Natural Resources in Kerala

Forests

Kerala’s 1,081,509 Hectares area comes under forest cover. The forest resources are useful to the tribal and rural people for their livelihood. Moreover, various forest products are processed or marketed on a fairly large scale by industries, mainly for the consumption of urban population.

The forests of Kerala produce quite diverse plants yielding items like medicine, food, fodder, gum, resin, spices, condiments, beverages, fibres, dyes and tans, and ivory, honey, wax and few such items of animal origin. These are of large economic value for the state.

Rivers

Kerala is blessed with a number of rivers, lakes and backwaters. There are all total of 44 rivers which are west flowing except three which flow eastwards. Most of these rivers form rivulets in summer except Bharatapuzha which is the longest river in Kerala.

Kerala’s backwaters and lakes are attractive and economically valuable. The deltas of the rivers interlinking backwaters provide excellent water transportation in the low lands of Kerala.

Minerals

The state of Kerala is rich in various mineral resources viz. Kaolin, Bauxite, Monozite, Zircon, Quartz and Silimanite. The golden sands of Quilon beach are rich in the heavier variety of minerals such as Monozite, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon and Silimanite. A large area is covered by china clay which forms an important raw material for the manufacture of porcelain items, cookery utensils and glazed tiles. Graphite is also available freely in the state which is used for various purposes. The silica and quartz are also found abundantly and are used in the manufacture of glass and lenses.

The remaining mineral wealth of the state is a composition of 79 million tonnes of iron ores, 25 million tonnes of limestone, 11 million tonnes of bauxite, 35 million tonnes of ilmenite, 3 million tonnes of rutile, 1 million tonnes of monozite and 0.7 million tonnes of borophite. All these mineral wealth adds revenue to the state and are great assets of the state’s economy.