Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 Notes

With the growing awareness towards sustainability especially in the context of environmental conservation, there is an increase in eco-friendly technologies and products which can be incorporated into our everyday lives to do our part towards saving the planet earth. Class 10 Science students are provided with a detailed chapter on Sustainable Management of Natural Resources to impart them with the knowledge of environmental management and sustainability. If you are searching for Sustainable Management of Natural Resource Class 10 notes for revision, you have surely come to the right blog! In this blog, we have summarized the chapter 16 of Class 10 Science and explored the key essentials of how sustainable management of natural resources can be ensured.

Natural Resources

The first concept you will get to learn in our Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 notes is the basic definition of natural resources. The resources that are present in the environment and contribute to the life and being of humankind are known as natural resources. There are two main types of natural resources:

Exhaustible Natural Resources: These resources can be exhausted if the rate of usage of the resource is greater than the rate of replenishment of the resource. 

Inexhaustible Natural Resources: These resources cannot be exhausted even if they are used repeatedly and continuously. 

Why Do We Need to Manage Our Natural Resources?

Natural resources form the foundational and basic elements of the things we use or consume, be it food, electricity, clothes, transportation, living spaces, amongst others. We need to use these natural resources carefully as they are limited and with reckless use, they will soon be scarce. Going through our Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 notes, you must understand how important and crucial it is to manage the reservoirs of our natural resources and utilize them in an optimal way. The sustainable management of natural resources is primarily a way to control natural resources’ use, especially exhaustible ones so that their usage is optimum, and their wastage is wholly avoided. 

Three Rs

Moving further, you must also familiarize yourself with the 3Rs which are essentially included in our Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 notes. The three Rs that can help people save the environment are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

• To reduce means to lessen the usage of such materials that can seriously harm the environment. If people stop using these materials, it will have a domino effect, and the production of such materials will also eventually reduce.
• To reuse means to collect and use harmful materials repeatedly so that they do not need to be bought again and again. This is bound to reduce the sale of such items and their production as well, which has great potential to save the environment.
• The third R is to recycle. This means that such materials that may potentially harm the environment must be recycled to the greatest extent possible. Recycling helps obtain base materials again.

Conservation of Forests and Wildlife

The conservation of wildlife is among the most important parts of the conservation of natural resources. While studying the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 notes, you must know that the conservation of wildlife is not just important because it helps maintain the balance in the ecology of a particular region and the planet as a whole, but also because it helps preserve the gene pool. Wildlife not being conserved can lead to species going extinct.

The conservation of wildlife means:

• developing laws that protect the wildlife of an area
• incentivizing people to protect and preserve rare and endangered species
• conducting periodic surveys of areas of rich wildlife to understand its ecology, and take steps to preserve it
• imposing severe restrictions on deforestation

The conservation of forests can be done through sustainable management. The main steps for the conservation of forests are:

• afforestation (the planting of new trees of barren land)
• reforestation (the replanting of trees on the land that was earlier exploited)
• separation of commercial forestry
• the regulation of grazing

The chapter on Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Class 10 also notes that forests primarily need to be conserved due to the vast and harmful effects of deforestation. The main effects of deforestation are soil erosion, desertification, floods, the destruction of wildlife, and changes in the climate of a region. 

Conservation of Water

All forms of life require water to sustain life. This makes water among the most important resources on the Earth. Not being able to retain water in a region can lead to the complete loss of life from that region. In regions where water is naturally not present, ways of irrigation such as dams may be built. Here are the major advantages and disadvantages you must remember while revising our Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 notes:

The advantages of dams include: 

• They can ensure a year-round supply of water for a region.
• The water from the dam can be treated and further supplied to people in nearby residential areas, where natural sources of water might not otherwise be present.
• The water of a dam is present at a great height, and hence may be used to generate electricity by harnessing the potential energy of water maintained at a height.

However, building dams also carries its own set of disadvantages:

• The construction of dams causes a large number of people to be dislocated from their homes, sometimes with very little compensation.
• The construction of dams also causes deforestation and disturbs the ecology of a region.

A better way of conserving water is through the harvesting of water. Different states of India have different ways in which water is harvested. The harvesting of water can also be combined with filtration systems so that clean water may be obtained. 

Conservation of Fossil Fuels

The next sub-unit in the chapter on Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Class 10 explores the integral ways to facilitate the conservation of fossil fuels. The two primary fossil fuels are coal and petroleum. Coal has been derived from plant remains, while petroleum has been derived from liquefied plant and animal remains that have been pressurized over millions of years.

The conservation of fossil fuels can be done in a number of ways:

• The use of fossil fuels can be replaced with other fuels such as compressed natural gas.
• While these generally are derived from fossil fuels themselves, it is also prudent to note that they do not cause as much pollution as fossil fuels due and also last longer.
• The wastage of fossil fuels during their extraction must also be avoided at all costs.
• The overconsumption of fossil fuels in various industries must be checked and regulated. 
• Several alternative sources of energy can also be utilized instead of fossil fuels. 
• These sources include hydroelectric power, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power.

Hence, we hope that our Sustainable Management of Natural Resources Class 10 notes help you understand the major aspects covered in this chapter. Interested in pursuing Environmental Studies as a career? Our Leverage Edu experts are here to answer all your queries and we will also guide you in finding the best course and university to pursue a degree in this field! Sign up for a free session with us today!