NCERT Book Class 8 Social Science (Geography) Chapter 2 Land, Soil, Water, Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Resources

Land, Soil, Water,
Natural Vegetation
and Wildlife Resources
In a small village in Tanzania, Africa, Mamba gets up
very early in the morning to fetch water. She has to walk
a long way and returns after a few hours. She then helps Let’s do
her mother in the house and joins her brothers in taking Observe the land,
care of their goats. All her family owns is a piece of rocky type of soil and
land around their small hut. Mamba’s father can barely water availability
grow some maize and beans on it after toiling hard. This in the region you
live. Discuss in
is not enough to feed their family for the whole year. your class, how it
Peter lives in the heart of the sheep rearing region in has influenced the
New Zealand where his family runs a wool processing lifestyle of people
factory. Everyday when he returns from school, Peter there.
watches his uncle taking care of their sheep. Their sheep
yard is situated on a wide grassy plain with hills in the
far distance. It is managed in a scientific way using the
latest technology. Peter’s family also grows vegetables
through organic farming.
Mamba and Peter stay in two different parts of the
world and lead very different lives. This difference is
because of the differences in the quality of land, soil,
water, natural vegetation, animals and the usage of Do you know?
technology. The availability of such resources is the Ninety per cent
main reason places differ from each other. of the world
population
occupies only
Land thirty per cent of
Land is among the most important natural resources. land area. The
It covers only about thirty per cent of the total area of remaining seventy
the earth’s surface and all parts of this small percentage per cent of the
land is either
are not habitable.
sparsely populated
The uneven distribution of population in different or uninhabited.
parts of the world is mainly due to varied characteristics
of land and climate. The rugged topography, steep slopes
of the mountains, low-lying areas susceptible to water

Chapter-2.indd 7 8/17/2022 11:36:42 AM