Exploitation of Natural Resources (Junior Cert Geography): Revision Notes

Exploitation of Natural Resources

Water

Water is a crucial renewable resource used for drinking, farming, industry, and conservation. Though water is abundant, only a small percentage is easily accessible for human use. Managing and conserving this limited supply is essential.

Factors affecting Water Supply

Several factors influence the availability of water:

• Climate: Weather patterns affect rainfall and water availability.
• Rock Type: Some rocks store water underground (aquifers), while others do not.
• Infrastructure: The quality of pipes, reservoirs, and treatment plants impacts water distribution.
• Pollution: Contaminants in water sources reduce the amount of usable water.
• Over-Exploitation: Excessive use of water depletes resources faster than they can be replenished.

Irrigation

One reason for extracting water is irrigation. Irrigation is the artificial application of water to land or crops to help them grow in areas where natural rainfall is insufficient.

• Positives: Irrigation allows farmers to water crops artificially, which can improve crop yields and make farming more reliable. In regions like Languedoc, France, irrigation has enhanced agricultural productivity and even attracted tourism.
• Negatives: Over-irrigation can lead to salinisation, where salt accumulates in the soil, making it less fertile. It can also cause pollution if chemicals from farming seep into water sources.

Irrigation

Fish

Fish are a renewable resource. However, they can be depleted which makes it harder for stocks of fish to replenish. This is called overfishing.

Reasons for Overfishing:

• Super-Trawlers: These large boats can catch massive amounts of fish at once, often with factory ships that process fish on board.
• Sonar and Radar: Advanced technology helps locate fish quickly, making it easier to catch large quantities.
• Large Nets: Long gill nets and trawl nets can capture huge numbers of fish in one haul.
• Motorised Equipment: Winches and cranes make it easier to lift large catches onto boats.
• Refrigeration: On-board freezers allow fish to be stored longer, keeping boats at sea to catch more.
• Fishing Methods: Techniques like drift netting and trawling catch more fish but can harm marine life by capturing everything in their path.

Ways to prevent Overfishing:

• Irish Conservation Box (ICB): A 100,000 square kilometre protected area along the Irish coast that restricts fishing to safeguard fish spawning and nursery grounds.
• Quotas: Yearly limits on the amount of each fish species that can be caught. Quotas are set for each country by the EU.
• Embargoes: Total bans on fishing certain species, like cod in the Irish Sea.
• Non-EU Ban: Vessels from outside the EU are banned from fishing in Irish waters.
• Irish Navy Patrols: Protect the coastline from illegal fishing (poaching).

Supertrawler

Forestry

The Amazon Basin contains the largest tropical rainforest in the world. This rainforest:

• Supports a wide range of biodiversity, with over 15 million species of plants and animals.
• Plays a critical role in regulating global climate by absorbing carbon dioxide.

Human Activity in the Amazon

Human activities have greatly impacted the Amazon:

• Logging: Both legal and illegal logging removes valuable hardwoods like teak and mahogany.
• Agriculture: Large areas are cleared for cattle ranching and soybean farming, driven by global demand.
• Infrastructure: Construction of roads and cities, such as Brasilia, leads to further forest loss.
• Climate Impact: Reduced forest cover weakens the Amazon's ability to act as a carbon sink, contributing to global climate change.

Protecting the Amazon:

Efforts to protect the Amazon include:

• Sustainable forestry practices to ensure logging doesn't destroy the ecosystem.
• Establishing protected areas and national parks to preserve large sections of the forest.
• International bans on products linked to deforestation, like soy and beef from cleared areas.
• Supporting indigenous communities who manage the land sustainably.
• Promoting reforestation efforts to restore degraded parts of the rainforest.

Amazon Rainforest