Resources and Development - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, concepts, soil types, and conservation strategies from Chapter 1: Resources and Development.

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, ensuring present development does not compromise the needs of future generations.

Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, 1992

The first International Earth Summit held in Brazil in June $1992$, where over $100$ heads of states met to address urgent problems of global environmental protection and socio-economic development.

Agenda 21

A declaration signed by world leaders in $1992$ at UNCED in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aiming to achieve global sustainable development by combatting environmental damage, poverty, and disease.

Brundtland Commission Report, 1987

A landmark $1987$ report that introduced the concept of Sustainable Development and advocated it as a means for resource conservation, published in the book Our Common Future.

Net Sown Area

The physical extent of land on which crops are sown and harvested in a given agricultural year.

Gross Cropped Area

The total area sown more than once in an agricultural year plus the net sown area.

Culturable Waste Land

Uncultivated land that has been left uncultivated for more than $5$ agricultural years.

Current Fallow

Land left without cultivation for one or less than one agricultural year.

National Forest Policy (1952)

The policy outlined in $1952$ that established a desired target of $33\%$ of India's total geographical area to be under forest cover for maintaining ecological balance.

Land Degradation

The decline in land quality caused by human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing, mining, and over-irrigation, combined with natural forces.

Soil Profile

The vertical arrangement of soil layers, consisting of topsoil, subsoil, substratum of weathered parent rock material, and unweathered parent bedrock.

Alluvial Soil

Highly fertile soil deposited by the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra river systems, consisting of sand, silt, and clay, and rich in potash, phosphoric acid, and lime.

Bangar

Old alluvial soil containing a higher concentration of kanker nodules, coarser particles, and lower fertility compared to Khadar.

Khadar

New alluvial soil containing finer particles, higher fertility, and fewer kanker nodules than Bangar.

Black Soil (Regur Soil)

Soil black in colour, typical of the Deccan trap (Basalt) region made from lava flows, ideal for growing cotton with a high capacity to hold moisture.

Red and Yellow Soils

Soils developed on crystalline igneous rocks in low rainfall areas of the Deccan plateau that appear red due to iron diffusion and yellow when hydrated.

Laterite Soil

Deep, acidic soil ($pH < 6.0$) formed under tropical and subtropical climates via intense leaching from heavy rainfall; derived from the Latin word 'later' meaning brick.

Arid Soil

Sandy and saline soil ranging from red to brown in colour, containing high Kankar content in lower horizons due to increasing calcium downwards.

Forest Soils

Soils found in hilly and mountainous rain forest areas, appearing loamy and silty on valley sides and coarse-grained on upper slopes.

Soil Erosion

The denudation of topsoil cover and its subsequent washing down by running water, wind, glaciers, or human activities.

Gully Erosion

Erosion caused when running water cuts deep channels (gullies) through clayey soils, turning the land into uncultivable bad lands or ravines.

Sheet Erosion

Erosion occurring when water flows as a broad sheet over large areas down a slope, washing away topsoil.

Contour Ploughing

The practice of ploughing along contour lines to decelerate the flow of water down slopes and restrict soil erosion.

Strip Cropping

A soil conservation method where large fields are divided into strips, leaving grass strips growing between crops to break the force of the wind.

Shelter Belts

Rows of trees planted along field margins to create shelter and break wind force, contributing to the stabilization of sand dunes.