Definition and context of becoming resource PDF

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UNIT I Introduction to Resource Geography: What is resource geography?

Economic Geography This branch of human geography deals with the spatial variations in the economic activities and the different ways in which wealth is produced, distributed, exchanged and consumed. It is essentially concerned with the economic activities of man in relation to the physical environment. In this branch a detailed study of various human occupations like agriculture, manufacturing of goods, means of communication and transport etc. are taken up. Economic geography can be subdivided into the following fields:1. 2. 3. 4.

Agricultural geography Industrial geography Resource geography Transport geography

Resource Geography: Evolution of Resource geography: As geography developed into 2 main branches - physical and human. Resources were studied under human geography. French geographer Jean Brunhes in his book Principles of Human Geography laid emphasis on the ‘geography of prime necessities of life’ and ‘geography of exploitation of the earth’. Under geography of prime necessities of life, he included food, clothes and shelter, while agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting and mining were the subject matter of geography of exploitation of the earth. Later, several specialized branches of geography evolved in order to study and analyze the inhabitants of the earth. Economic geography was developed in the latter half of the 19th century, as a branch of human geography. It studies and analyzes resources and human activities and their interactions in the various regions. Environmentalism is an important subject matter of human geography. The concept of determinism and possiblism discussed the relationship between man and his environment. Indirectly, though, the two concepts highlighted the importance of resources and their utilization. In the early part of the 20th century, scholars like Carl Sauer, Hartshorne, Jones etc. presented their views on economic geography and gave importance to natural resources, their utilization, agriculture, mining, manufacturing and conservation of resources. New branches of geography evolved because of a growing tendency of specialization. Emphasis was laid on the independent study of these branches of geography. Economic geography developed in Germany, while the British and American scholars like Chisholm, Whitebeck, Smith etc. attached more importance to commercial geography. Gradually, resource geography was studies separately as a branch of economic geography. Resource geography is concerned with the study of resources, their geographical distribution, availability in terms of development, their production and their utilization. 

Resource geography may thus be defined as the study of the distribution and characteristics of resources, which distinguish one region from another, with interest focused on utilization, evaluation, conservation and management of resources in relation

to environment. It encompasses a study of prospecting of natural resources by man, their utilization and development. 

Resource geography shares economic geography emphases on space–place relations, global–local dynamics, examination of the role and diversity of institutions, and evaluation of the positive and negative impacts of markets. It cannot be said, however, that resource geography informs economic geography to a great extent, a surprising phenomenon given the size of the resource sector, its indispensability and integration with the rest of the economy, and the linkage with geography’s environmental concerns.

Definition of Resources: Historical Approach to Resources: Etymologically, ‘resource’ refers to two separate words —’re’ and ‘source’ —that indicate any thing or substance that may occur unhindered many more times. The term ‘Resource’ had no special significance till the early part of the twentieth century. According to the prevailing changes in society in different era, the concept of resources had also gone through changes —in harmony with space and time. The major popular misconceptions about resource in earlier periods were: 1. Substances or tangible things like coal, copper, petroleum etc. are resources. 2. Invisible or intangible aspects — peace, culture, wisdom, policy, decisions, knowhow, knowledge, freedom—cannot be considered as resource. 3. Only natural things or substances, freely bestowed by mother earth , can be considered resource. Resource cannot be created. 4. Human populations were not considered as resource. 5. Only the quantum and magnitude of substances, not their usability or function ability and quality, were measured. 6. Resource was considered as mere ‘static’ and fixed asset , its mobility, dynamism and expansion ability was totally ignored.

7. The concept of resistance was totally unknown. So, matter full of resistance and no function ability was also considered as resource. In pre-Zimmermann era, only tangible or material substances were considered resources. Different minerals like iron ore, copper, bauxite, different fuels like coal, petroleum etc. were considered resource while intangible things like peace, culture, wisdom, policy decisions etc., were not considered as resource. Modern Approach to Resource: 

Erich Walter Zimmermann, resource economist, was born in Mainz, Germany, on July 31, 1888 and died in Austin, United States of America, on February 16, 1961. He was an economist at the University of North Carolina and later the University of Texas.

He became most renowned, however, for his "functional" approach to resource study, first published in 1933 as World Resources and Industries: A Functional Appraisal of the Availability of Agricultural and Industrial Resources. Unlike traditional descriptive inventories, Zimmermann's method offered a synthetic assessment of the human, cultural, and natural factors that determine resource availability. Resources were seen as a function of human wants and abilities; according to Zimmermann, "resources are not, they become." Hailed as a "pioneer work," it led in 1934 to a Kenan professorship at North Carolina Zimmermann rejected the assumption of fixity. Resources are not known, fixed things; they are what humans employ to service wants at a given time. To Zimmermann (1933), only human "appraisal" turns the "neutral stuff" of the earth into resources. What are resources today may not be tomorrow, and vice versa. According to Zimmermann, "resources are not, they become." According to the definition of E.W. Zimmerman, the word ,"resource " does not refer to a thing but to a function which a thing may perform to an operation in which it may take part, namely, the function or operation of attaining a given end such a satisfying a want. A revised edition of World Resources and Industries, published in 1951, elaborated his "balanced consideration of geographical, economic, historical, sociological, technological, and political

factors" affecting resource availability; by 1956 the book had been adopted at more than 100 universities and issued in Spanish and Japanese translations. Context of becoming Resource: 1. Utility 2. Function To define anything or substance as resource, one must critically examine whether it has the property of both utility and function ability . The presence of both utility and function ability is mandatory for resource creation. For example, a bottle of poison has function ability but it has got no utility value as food. So it is not considered as a food. The function ability is also the function of space and time. The resource of yesteryears may not be considered as resource today, resource considered by one country may be considered as waste product by another country, e.g., frog is considered as delicious food in Europe while it is not edible in large sections of India. Petroleum was not considered as resource until 27th August 1859, since the world’s first commercial oil-well was dug at Titusville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Resource Creating Factors: The major three resource creating factors. The factors are: 1. Nature 2. Culture 3. Man. Resource Creating Factor # 1. Nature: Nature sets the limits within which man can develop his arts to satisfy his wants—according to this concept of Zimmermann, nature is the storehouse of all natural or tangible resources. The free gifts of nature, however, are rarely used by mankind in its unaltered form. But almost all types of tangible things are direct or indirect product of nature. The functions of natural resources are related with the capabilities of mankind. The endowment of nature, e.g., soil, water bodies, climate — together, as also the ability of mankind, are the pivotal forces of resource creation. Resource Creating Factor # 2. Culture:

If man and nature are the causes, culture or the end-product is the effect. Culture is, thus, called the joint product of man and nature. Nature and man are the two most important in puts, the output will be culture. Technological development, scientific advancement, industrial boom, agrarian practice, jointly shape culture. All human activities are, directly or indirectly, influenced by cultural practice, which varies distinctly from place to place. Culture is not static and neither is it confined to a particular place. The economic development of a region is greatly influenced by its culture. The 17th century Indian society, due to its stubborn and static form maintained status quo of culture and retarded economic development. Mobility of economy depends on the dynamism of culture.

Resource Creating Factor # 3. Man: Among the three resource-creating factors — nature, culture and man, undoubtedly man is the key factor or pivotal force for resource creation. The interaction of this dynamic entity ‘man’ with his surrounding yields resource. Man—with his rationality, wisdom and need, converts neutral stuff into resource. It contents two aspects: qualitative and quantitative. Of course qualitative aspect is most important. The qualitative superior manpower may harness more resource, even if the quantity is low. On their hand, if quantity of manpower is high but quality is low, the end-product will be inferior and resource will be underutilized.

This has been the case of Australia, Antarctica, and, to some extent, in sub-polar region of northern hemisphere and equatorial rainforest region of the globe. Resource, Resistance and Neutral Stuff: There is a total antagonistic relationship between resource and resistance—like light and shade. This inverse relationship is the key issue in the overall scheme of resource creation. Anything or any process that restricts substance becoming resource is called resistance. This resistance limits the neutral stuff to convert into a resource. Fertility of soil is resource but barrenness is resistance. Rain may be considered resource but flood is resistance. In the same manner, knowledge is a key resource while ignorance is the worst type of resistance. In this connection, the concept of neutral stuff has been introduced by Prof. Zimmermann. Anything or substance, be it tangible or intangible, should be either resource or neutral stuff. If anything or substance does not contain function ability or utility value, it is termed neutral stuff. A neutral stuff should not necessarily remain neutral forever. What is considered neutral stuff today may transform into resource tomorrow. Man’s knowledge, wisdom and technological innovation may transform neutral stuff into precious resource, e.g., petroleum was not considered resource until 1859, because man was quite ignorant about its uses while, with the development of science and technology, it is now considered as a mainstay for harnessing energy. The process of economic development is directly proportional with the rate of conversion of neutral stuff into resource. The advancement of modern civilization is synonymous with the transformation of neutral stuff into resource. If we peep through the windows of history, it reveals that despite having enormous amount of minerals, water resources, human resources, wealth etc., some countries could not develop themselves, while others — without having any significant minerals, water etc. —because of their technology, skill, zeal, national pride and simple endeavour were able to transform their own meagre neutral stuff into resources and ultimately witnessed meteoric rise. So, minimization of resistance is the only way to maximize resource creation.

Functional Theory of Resources: “Resources were defined as means of attaining given ends, i.e., individual wants and social objectives. Means take their meaning from the ends which they serve. As ends change, means must change also.” This statement of Zimmermann clearly states that resource is a function of space and time. It means that only those things or substances are considered as resources which are functional means useful for man. But, the situation changes with time and development of science and technology. The modern school of thought believes in resource use for human welfare and also in functional theory of resource, which entails that: (a) Resource is functional and operational, (b) It is made or created by efforts of man, and (c) It is dynamic and not static. The term ‘functional’ denotes functionable character, i.e., the capacity of satisfying human wants. As natural phenomena which can satisfy human wants, is functional and so a resource. The sunshine which helps our organic growth, the air which we breath, the earth on which we live, are automatically resources. They are functional in their original state and form. But, many natural things, e.g., minerals, soils, rivers, waterfalls, forests, etc., did not possess their functional capacity in their original state. It acquired its functional capacity when man by his efforts discovered it and learnt the art of putting it into various uses, then it became a resource. The tropical Africa is well-endowed with water resources. But, due to backward economy and technological drawbacks, inhabitants of that region could not convert it into energy. On the contrary, Japanese were able to produce huge energy from their limited water resources. Therefore, it is clear that resources although exist but their functional character makes them a resource, otherwise they are neutral stuffs. Without functional capacity coal was a neutral stuff,

with functional capacity coal is a resource. So, with the efforts of man, through the functional or operational process, resource is dynamically created. The resource creation process is highly dynamic in nature. Dynamic Concept of Resource: (Most Recent and widely accepted) Prof. Hamilton said: “It is technology which gives value to the neutral stuffs which it processes; and as the useful arts advance the gifts of nature are remade. With technology on the march, the emphasis of value shifts from the natural to the processed good”. So, resource creation process is not static, it is dynamic in nature. The thing or substance considered as neutral stuff today may be converted into precious resource tomorrow. Since the beginning of civilization, Paleolithic man started devoting his limited knowledge to convert neutral stuff into resource for his own requirement. With the passage of time, with increasing knowledge, man was able to harness more resource from same amount of stuff. Bowman has rightly remarked: “The moment we give them human association they are as changeful as humanity itself”.

 Bruce Mitchell, (1989), Professor of geography, University of Waterloo, CANADA: “Natural Resources which satisfy the material and spiritual needs of humans are the free gifts of the nature and any material which is valuable and useful for humans is called a resource”. 

Gavin Bridge, Professor of Economic Geography, Durham University, United Kingdom in 2000 sated that resources are not ‘givens’ but “culturally mediated appraisals of the physical environment” that are shaped by economic factors, political institutions, social attributes, and belief systems.

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Thus, anything available in the environment and can be used to satisfy the needs of human being provided it is technologically accessible, economically feasible and culturally acceptable is called as resource, e.g. water, land, air, minerals, wildlife etc. So, resource satisfies human needs and only the satisfaction of human beings converts a substance into resource. Thus, man is both the creator of resource and at the same time the consumer of resources.

Various Interactions of Human Beings for Resource Creation With the increasing need, man frantically explored all possibilities or avenues to expand resource base from his existing stock. So, resource creation is a continuous and need-based operation. At the present era, when the world is passing through acute energy crisis, man is exploring possibilities to produce energy from all sources —solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy etc. Previously ocean current was never considered as resource but, now, man is able to convert this force into energy. So, the concept of resource is dynamic and resource study is a dynamic science....