SS ch 8

• Human needs can be satisfied partially or completely through resources
• There are thousands of elements in nature but not all of them can be called resources
• Resources

  Elements that are utilised by man through his special knowledge and expertise to fulfill human needs
• In ancient times, minerals buried within the land were not resources, but today they are extremely useful due to their utility and the developed techniques of mining
• Natural resources

  • They should have both the virtues of utility and capability to work
  • They are made of the interactions of nature, man and culture
• Uses of resources

  • As food
  • As a source of raw material
  • As energy resources
• Types of resources based on ownership

  • Individual resources
  • National resources
  • Global resources
• Individual resources

  Owned by an individual or a family
• National resources

  Owned by a country or a region
• Global resources

  All physical or non-physical resources which are used for human welfare and are the common ownership of all nations of the world
• Pasture land

  Land for animal grazing
• Classification of resources based on distribution

  • Universal resources
  • Generally available resources
  • Rare resources
  • Solitary resources
• Universal resources

  • Useful gases in the atmosphere
• Generally available resources

  • Easily available
• Rare resources

  • Minerals like coal, petroleum, copper, gold, uranium
• Solitary resources

  • Chryolite, available only in Greenland
• Resources can be classified into renewable and non-renewable resources
• Renewable resources

  Resources that reproduce themselves as per their usage during a specific time, in other words they are inexhaustible. Examples: Solar insolation, wind, birds, animals, Bioresources
• Non-renewable resources

  Resources that cannot be re-used once they are used or cannot be reproduced or reformed in the near future. Examples: Mineral ores, natural gas, petroleum