewater generated?
 (a) Israel (b) Singapore
(c) Brazil (d) Colombia
17. India ranks _____in the world in terms of water availability per person per annum.
(a) 120 (b) 130
(c) 133 (d) 119
18. The gas that shows the most variation from place to place and from time to time in the
lower atmosphere:
(a) Carbon dioxide (b) Water vapour
(c) Nitrogen (d) Methane
19. Which of the following processes acts to remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere?
(a) lightning (b) Deforestation
(c) Photosynthesis (d) Burning fossil fuels
20. Which of the following weather elements always decreases as we climb upward in the
atmosphere?
(a) Wind (b) Temperature
(c) Pressure (d) Moisture
21. Almost all of the earth's weather occurs in the
(a) Stratosphere (b) Troposphere
(c) Thermosphere (d) Mesosphere
22. In a temperature inversion
(a) air temperature increases with (b) air temperature decreases with
increasing height increasing height
(c) air temperature remains constant (d) it is warmer at night than during
with increasing height the day
23. Place occupied by an organism in relation to environment is
(a) Habitat (b) Edaphic
(c) Ecotone (d) Ecotype
24. Capability of an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment s
known as
(a) Adaptation (b) Adaptation
(c) Adjustment (d) None of the above
25. The term ‘Niche’ was first coined by
(a) Gauss (b) Odum
(c) Grinnel (d) Larson
26. The scientist who differentiated between habitat and ecological niche is
(a) Grinnel (b) Odum
(c) Champan (d) Mishra
27. The groups of species exploiting a common resource are called
(a) Co-ecos (b) Guilds
(c) Community (d) Ecological equivalents
28. Gauss’s hypothesis is
(a) Competitive exclusion (b) Competitive inclusion
(c) Competitive binding (d) None of the above
29. The organisms in different geographical regions but occupying same niche are called
 (a) Ecological equivalents (b) Ecological polyvalents
(c) Ecotone (d) Ecotype
30. In an average year, more people die from this than from any other natural disaster
(a) Lighting (b) Earth quake
(c) Flash floods and flooding (d) Volcanoes
31. Soil conservation is a process in which
(a) Soil is aerated (b) Soil erosion is allowed
(c) Sterile soil is made fertile (d) Soil is protected
32. On which day Ozone day is celebrated
(a) 16th September (b) 22nd December
(c) 5th June (d) 22nd March
33. Which one of the following is responsible for Ozone hole
(a) Oxygen (b) Methane
(c) CFC (d) Carbon dioxide
34. Social forestry Programme was launched in
(a) 1952 (b) 1972
(c) 1962 (d) 1982
35. Red data book is published by
(a) WHO (b) UNDP
(c) UNEP (d) IUCN
36. Essay on population was published by
(a) Thomas Malthus, 1978 (b) A.G Tansley, 1935
(c) Pierre Verhulst, 1839 (d) Mishra, 1995
37. The share of Indian forests in global forest area is
(a) 0.005% (b) 0.5%
(c) 5% (d) 0.05%
38. The 1st national park in India is
(a) Bandipore national park (b) Kaziranga national park
(c) Jim Corbett National park (d) Nandi National park
39. Malaria is caused by
(a) Protozoan (b) Fungi
(c) Bacteria (d) Virus
40. The environmental planning organization is
(a) NITI Ayog (b) NEERI
(c) CPCB (d) TERI
41. Center for environmental education is located at
(a) New Delhi (b) Mumbai
(c) Ahmedabad (d) Nagpur
42. Taungya system is an example of
(a) Socio forestry (b) Agro forestry
(c) Organic farming (d) Contour farming
43. The first movement against indiscriminate felling of trees was thought by
(a) Amrita Devi (b) Sunderlal Bahuguna
(c) M C Mehta (d) Asha Parikh
44. The deflection of wind by the earth’s rotation is known as
 (a) Centrifugal effect (b) Coriolis effect
(c) Centripetal effect (d) Humbolt effect
45. The leader of Chipko movement was
(a) Amrita Devi (b) Sunderlal Bahuguna
(c) Baba Amte (d) Asha Parikh
46. Appiko movement took place in
(a) Karnataka (b) Kerala
(c) Tamil Nadu (d) Andra Pradesh
47. Which is not related to the remaining
(a) Urban forestry (b) Agro forestry
(c) Social forestry (d) Rural forestry
48. Mine spoil is
(a) Spoiling the beauty of mines (b) Destruction of land by mining
(c) Creating mining (d) All of the above
49. Lotic means
(a) Running water (b) Standing water
(c) Sub surface water (d) None of the above
50. Most stable ecosystem is
(a) Forest (b) Ocean
(c) Desert (d) Mountain
51. In aquatic systems the dominant producers are
(a) Phytoplankton (b) Macrophytes
(c) Nektons (d) Benthos
52. The evolution of new species is known as
(a) Introduction (b) Mutation
(c) Speciation (d) All of the above
53. Diversity within community is
(a) Alpha diversity (b) Beta Diversity
(c) Gradient diversity (d) None of the above
54. The species which are confined to a particular area or country are called
(a) Endemic species (b) Epidemic species
(c) Pandemic species (d) All of the above
55. Kaziranga national park is famous for
(a) Tiger (b) Musk deer
(c) Elephant (d) Rhinoceros
56. India accounts _____of the land area of the world
(a) 5.5% (b) 3.2%
(c) 7.3% (d) 2.4%
57. Cryopreservation involves storage at
(a) -200ºC Oxygen (b) -196ºC in liquid Hydrogen
(c) -196ºC in liquid Nitrogen (d) All of the above
58. Gas leaked in Bhopal tragedy was
(a) Potassium Isothiocynate (b) Ethyl Isocyte
(c) Sodium Isothiocynate (d) Methyl Isocyanate
59. Pneumoconiosis is a disease produced by
 (a) Cotton dust (b) Zinc dust
(c) Raw saw dust (d) Lead
60. Biological oxygen demand (BOD) is measured for
(a) 5 days at 20º C in the dark (b) 4 days at 20º C in the light
(c) 5 days at 21º C in the dark (d) 4 days at 21º C in the light
61. In which region of India bundhis are used for water harvesting.
(a) Rajasthan (b) Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh
(c) Madhya Pradesh and Bihar (d) Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh
62. Which rivers in India flow in rift valleys?
(a) Narmada (b) Beas
(c) Godavari (d) Sutlej
63. Which of the following is/are the major river systems of the Indian Subcontinent?
(a) The Himalayan river system (b) The Peninsular river system
(c) Bothe a and b (d) None of the above
64. How much water can India use of the Indus river system according to Indus water
Treaty?
(a) 35% (b) 20%
(c) 30% (d) 25%
65. Which country has the highest water foot print per capita (7800liters/day)?
(a) Qatar (b) USA
(c) Canada (d) China
66. Currently ____ million people in India are facing high to extreme water stress
situation.
(a) 750 (b) 950
(c) 850 (d) 650
67. What are the helping factors of Watershed Management?
(a) Alternatives must be provided to (b) Evolve a long watershed policy for
the local community conserving the country's watershed
(c) Appropriate funds must be (d) All of the above
allocated
68. Material deposited by flowing water is called _______
(a) Alluvium (b) Alluvial Fans
(c) Aquiclude (d) All of the above
69. India receives about______ of the global precipitation.
(a) 2.5% (b) 4%
(c) 17% (d) 12%
70. Ground water represents ______of fresh water.
(a) 2.5% (b) 3.2%
(c) 1.2% (d) 0.5%
71. Which states are benefited by Gandhi canal?
(a) Punjab, Haryana & Rajasthan (b) Punjab, Haryana & Himachal
Pradesh
(c) Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh & (d) All of the above
Maharashtra
72. By 2020 about _____of the world will have water scarcity.
(a) 20-25% (b) 10-15%
(c) 15-20% (d) 30-40%
73. “Develop Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Efficiency
Plans by 2005” was called by which of the following?
(a) World Summit on Sustainable (b) Earth summit, 1992
Development , 2002
(c) Both of the above (d) None of the above
74. Unaccounted-for water is?
(a) Water losses in transport, (b) Un-metered amount of water for
treatment and distribution supply
systems
(c) Amount of water lost during (d) Amount of water lost by
irrigation inefficient facets
75. The concept of water footprints was given by?
(a) Walter (b) Hekiestra
(c) Mollinga (d) Koppen
76. Which of the following is the Ramsar site?
(a) Anchar Lake (b) Nigeen Lake
(c) Wular lake (d) Dal Lake
77. Major amount of rainfall in India occurs during?
(a) June- September (b) September- December
(c) May- June (d) March –May
78. The water scarcity in the valley of Kashmir during summers is due to?
(a) Reduced precipitation in the form (b) Fast melting of glaciers
of snow
(c) Non- availability of None of the above
infrastructure to meet the
demand
79. Who is/are the mediator(s) of Indus water treaty between Indian and Pakistan?
(a) Asian Development Bank (b) World bank
(c) United Nations (d) All of the above
80. J&K State Water Resources Regulatory Authority established under section ____ of
the Act
(a) 120 (b) 139
(c) 101 (d) 112
81. Percentage of fresh water consumed in Indian agriculture is ?
(a) 70% (b) 80%
(c) 65% (d) 60%
82. Krishna-Godavari water dispute is between which of the following states?
(a) Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (b) West Bengal and Orissa
(c) Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, (d) All of the above
Madhya Pradesh and Orissa
83. The River Boards Act came into existence.
(a) 1965 (b) 1956
 (c) 1960 (d) 1961
84. The National Water Policy (2012) calls the establishment of
(a) Central water commission (b) National Water Informatics
Centre
(c) National water mission (d) River linking project
85. The catchment area of Dal Lake is?
(a) Dachigam National park (b) Hari parbat
(c) Both (a) & (b) (d) None of the above
86. Which state has depleted its groundwater resources at extensive rate?
(a) Punjab (b) Jammu and Kashmir
(c) West Bengal (d) Andhra Pradesh
87. Which method of irrigation should be propagated for conserving the fresh water
resources?
(a) Surface irrigation (b) Sub-surface irrigation
(c) Micro irrigation (d) All of the above
88. To deal with the flash floods in urban areas like Srinagar city, which of the following
methods could be employed?
(a) Storm water management (b) Improved drainage system
separate from sewage water
management
(c) Ground water recharge well at (d) All of the above
suitable points
89. Standing water is also known by?
(a) Lentic (b) Lotic
(c) Littoral (d) Limnetic
90. The method of rainwater harvesting which can be adopted by individual house owners
is
(a) Construction of recharge trenches (b) On channel storage of water
(c) Creation of new water bodies (d) Roof-top rainwater harvesting
91. Which one of the following is not an ideal solution for tackling water shortages?
(a) Controlling population growth (b) Drilling large number of deep bore
wells
(c) Controlling water pollution (d) Conserving water in irrigation
92. Which of the following is not a method for water conservation?
(a) Rainwater harvesting (b) Improving irrigation efficiency
(c) Groundwater extraction (d) Avoiding water wastage
93. How much percentage (%) of the Earth’s Surface is covered with water?
(a) About 80% (b) About 70%
(c) About 85% (d) About 75%
94. The first & the only state in India which has made Roof Top Rain water Harvesting
structured compulsory to all the across the state is
(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Karnataka
(c) Manipur (d) Nagaland
95. Dark zones are
 (a) Zones with high water pollution (b) Zones with extensive
groundwater extraction
(c) Zones low surface water (d) None of the above
availability
96. Which of the following is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia?
(a) Wular Lake (b) Nal Sarovar
(c) Loktak Lake (d) Chilika Lake
97. The 2017 Global Tiger Day (GTD) is observed on which date?
(a) July 27 (b) July 28
(c) July 29 (d) July 30
98. Indravati National Park (INP) is located in which state?
(a) Chhattisgarh (b) Karnataka
(c) Assam (d) Punjab
99. REDD Plus Programme is concerned with which of the following?
(a) Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (b) Convention on Biological
(NPT) Diversity (CBD)
(c) Millennium Development Goals (d) Earth Summi
(MDG)
100. Lion-tailed Macaque is found in which of the following regions?
(a) Eastern Himalayas (b) Eastern Ghats
(c) Western Ghats (d) North East India
101. Depletion of the ozone layer is damaging to human health. Negative effects include
(a) Skin cancers (b) Osteoporosis
(c) Dyspepsia (d) None of the above
102. Carbon dioxide is primarily called a greenhouse gas because
(a) Traps heat (b) Traps light
(c) Traps warm currents (d) None of the above
103. Which of the following is the best indicator of SO2 pollution
(a) Bryophyte (b) Pteridophyte
(c) Lichen (d) Algae