Geography: Resources & Development Practice Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, policies, and concepts from the Geography lecture on Resources and Development, including soil types and conservation methods.

Resource

Everything available in our environment which can be used to satisfy our needs, provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable

Sustainable Development

Development that takes place without damaging the environment and using resources carefully today so that future generations can also use them.

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992

A summit of more than 100 heads of states convened to address urgent problems of environmental protection and socioeconomic development at a global level.

Agenda 21

A declaration signed at Rio de Janeiro that promotes global sustainable development and avoid environmental damage, poverty, and disease through national and local governance

Resource Planning

The complex process involving identification and inventory of resources, evolving a planning structure with appropriate technology and skills, and matching resource plans with national development plans.

Club of Rome

The international body that advocated resource conservation for the first time in a trans-systemic way in 1968.

Small is Beautiful

A 1974 book by Schumacher that presented Gandhian philosophy regarding resource conservation.

Net Sown Area (NSA)

Net sown area is the actual physical area of land on which crops are grown during a year.

Gross Cropped Area

Gross cropped area is the total area on which crops are grown in a year, including the land used more than one time.

National Forest Policy (1952)

The policy that outlines India's goal for a forest area of $33\%$ to maintain ecological balance.

Land Degradation

The deterioration of land quality caused by human activities like deforestation, overgrazing, mining, and over-irrigation.

Soil

The top layer of land that is a living system and a renewable natural resource supporting plant growth and different types of living organisms.

Alluvial Soil

Fertile soil found in the Northern plains, deposited by the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra, containing silt, sand, clay, potash, phosphoric acid, and lime.

Black Soil

Also known as cotton soil, it is made of fine clayey material, is rich in calcium carbonate, and develops deep cracks for self-aeration in hot weather.

Laterite Soil

Soil found in hilly, tropical evergreen areas like Karnataka and Kerala that is acidic, deficient in plant nutrients, and results from heavy rain.

Soil Erosion

The denudation of the soil cover and its subsequent washing down due to natural forces or human activities.

Gully Erosion

A type of erosion where running water cuts through clayey soils to create deep channels or gullies, making the land unfit for cultivation.

Sheet Erosion

A form of erosion where the topsoil is washed away in a sheet over a large area due to water flow.

Contour Ploughing

A conservation method of ploughing across the slope in contour lines to decelerate the flow of water down the slopes.

Shelterbelts

Rows of trees planted along fields to act as windbreaks and check soil erosion, particularly in coastal or arid regions.