Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation, and Wildlife Resources

The resources that occur and exist in nature and lead to the existence of others are termed as natural resources which can be renewable or non - renewable as well. Some resources will be entirely exhausted one day but we can slow the pace of their complete exhaustion and extinction by looking out the issues and adopting measures to conserve them. In this article, we will be discussing major natural resources such as land soil water natural vegetation and wildlife resources and their related important concepts. We will learn what kind of resource is soil or how to conserve wildlife or the importance of land and water and other related concepts. These notes will be helpful for the students of Class 6 studying Geography and Environment and also students of upper classes. 

Natural Resources & Their Significance

The resources that exist on our planet in different forms in a natural way without any help or action of humans are called natural resources. They exist independently in nature without the help or interaction of humans. For example, air, water, land, sunlight, minerals, fossil fuels, animals, plants, etc. The major significance of these resources is that they maintain ecological and environmental balance on the Earth because humans usually create unbalance on the Earth. They provide an environment here that makes the possibility for life to exist on the planet. The major five natural resources are land soil water natural vegetation and wildlife resources. 

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Land & Soil

Land and soil are two of the most important resources on our planet. The former is considered as the upper lithosphere part of the Earth whereas the latter is a kind of loose and organic material that lies on the land. Both serve as an important resource of Earth but is there any difference between land and soil? Let's see.

Difference between Land and Soil

Significance 

The importance of soil and land natural resources are mentioned below:

• They both are reasons for the survival of living organisms on the planet.

• Where one side, the land provides space to reside, the other provides food to live.

• The land is home to human beings and animals and other land species whereas soil is also home to various microorganisms.

• They both serve as the base for agriculture activities.

Factors Affecting Land

Following are the factors that can affect land and its productivity:

• The rapid increase in the global population put major stress on land.

• The different types of cultivation patterns can affect the land.

• The quality of the land can also affect its productivity level.

• Excessive use of land and excessive stress can affect its productivity.

• The occurrence of natural disasters such as landslides or earthquakes can affect the land in a large amount.

• Different types of irrigation methods and excessive use of these methods can also affect their health.

Factors Affecting Soil

The following mentioned factors can affect the soil and its productivity:

• The wrong agricultural practices can affect the soil and its fertility can be lost.

• Land pollution can affect it as well.

• The excessive use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides or insecticides can harm the quality of the soil.

• Heavy rainfall, cloud outburst, floods, tsunamis, etc. can harm a large amount of good soil and lead to soil erosion.

• Heavy deforestation directly affects the soil.

Conservation of Soil

Following measures can be taken for its conservation:

• The use of good agricultural activities such as crop rotation or terrace farming, mulching, etc.

• Leaving the soil vacant for some time say years so that it can regain its sufficient fertility level.

• Less use of harmful chemical agricultural products.

• The adoption of organic farming will help conserve the soil.

• Growing more and more trees also helps in their conservation.

Water as a Natural Resource

It is one of the unique features of our planet that lead to the presence of life on it because it consists of liquid water which is essential for survival. Water as a Natural Resource serves various functions but only 2.5 % of the total water that we found on Earth is freshwater that is usable for survival purposes for humans or animals and the rest of the water is saltwater. The list of its various sources includes rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, glaciers, oceans, etc.

Factors Affecting Water

The various factors that can affect this natural resource are mentioned below:

• It is used as a raw material in both agricultural and industrial activities, thus putting great stress on this resource.

• Excessive use of irrigation activities can affect the availability of groundwater in some areas.

• Pollution is a major source that is affecting not only its quality but also producing several water-borne diseases.

• Throwing garbage or industrial waste in water affects it.

Conservation of Water Resources

It is very important to conserve this resource which can be done in the following ways:

• Best irrigation practices should be adopted in the agriculture sector such as drip irrigation or sprinkler system etc.

• Recycling industrial water or household water will help in conserving water.

• Rainwater harvesting is a good method to be adopted by everyone.

• Adopting water conservation measures by the households in their homes will lead to a major impact.

Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resources

These are flora and fauna that exist in nature without any kind of humanitarian aid. The flora that grows naturally is called natural vegetation whereas the several species of fauna kingdom that live on Earth are called wildlife resources. Various factors are there which are affecting their existence on Earth such as increasing temperature and deforestation, damaging the home of the animals, killing them for food and other industrial products, etc.

Conservation of Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resources

The various measures can be taken to conserve natural resources vegetation and wildlife which are mentioned below:

• Various projects are launched by the National and international organizations for their conservation in which everyone should participate.

• By knowing the status of any wildlife species through the IUCN list, conservation should be done on a priority basis of species that lie in critical endangered, endangered and vulnerable categories.

Conclusion

To conclude what we have discussed above we can say that these natural resources are the gift of nature and these are the gifts that help in the existence of life on the Earth but due to several factors they are deteriorating and for that right conservation measures are required to be taken to save them. In this article, we have covered necessary topics of land soil water natural vegetation and wildlife such as the meaning of the resources, water as a natural resource, the difference between land and soil, etc. As we discussed above, we should take appropriate measures to conserve these natural resources and do whatever is in our hands. These notes will help the students of Class 6 and upper classes to understand the resources and their various issues and how to conserve them.