Natural resources: land, forest, water, energy and conservation
What this domain tests
Natural resources questions ask you to separate renewable from non-renewable resources, read patterns of land and forest use, and justify conservation measures. Maharashtra examples carry marks - black cotton soil, Konkan kharland salinity, bagasse from the sugar belt, wind farms in the Sahyadri gaps.
Core rules and concepts
- Renewable vs non-renewable: solar, wind, water and biomass regenerate on a human timescale; coal, petroleum, gas and minerals do not. A renewable resource can still be exhausted - groundwater is renewable but depletes when extraction exceeds recharge.
- Land degradation: caused by deforestation, overgrazing, waterlogging and salinity. In Maharashtra, sheet erosion on basalt slopes of the ghats and salinity ingress in kharland fields are the standard examples.
- Forest: the National Forest Policy, 1988, sets a national goal of 33% forest and tree cover. Maharashtra's forest cover is roughly 16–17% of its geographical area, concentrated in the Vidarbha hills, the Sahyadri and the Konkan. Joint Forest Management and sacred groves (devrai) are community conservation institutions.
- Energy: conventional (coal, oil, gas, large hydro, nuclear - Tarapur in Palghar) versus non-conventional (solar, wind, biogas, bagasse cogeneration). Maharashtra is a leading wind state, with clusters at Chalkewadi and Thoseghar in Satara, Brahmanvel in Dhule and the Sangli–Satara gaps.
- Conservation hierarchy: reduce → reuse → recycle → recover → dispose.
Worked example
A village of 2,000 people (about 400 families of five) uses 1.5 m³ of fuelwood per family per year, so demand is 400 × 1.5 = 600 m³. Its 400 ha of managed forest yield a sustainable 2.5 m³/ha/yr = 1,000 m³. Supply exceeds demand by 400 m³, so offtake is sustainable - but only if that yield is real. If degradation cuts yield to 1 m³/ha, supply falls to 400 m³ and the village runs a 200 m³ deficit.
Traps that cost marks
Calling all biomass "non-polluting" regardless of how it is burnt. Quoting the 33% forest goal as Maharashtra's current figure. Confusing soil erosion with soil salinity.