Natural Resources and Their Use | Social Science Grade 8 CBSE

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The story in six terms

Resources have their own vocabulary. Tap each term to see what it means and how the ideas — what a resource is, natural resources, renewable and non-renewable, conservation and sustainable use — fit together.

Explore · Key terms about resourcestap a term

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The three big ideas

Utility makes a resource — anything in our surroundings becomes a resource only when it has utility, that is, when people can use it to satisfy a need or want. A fast river is a resource once we use it for water or to turn a turbine; a metal becomes a resource once we know how to use it.
Three things give value — utility (it is useful), technology (we have the means to use it) and accessibility (we can reach and afford it). Change any one and the value of a resource changes.
Natural resources — drawn straight from nature: air, water, soil, sunlight, forests, wildlife and minerals.
Human-made resources — made by people from natural materials: roads, buildings, machines, vehicles and bridges. Iron ore becomes steel; steel becomes a railway.
Human resources — people themselves, and their knowledge, skill and health. People are what turn nature’s raw gifts into useful things, so educated, healthy people are a country’s greatest resource.
Actual and potential — an actual resource is one whose quantity is known and which is being used now; a potential resource exists in a region but is not yet developed or fully used.

Renewable resources — these are refilled by nature within a short time, so they can be used again and again: solar energy, wind, flowing water, soil, forests and wildlife.
A warning hidden inside — renewable does not mean unlimited. If a forest is cut or groundwater is pumped faster than it grows back, even a renewable resource can run low. Wise use keeps it renewable.
Non-renewable resources — these take millions of years to form and exist in a fixed amount: coal, petroleum, natural gas and most minerals. Once used, they cannot be replaced in our lifetime.
Biotic and abiotic — another way to sort resources. Biotic resources come from living things (plants, animals, fish, forests). Abiotic resources are non-living (rocks, minerals, metals, water).

Worked example. A power station can run on either coal or sunlight. Which fuel is renewable, and why?

Step 1 — ask how it forms. Coal took millions of years to form from buried plant remains; its stock is fixed.

Step 2 — compare with sunlight. Sunlight reaches us fresh every single day and is refilled by nature.

Step 3 — the answer. Sunlight is renewable and coal is non-renewable — which is why countries are shifting power stations towards solar energy.

Common mistake: a renewable resource is not the same as an endless one. Soil, forests and groundwater all renew slowly. Use them faster than they recover and they shrink — so even renewable resources must be used with care.

Conservation — using resources carefully and avoiding waste so that enough is left for the future. The simple rule is reduce, reuse, recycle.
Sustainable development — meeting the needs of the present without harming the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It keeps a balance between using resources and protecting the environment.
India’s rich store — India has fertile alluvial soil in the northern plains, large forests, many rivers, varied minerals (coal, iron ore, bauxite) and enormous solar and wind potential in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Why careful use matters here — India also has a very large population and growing industries, so its resources are under heavy demand. Conservation and sustainable use are not luxuries but necessities.

Common mistake: conservation does not mean never using a resource. It means using it wisely and without waste — switching off a tap, repairing instead of throwing away, and choosing renewable energy where we can.

Where you'll meet it

Resources, all around you

The switch to clean energy

Because coal and petroleum are non-renewable and pollute the air, towns are turning to solar panels, wind farms and hydro power — renewable sources that refill naturally. Every rooftop solar panel is this chapter at work, trading a finite fuel for an endless one.

Saving water at home and on the farm

Groundwater renews slowly, so families harvest rainwater and farmers use drip irrigation to grow more crop per drop. These everyday choices keep a renewable resource from being drained faster than nature can refill it.

Recycling and repair

Recycling paper, metal and plastic, and repairing rather than discarding, means fewer trees felled and less ore mined. The simple habit of reduce-reuse-recycle is conservation that anyone can practise.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

Modelled on the competency-based pattern — MCQ, assertion–reason and a case study, testing whether you can use the ideas, not just recall them.

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