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Summary
Geography Class 42

Initiatives for the fishing sector in India: (5:17 PM)

Blue Revolution: 

  • It was launched during the Fifth and Sixth Plans.

Phase I: 

  • 1980 to 1991.
  • During which FFDA (Fishing Farming Development Agency) was established as the nodal agency for fishing activity in India. 
  • FSDP: Fish Seed Development Program was also initiated.

Phase II: 

  • 1991 to 2005.
  • Both inland and marine were targeted. 
  • FFDA centers were opened.
  • Coastal regions were given special emphasis. 
  • In 2005, National Fisheries Development Board.
  • National Marine Fisheries Policy: introduced in 2016. 
  • Mission Neel Kranti: 
  • Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries. To increase inland and marine fisheries production.
  • To triple the production. 
  • To double the income, exports will be tripled. 

Distribution of Water: (5:36 PM)

  • Uneven distribution of water between Himalayan and Peninsular rivers.
  • Uneven precipitation: 90% of rain during monsoon season. 
  • Rainshadow regions of Deccan regions.
  • Pollution in the rivers. 
  • Water-intensive agriculture: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, etc.
  • Government policies such as subsidies. 
  • Excessive extraction of groundwater without recharging.
  • Encroachment of wetlands. 
  • Deforestation, etc.

The Extent of Water Stress in India: (6:03 PM)

  • Falcon Mark Index: The level of water scarcity by calculating the per capita water availability.
  • Water stress: If the availability drops to 1700 m3/person/year.
  • Water scarce: If availability drops below 1000 m3/person/year

North Region: 

  • Very high water stress, reasons: 
  • Water-intensive agriculture,
  • High population,
  • Pollution, industries, 
  • Deforestation, 
  • Higher groundwater extraction.

Western Region: 

  • The region is arid and semi-arid. 
  • Water-intensive agriculture. 
  • Soil erosion.

Eastern Region: 

  • Higher population density.
  • Higher extraction of groundwater. 
  • Mining, e.g. Jharkhand, etc.
  • Pollution, UP, Bihar, etc.

Southern Region: 

  • Rainshadow effect.
  • Coromandel Coast. 
  • Water-intensive agriculture. 
  • Hard plateau rocks. 
  • Large urban centers. 
  • North East:
  • Not water stressed.

How to deal with water stress?: (6:20 PM)

  • Water efficient agriculture, thus less water-intensive crops. 
  • Usage of indigenous varieties.
  • Micro irrigation methods, eg. drip and sprinkler irrigation. 
  • Reforestation and afforestation. 
  • 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. 
  • Better urban planning, and reclamation of degraded water bodies and wetlands. 

Rainwater harvesting: (6:36 PM)

  • It is a technique of collection and storage of rainwater in natural reservoirs or tanks or infiltration of surface water into subsurface aquifers. 
  • The methods involve rooftop collection, in situ recharge (recharge pits), surface water collection, and recharge through check dams, lakes, and ponds. 

Watershed Management: (6:41 PM)

  • Watershed: 
  • Is an area of land where all the water, i.e. under it or drains of it, collects into one waterbody. 
  • Watershed development involves the rational utilization of land and water resources for optimum and sustained production with minimum hazard to natural resources. 
  • It involves the conservation and management of both surface and groundwater using watersheds as a single unit.

Interlinking of Rivers: 

  • Link from the surplus Himalayan basin to the deficit peninsular basin using 30 river links connecting 37 rivers. 
  • Advantages of river-linking: 
  • Drought and flood control.
  • Fishing activities.
  • Supply of water to cities. 

Issues with river-linking: 

  • To decide the definition of surplus itself. 
  • Biodiversity loss through submergence of forests. 
  • Reservoir-induced earthquakes.
  • Ecological loss for rivers.
  • Loss of green cover.
  • Release of methane. 
  • Too expensive to construct, too expensive to maintain.
  • Social issues of displacement of people.
  • Land acquisition, rehabilitation, etc. 

Natural Vegetation: (6:54 PM)

Tropical Evergreen Rainforests: 

  • An abundance of rainfall.
  • High temperature and high precipitation. 
  • Vegetation is evergreen.
  • No specific period of shedding leaves. 
  • Very high diversity of life. 
  • Multilayered vegetation. 
  • Presence of climbers and epiphytes. 
  • Low undergrowth. 
  • Regions: Amazon, Congo Basin, Parts of Western Africa, Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.
  • Fragile soil. 

Tropical Deciduous Forests: (7:30 PM)

  • Monsoon Forests. 
  • Shed leaves in a particular season. 
  • Less biodiversity compared to Evergreen.
  • Regions: 
  • India, South Asia, Eastern Africa, Northern Australia, Indo-China, South East Brazil.

Mediterranian Type of Forest: (7:33 PM)

  • Wet winter and dry summer.
  • Known for citrus fruits.
  • Oranges, grapes, viticulture (growing grapes and making wine). 
  • Region: 
  • All countries around the Mediterranean, California, 

Mixed Forest: 

  • A mixture of broad leave and coniferous forests. 
  • Found in the cool temperate regions. 
  • British and Laurantial types. 
  • Moderate temperatures and uniform rainfall. 

Taiga Forest: (7:40 PM)

  • Also called the Boreal forest or the Coniferous forest. 
  • It accounts for ⅓ of all the vegetation in the world. 
  • The proportion of coniferous trees is very high.
  • Higher economic utility.
  • Very low biodiversity. 
  • They are evergreen in nature. 
  • Needle-like leaves, reduce loss.

Lumbering activity: 

  • Cutting trees and making wooden logs. 
  • Regions behind better development of lumbering activities in temperate regions than tropical regions: 
  • Difference between hardwood and softwood: 
  • Tropical woods are hardwoods, and temperate woods are softwood. 
  • Softwood: Easy to use, transport, make furniture, etc. 
  • Easy to cut single tree species. 
  • Temperate regions: cutting in winter seasons. 
  • Harsh climatic conditions in equatorial and tropical regions like high temperatures, high rainfall, etc. make it difficult to practice lumbering. 
  • Shifting cultivation in warmer regions.

Natural Vegetation of India: (7:52 PM)

  • Champion and Seth model of classification. We have a total of 16 types of vegetation. 
  • Five prominent are: 
  • Tropical Evergreen Vegetation: 
  • Tropical Wet Evergreen: 
  • It is found in regions with more than 250 cm of rainfall per annum. 
  • Western Ghats, Meghalaya, North East, parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Andaman Nicobar. 
  • Tropical Semi-Evergreen: 
  • Rainfall between 250 to 200 cm. 
  • Mahogany, 
  • Ebony,
  • Rosewood,
  • Laurel, also called as water tree.
  • Jackfruit.
  • Jamun tree. 
  • Rubber tree.  
  • Tropical Dry-Evergreen.
  • Tropical Deciduous: 
  • Tropical Moist Deciduous.
  • Tropical Dry Deciduous.

Topic for the next class: Tropical Deciduous examples, onwards.