Question 11
Question: Suggest some measures for the conservation of forests.
Answer: 1) The involvement of various stake holders along with the forest department who use the forest to be involved in protection and sustainable harvest of forest needs
2) Area under forests should be monitored and these should not be converted into commercially exploitable tourist centres
3) Felling of trees for timber trade and for fuel should be restricted. Steps should be taken to plant and grow adequate number of trees for each tree that is uprooted
Question 12
Question: What is the full form of IUCN and what is its primary purpose?
Answer: The full form of IUCN is International Union for Conservation of Nature an international body that monitors biodiversity - its protection and depletion and suggests policy intervention to governments to protect and conserve nature.
Question 13
Question: Write a short note on the 'Chipko Andolan Movement'?
Answer: In order to prevent deforestation by felling 'timber' for commercial exploitation by private contractors and the forest department, the movement called Chipko Andolan was taken up in Uttarakhnad Hymalayas in the last quarter of the 20th century for the preservation of natural forests. It is associated with the activists Sunderlal bahuguna and Pandey and literally means tree hugging or to embrace a tree. It caused the Forest department to restrict its activity of commercial felling of trees. The original act of tree hugging to save trees from being cut has its origins in the collective act of the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan in 1731 where over 350 people lost their lives by hugging trees to prevent a king's army to fell the trees of their forest.
Question 14
Question: What is water harvesting?
Answer: It means capturing rain water when it falls on a roof or as runoff from paved and unpaved surfaces in village or town and directing it to open tanks, wells and percolation pits to recharge subsurface aquifers. The catchments area should be free of polluting activities so that the collected water remains clean for later use.
Question 15
Question: What is ground water and what is a water table?
Answer: Water that percolates into the ground through the pores of rocks and gets trapped in spaces called aquifers is available as ground water. The depth or level at which ground water remains is called the water table. It is the upper level of the zone of saturation of water in the soil.
Question 16
Question: Suggest some measures for the conservation of water.
Answer: 1) Water harvesting during rains to recharge ground water and avoid run offs as wastage
2) Hydro-geological survey to identify over-exploited areas
3) Artificial recharging of ground water in such areas
4) Transfer of surplus water to water deficit basins by interlinking of rivers
5) Restoring traditional methods of rain harvesting and storing water
6) The use of three R's when using water for domestic and industrial consumption
7) Mass awareness programs through public/private agencies
8) Integrated watershed plan for drinking, irrigation and industrial uses
9) Prevention of clearing of forest areas and increase of tree cover as flood control measures
Question 17
Question: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of dams.
Answer: Dams have been built with the intention to improve human quality of life by diverting water for power, prevent flood control, provide irrigation, and be a source of water supply to urban centers. However, they have also resulted in environmental problems and human health concerns.
Advantages
1) Dams benefit people by providing usable, reliable water sources
2) They improved the quality of life by providing drinking water
3) They support the economic growth by diverting water for power, navigation, flood control, and irrigation
4) In many parts of the world dams have helped to remedy life-threatening problems such as famine as a result of drought, devastation from floods, and continued disease from lack of potable water supplies
Disadvantages
1) Disruption of ecosystems by submerging of vast catchment areas
2) Decline of fish stocks
3) Forced resettlements
4) Dams change the chemical, physical, and biological processes of river ecosystems
5) They alter free-flowing systems by reducing river levels, blocking the flow of nutrients, changing water temperature and oxygen levels, and impeding or preventing fish and wildlife migration
Question 18
Question: What is meant by conservation of natural resources?
Answer: Conservation means using the resources in a sustainable and prudent manner where they are not overexploited for commercial benefits and where resources like biomass can be renewed. But at the same time prevent excessive or over-use leading to environmental damage.
Question 19
Question: What are fossil fuels?
Answer: The fuels which are formed by the decomposition of dead and decayed matter many millions of years ago resulting in hydro carbon compounds are known as fossil fuels. Coal and petroleum are fossil fuels.
Question 20
Question: Name two important uses of coal and petroleum.
Answer: Coal is used as energy input in metallurgical operations like the making of iron and steel and for generating power plants. Petroleum is refined to make automobile and aviation fuels like petrol, diesel and kerosene. It is also used in extracting many important petrochemical (alkanes, alkynes, alkenes, aromatic hydrocarbons etc.) used in manufacturing of products e.g. rayon, nylon etc.