Unit -5
Natural Resources- Forest Policy, Energy Policy
Natural resource economics focuses on the supply , demand, and allocation of the Earth’s natural resources. It’s goal is to understand a much better understanding of the role of natural resources within the economy. Learning about the role of natural resources allows for the event of more sustainable methods to manage resources and ensure that they are maintained for future generations.The goal of natural resources economics is to develop an efficient economy that's sustainable within the long-run.
Importance of the Environment:
The economy are subsets of the environment. It's impossible for societal and economic systems to exist independently from the environment. For this reason, natural resources economics focuses on understanding the role of natural resources within the economy so on develop a sufficient and sustainable economy that protects natural resources.
Types of Natural Resources
Natural resources are derived from the environment. variety of the resources are essential to survival, while others merely satisfy societal wants. Every man-made product in an economy consists of natural resources to some extent .
There are numerous ways to classify the sorts of natural resources, they include the source of origin, the state of development, and thus the renewability of the resources.
In terms of the source of origin, natural resources are often divided into the next types:
• Biotic: these resources come from living and organic material, like forests and animals, and include the materials which can be obtained them. Biotic natural resources also include fossil fuels like coal and petroleum which are formed from organic matter that has decayed.
• Abiotic: these resources come from non-living and non-organic material. Samples of those resources include land, water , air, and heavy metals (gold, iron, copper, silver, etc.).
Natural resources can also be categorized supported their stage of development including:
• Potential resources: these are resources that exist during a neighborhood and will be utilized within the long run . as an example , if a country has petroleum in sedimentary rocks, it is a possible resource until it's actually drilled out of the rock and put to use.
• Actual resources: these are resources that are surveyed, their quantity and quality has been determined, which they're currently getting used .the event of actual resources depends on technology.
• Reserve resources: this is often often the a neighborhood of an actual resource which can be developed profitably within the longer term .
• Stock resources: these are resources that are surveyed, but cannot be used due a scarcity of technology. An example of a stock resource is hydrogen.
Natural resources are also classified supported their renewability:
• Renewable natural resources: these are resources which can be replenished. Samples of renewable resources include sunlight, air, and wind. They're available continuously and their quantity isn't noticeably affected by human consumption. However, renewable resources do not have a rapid recovery rate and are susceptible to depletion if they're overused.
• Non-renewable natural resources: these resources form extremely slow and do not naturally form within the environment. A resource is taken under consideration to be non-renewable when their rate of consumption exceeds the speed of recovery. Samples of non-renewable natural resources are minerals and fossil fuels.
There is constant worldwide debate regarding the allocation of natural resources. The discussions are centered around the problems with increased scarcity (resource depletion) and thus the exportation of natural resources as a basis for several economies (especially developed nations). The overwhelming majority of natural resources are exhaustible which suggests they're available during a limited quantity and should be spent if they are not managed correctly. Natural resources economics aims to review resources so on stop depletion.
Natural resource utilization is regulated through the use of taxes and permits. the govt. and individual states determine how resources must be used which they monitor the availability and standing of the resources. An example of natural resources protection is that the Clean Air Act. The act was designed in 1963 to manage pollution on a national level. Regulations were established to protect the overall public from airborne contaminants that are hazardous to human health. The act has been revised over the years to still protect the quality of the air and health of the overall public within the us .
Basic Economics of Natural Resources
Natural resource economics focuses on the supply , demand, and allocation of the Earth’s natural resources to form a more efficient economy.
Key Points
• As a field of educational research, natural resources economics addresses the connections and interdependence between human economies and natural ecosystems.
• By studying natural resources, economists determine the way to develop more sustainable methods of managing resources to form sure that they are maintained for future generations.
• natural resources economics is studied on a tutorial level, and thus the findings are used to shape and direct policy-making for environmental issues. These issues include resource extraction, depletion, protection, and management.
• natural resources economics findings impact policies for environmental work including issues like extraction, depletion, protection, and management.
• natural resource: Any source of wealth that happens naturally, especially minerals, fossil fuels, timber, etc.
• sustainable: able to be sustained for an indefinite period without damaging the environment, or without depleting a resource.
Natural resource economics focuses on the supply , demand, and allocation of the Earth’s natural resources. the foremost objective of natural resources economics is to understand a much better understanding of the role of natural resources within the economy.
By studying natural resources, economists determine the way to develop more sustainable methods of managing resources to form sure that they are maintained for future generations. Economists study how economic and natural systems interact so on develop an efficient economy.
natural resources economics focuses on the demand, supply, and allocation of natural resources to increase sustainability.
Areas of Study
Economists study the commercial and recreational use and exploitation of resources. Traditionally, natural resources economics focused on fishery, forestry, and mineral models. However, in recent years more topics became increasingly important, including air, water, and thus the worldwide climate. Natural resources economics is studied on a tutorial level, and thus the findings are used to shape and direct policy-making for environmental issues.
Impact of natural resources Economics
The findings of natural resources economists are employed by governments and organizations to raised understand the thanks to efficiently use and sustain natural resources. The findings are used to gain insight into the next environmental areas:
• Extraction: the tactic of withdrawing resources from nature. Extractive industries are a basis for the primary sector of the economy. The extraction of natural resources substantially increases a country’s wealth. Economists study extraction rates to make sure that resources aren't depleted. Also, if resources are extracted too quickly, the sudden inflow of money can cause inflation. Economists seek to require care of how of balance within extraction industries.
• Depletion: the consumption of natural resources, which is taken under consideration to be a worldwide sustainable development issue. Many governments and organizations became increasingly involved in preserving natural resources. Economists provide data to figure out the thanks to balance the wants of societies now and preserve resources for the long run .
• Protection: the preservation of natural resources for the long run . The findings of economists help governments and organization develop measures of protection to sustain natural resources. Protection policies state the specified actions internationally, nationally, and individually that possesses to happen to manage natural resources depletion that's a results of act .
• Management: the use of natural resources taking into account economic, environmental, and social concerns. This process deals with managing natural resources like land, water, soil, plants, and animals. Particular focus is placed on how the preservation of natural resources impacts the quality of life now and for future generations.
Externalities and Impacts on Resource Allocation
Production and use of resources can have a positive or negative effect on the allocation of the natural resources.
Examine externalities and therefore the way they the impact resource allocation of natural resources.
Key Points
• An externality could also be a price or benefit that affects a celebration who didn't like better to incur the worth or benefit.
• A negative externality, also called the external cost, imposes a negative effect on a third party.
• When external costs are present, the market equilibrium use of natural resources is inefficient because the social benefit may be a smaller amount than the social cost. In other words, society would are better off if fewer natural resources had been used.
• Positive externalities, also mentioned as external benefits, imposes a positive effect on a third party.
• Assuming that natural resources are used and also sustained, the external benefits of products produced by natural resources impacts the majority of the overall public during a positive way.
Key Terms
• externality: an impact , positive or negative, on any party not involved during a given economic transaction or act.
Resource Allocation
Resource allocation is division of products for the use of production within the economy. the wants and wishes of society also as industries impact what's produced.
Suppliers specialize in producing the kinds of products and services which can yield the simplest satisfaction to consumers. Within the top of the day , externalities directly impact resource allocation. It must be determined whether the assembly , also because the method of production, creates more benefits that costs for the producers, consumers, and society as a whole .
Externalities
An externality could also be a price or benefit that affects a celebration who didn't like better to incur the worth or benefit. With reference to natural resources, production and use of resources can have a positive or negative effect on the allocation of the resources.
External Costs
A negative externality, also called the external cost, imposes a negative effect on a third party to an economic transaction. Many negative externalities impact natural resources negatively thanks to the environmental consequences of production and use. as an example , pollution from factories and vehicles can cause damage to crops. Likewise, pollution features a negative impact of plants and animals.
Negative externality: pollution from vehicles is an example of a negative externality. It affects apart from people who drive the vehicle and other people who sell the gas.
In the case of negative externalities, the marginal private cost of consuming an honest may be a smaller amount than the marginal social or public cost. The marginal social benefit should equal the marginal social cost (i.e. production should only be increased when the marginal social benefit exceeds the marginal social cost).
When external costs are present, the use of natural resources is inefficient because the social benefit may be a smaller amount than the social cost. In other words, society and thus the natural resources involved would are better off if the natural resources had not been utilized in the smallest amount .
Developed countries use more natural resources and must enact sustainable development plan for the use of resources. Human needs must be met, but the environment and natural resources must be preserved. Samples of resource depletion include mining, petroleum extraction, fishing, forestry, and agriculture.
External Benefits
Positive externalities, also mentioned as external benefits, impose a positive effect on a third party. An example of a positive externality is when crops are pollinated by bees from a neighboring bee farm. So on realize the socially optimal equilibrium, the marginal social benefit should equal the marginal social cost (i.e. production should be increased as long because the marginal social benefit exceeds the marginal social cost). Assuming that natural resources are used and also sustained, the external benefits of products produced by natural resources impacts the majority of the overall public during a positive way.
The National Forest Policy of India
India is one of the few countries which features a forest policy since 1894. The policy was revised in 1952 and again in 1988. the foremost plank of the revised forest policy of 1988 is protection, conservation and development of forests.
Its aims are:
1. Maintenance of environmental stability” through preservation and restoration of ecological balance;
2. Conservation of natural heritage;
3. Checking erosion and denudation in catchment areas of rivers, lakes and reservoirs;
4. Checking extension of sand dunes in desert areas of Rajasthan and along coastal tracts;
5. Substantially increasing forest/tree cover through massive afforestation and social forestry programmes;
6. Taking steps to satisfy requirements of fuel, wood, fodder, minor forest produce, soil and timber of rural and tribal populations;
7. Increasing productivity of forests to satisfy the national needs;
8. Encouraging efficient utilisation of forest produce and optimum substitution of wood; and
9. Taking steps to form massive people’s movement with involvement of women to understand the objectives and minimise pressure on existing forests.
An Integrated Forest Protection Scheme (IFPS) was being implemented during the Tenth Five Year Plan and is being continued during Eleventh Plan.
The Planning Commission suggested renaming the scheme as ‘Intensification of Forest Management’ during the 11th Five Year Plan. It's proposed to broad-base the scheme by including following two new components additionally to the prevailing components of IFPS, i.e., infrastructure development and preparation management.
The new components are: conservation and restoration of unique vegetation and eco-systems; protection and conservation of sacred groves; and joint forest management (JFM). The conceptual framework for JFM emphasises development of partnerships with forest fringe people.
The Government of India has assigned the ownership of minor forest produce to the people living in and around forests for the aim of collection, processing, trade and marketing through a national level legislation named because the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest rights) Act, 2006. this might help the forest-dependent people to reinforce their economy.
Forest Conservation Act:
To check indiscriminate deforestation and diversion of forest land for industrial or construction work the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980. The Act was amended in 1988 to further facilitate prevention of forest destruction.
The basic objective of the Act is to put a check on the indiscriminate diversion of forest lands. Under the provisions of this Act, prior approval of the Central government is required for diversion of forest land to non-forest purposes. Since the enactment of the Act, the speed of diversion of forest land has come down.
As diversion of forest land is usually not favoured, permission under this Act is difficult to urge . The rare exceptions carry stipulations for compensatory afforestation and other conditions as laid down within the Act and within the National Forest Policy, 1988.
National Forest Commission:
The National Forest Commission, the first of its kind, was acknowledged in 2003. It submitted its report in March 2006.
Some of the commission’s recommendations are:
i. Emphasis on the need to undertake scientific research to assess the optimum forest/tree cover according to forest type and topography to satisfy the intended objectives.
ii. Amendment of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
iii. The forest department should implement the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Environment Protection Act.
iv. Re-scheduling of species under Wildlife Protection Act to avoid man-animal conflict.
v. No further amendment and dilution of Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
vi. No change within the National Forest Policy of 1988.
Wildlife and its Conservation:
The term ‘wildlife’ refers to the wild undomesticated animals living in their natural habitats like forests, deserts, grasslands, etc.
India could even be divided into the next five ecological sub-regions for studying its varied wildlife:
I. The Himalayan Mountain System:
This region is again divided into the next three regions with their characteristic wildlife:
(a) Himalayas Foothills:
Big mammals of north India like elephant, sambar, swamp deer, cheetal, hog deer, great Indian one-horned rhinoceros, wild buffalo, golden langur, etc.
(b) Western Himalayas (high altitude region):
Wild ass, wild goats (thar, markhor, ibex) and sheep (Nayan, Marcopolo’s sheep, bharal or blue sheep); antelopes (chiru and Tibetan gazelle), deers (hangul or Kashmir stag and slou or Sikkim stag, musk deer); smaller mammals like marmots and pikas, etc.
(c) Eastern Himalayas:
Red panda, hog badgers, crestless porcupines, goat antelopes (scrow, goral, takins).
II. Peninsular Indian Sub-region:
This is a true home of Indian wildlife with two distinct zones (a) peninsular India and its extension into the catchment basin of the Ganges system, and (b) desert region of Rajasthan.
(a) Peninsular India:
It is the house of wildlife thriving in tropical moist deciduous to tropical dry deciduous vegetation. Important fauna include elephant; wild boar; deers (cheetal or axis deer, hog deer, swamp deer or barasinga, sambhar); antelopes (four-horned antelope, nilgai, blackbuck, etc.); wild dog; and gaur (a bull).
(b) Indian Desert:
Animals are mostly burrowing ones. Among mammals rodents are the foremost important group. The Indian desert gerbils are mouselike rodents. Other animals are ass , blackbuck, desert cat, caracal, etc. Among birds the foremost famous is Great Indian bustard.
III. Tropical Evergreen Forest Region or Indo-Malayan Sub-region:
The region with heavy rainfall is extremely rich in animals. There are wild elephants, gore and other larger animals. Most species are tree dwellers. The foremost prominent ones are hoolock gibbons (only ape found in India), golden langur, capped langur or leaf monkey, etc.
IV. Andaman and Nicobar Islands:
These islands are home to many species of mammals, reptiles and marine aniinals. Among mammals, bats and rats are predominant. They constitute about 75 per cent of the whole mammals found on islands. Pigs, crab-eating macaque , palm civet and deers are other important land animals of the islands. Dugong, false killer and dolphin are prominent marine mammals. The islands house rare birds like Narcondum hornbill, Nicobar pigeon and megapode.
V. Mangrove Swamps of Sunderbans:
Fish, small crabs, and thus the Dorippe (having an unusual association with sea anemone), weaver ants, spotted deer, pigs, lizards, etc., are important animal lives. There's also the tiger of Sunderbans.
Endangered Animal Species variety of our animals have already become extinct and there are many others facing danger of extinction. All stich species are classified into three categories: endangered, threatened and vulnerable.
Endangered species are those considered in imminent danger of extinction, while threatened species are people that are likely to become endangered—at least locally—within the foreseeable future. Vulnerable species are naturally rare or are locally depleted by human activities to A level that puts them in peril .
The primary reasons of extinction of wildlife are as follows:
(i) Destruction of their natural habitats because of expanding agriculture, urbanisation and industrialisation.
(iii Overgrazing by livestock that convert the areas into deserts.
(iii) Poaching for meat, skin, fur, ivory, rhino horns, etc.
(iv) Export of some species.
Distinction Between park , Sanctuary and Biosphere Reserve
The species include the Asiatic lion, a rare wild animal that survives in India alone. It's found within the Gir park (Gujarat) and within the Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary (near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh). They also famous for crocodiles, panthers and nilgais. The Chandraprabha Sanctuary preserves the sambhar, chital, tiger, panther and thus the sloth bear also .
Another fast disappearing species is that the one-horned rhinoceros which is housed within the Kaziranga park (Assam), the house of untamed buffaloes, tigers and sambhars also , and thus the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, also in Assam, which is known for wild buffaloes, rhinos and elephants. The Kashmir stag or hangul which is found within the Dachigam park (Kashmir) has been identified thus far another species .
Conservation of Wildlife:
Due to continuous increase within the amount of species , many steps are taken to protect and manage the wildlife of the country. Government and non¬governmentorganisations are acknowledged to protect the wildlife.
The wildlife management in India aims at
(i) protection of natural habitats through a controlled and limited exploitation of species;
(ii) maintenance of the viable number of species in protected areas (national park, sanctuary, biosphere reserve, etc.);
(iii) establishment of biosphere reserves for plant and animal species; and
(iv) protection through legislation.
A number of Wildlife Acts are made from time to time by the Union and thus the state governments.
Important among them are:
(i) Madras Wild Elephant Preservation Act, 1873
(ii) All India Elephant Preservation Act, 1879
(iii) The Wild Birds and Animals Prohibition Act, 1912
(iv) Bengal Rhinoceros Preservation Act, 1932
(v) Assam Rhinoceros Preservation Act, 1954
(vi) Indian Board for Wildlife (IBWL), 1952
(vii) Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960
(viii) Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Protected Areas Network:
Conservation of wildlife could also be a comprehensive system of protected areas. There are different categories of protected areas with different objectives. These include national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserve, nature, natural monuments, cultural landscapes, etc.
Biosphere Reserves
The biosphere reserve programme was launched by the UNESCO in 1971 to (a) conserve representative samples of ecosystems, (b) provide long-term in-situ conservation of genetic diversity, and (c) promote appropriate and sustainable managements of the living resources. In India, the first biosphere reserve—Nilgiri biosphere reserve— came into being in 1986.
Project Tiger:
Project Tiger was launched in 1973 on the thought of the recommendations of a special task force of the Indian Board of Wildlife to (i) ensure maintenance of obtainable population of tiger in India, and (ii) preserve the areas of such biological importance as a national heritage for the benefit, education and delight of the people.
Project Elephant:
In India elephants are mainly to be found within the rain forests of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu , and Kerala; the tropical forests of West Bengal , Jharkhand, Central India, and thus the refore the western region; and therefore the Himalayan foothills within the north-east and Uttarakhand. India has about 25,000 elephants.
The elephant habitat has shrunk over the years, and poaching for elephant tusks has endangered the species, especially in southern India. Construction of roads and dams has led to encroachment of forest lands, interfering with the traditional migratory routes of elephants necessary for them in their search for food.
Conversion of natural forests to monocrop plantations for commercial purposes has also been harmful. The forced isolation of elephants in reserves has often led to inbreeding with the consequential negative effects.
Project Elephant was launched in February 1992 to assist states having free-ranging populations of untamed elephants to form sure future survival of identified viable populations of elephants in their natural habitats.
The project is being implemented in Andhra Pradesh , Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal .
Tiger Reserves in Tiger Range States
(i) Ecological restoration of existing natural habitats and migratory routes of elephants;
(ii) Development of scientific and planned management for conservation of elephant habitats and viable population of untamed Asiatic elephants in India;
(iii) Promotion of measures for mitigation of man-elephant conflict in crucial habitats and moderating pressures of human and domestic stock activities in crucial elephant habitats:
(iv) Strengthening of measures for canopy of untamed elephants from poachers and unnatural causes of death;
(v) Research on issues related to management of elephant conservation;
(vi) Public education and awareness programmes;
(vii) Eco-development;
(viii) Veterinary care; and
(ix) build up the stock of field staff, mahouts and veterinarians
BOOKS
1. Indian Economy – Rudra Dutt & Sundarram