SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES
Sustainable development:
Sustainable economic development means ‘development should take place without damaging the environment, and development in the present should not compromise with the needs of future generations.'
Resources are vital for human survival as well as for maintaining the quality of life. It was believed that resources are free gifts of nature. As a result, human beings used them indiscriminately and this has led to the following major problems.
* Depletion of resources for satisfying the greed of a few individuals.
* Accumulation of resources in few hands, which, in turn, divided the society into two segments i.e. haves and have nots or rich and poor.
* Indiscriminate exploitation of resources has led to global ecological crises such as, global warming, ozone layer depletion, environmental pollution and land degradation.
Equitable distribution of resources has become essential for sustained quality of life and global peace. If the present trend of resource depletion by a few individuals and countries continues, the future of our planet is in danger.
Therefore, resource planning is essential for the sustainable existence of all forms of life. Sustainable existence is a component of sustainable development.
Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992:
In June 1992, more than 100 heads of states met in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for the first International Earth Summit. The Summit was convened for addressing urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development at the global level. The assembled leaders signed the Declaration on Global Climatic Change and Biological Diversity. The Rio Convention endorsed the global Forest Principles and adopted Agenda 21 for achieving Sustainable Development in the 21st century.
Agenda 21
It is the declaration signed by world leaders in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It aims at achieving global sustainable development. It is an agenda to combat environmental damage, poverty, disease through global co-operation on common interests, mutual needs and shared responsibilities. One major objective of Agenda 21 is that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.
Activity:
1. Imagine, if the oil supply gets exhausted one day, how would this affect our lifestyle?
2. Plan a survey in your colony/village to investigate people’s attitudes towards recycling of domestic/agricultural wastes. Ask questions about :
(a) What do they think about the resources they use?
(b) What is their opinion about the wastes, and its utilisation?
(c) Collage your results.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
RESOURCES PLANNING
Planning is the widely accepted strategy for judicious use of resources. It has importance in a country like India, which has enormous diversity in the availability of resources. There are regions which are rich in certain types of resources but are deficient in some other resources. There are some regions which can be considered self-sufficient in terms of the availability of resources and there are some regions which have an acute shortage of some vital resources. For example, the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are rich in minerals and coal deposits. Arunachal Pradesh has an abundance of water resources but lacks in infrastructural development. The state of Rajasthan is very well endowed with solar and wind energy but lacks in water resources. The cold desert of Ladakh is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. It has a very rich cultural heritage but it is deficient in water, infrastructure and some vital minerals. This calls for balanced resource planning at the national, state, regional and local levels.
Activity:
Prepare a list of resources found in your state and also identify the resources that are important but the deficit in your state.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK
RESOURCES PLANNING IN INDIA
Resource planning is a complex process which involves :
(i) identification and inventory of resources across the regions of the country. This involves surveying, mapping, and qualitative and quantitative estimation and measurement of the resources.
(ii) Evolving a planning structure endowed with appropriate technology, skill, and institutional set up for implementing resource development plans.
(iii) Matching the resource development plans with overall national development plans.
India has made concerted efforts for achieving the goals of resource planning right from the First Five Year Plan launched after Independence.
The availability of resources is a necessary condition for the development of any region, but the mere availability of resources in the absence of corresponding changes in technology and institutions may hinder development. There are many regions in our country that are rich in resources but these are included in economically backward regions. On the contrary, there are some regions which have a poor resource base but they are economically developed.
The history of colonisation reveals that rich resources in colonies were the main attractions for the foreign invaders. It was primarily the higher level of technological development of the colonising countries that helped them to exploit resources of other regions and establish their supremacy over the colonies. Therefore, resources can contribute to development only when they are accompanied by appropriate technological development and institutional changes. India has experienced all this in different phases of colonisation. Therefore, in India, development, in general, and resource development in particular does not only involve the availability of resources, but also the technology, quality of human resources and the historical experiences of the people.
Conservation of Resources
Resources are vital for any developmental activity. But irrational consumption and over-utilisation of resources may lead to socio-economic and environmental problems. To overcome these problems, resource conservation at various levels is important. This had been the main concern of the leaders and thinkers in the past. For example, Gandhiji was very apt in voicing his concern about resource conservation in these words: “There is enough for everybody’s need and not for any body’s greed.” He placed the greedy and selfish individuals and exploitative nature of modern technology as the root cause for resource depletion at the global level. He was against mass production and wanted to replace it with the production by the masses.
More to know
At the international level, the Club of Rome advocated resource conservation for the first time in a more systematic way in 1968. Subsequently, in 1974, Gandhian philosophy was once again presented by Schumacher in his book Small is Beautiful. The seminal contribution with respect to resource conservation at the global level was made by the Brundtland Commission Report, 1987. This report introduced the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ and advocated it as a means for resource conservation, which was subsequently published in a book entitled Our Common Future. Another significant contribution was made at the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.
Activity:
1. What resources are being developed in your surroundings by the community/village panchayats/ward level communities with the help of community participation?
2. Can you name some resource rich but economically backward regions and some resource-poor but economically developed regions? Give reasons for such a situation.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK