Topic 1 - HUMAN ACTIVITIES
TOPIC 1
HUMAN ACTIVITIES
The Meaning of Human Activities
- Are functions or tasks or work
carried out or done by human beings over time for achieving certain purposes or
goals.
- It is any task performed by man for
the purpose of earning his or her livelihood.
- Are what people do or cause to happen
in order to achieve a certain goal in life.
- Are acts or processes of producing
certain things intended by people in a place, which can be a country, region,
district or a village.
In Geography, human
activities refer to tasks human beings do modify the environment as well as
extract the resources from the environment which are needed for survival, that
is, satisfying human needs and wants. To fulfil this goal, man has been
modifying the tools needed for obtaining resources from the environment from
basic to more advanced and efficient technology.
Goals or Purposes of Human Activities
1. Production of food crops.
2 Production of cash crops.
3. Construction of infrastructure that
facilitate movement of goods, services and people
4. cleaning the area to avoid pollution
and outbreak of diseases like cholera, amoebic dysentery, etc.
5. Human activities use up resources to
produce products and services.
MAJOR TYPES OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES
Human activities may be classified into
four types namely:
1. Primary activities
2. Secondary activities
3. Tertiary activities
4. Quaternary activities
1. Primary
Activities
Primary activities involve exploitation
of nature in the production of materials. Production in this kind of activities
largely depends on the earth’s natural resources.
Examples of primary activities include:
• Farming (Agriculture), hunting and
gathering
• Mining and Quarrying,
• Fishing, mining and quarrying,
• Forestry (Lumbering)
• Hunting and gathering, livestock
keeping
2. Secondary
Activities
These are human activities that involve
a process of manufacturing raw materials into useful products. Secondary
activities are of great importance as they lead to fast economic development
since they produce products that have immediate demands in the society. They
also accelerate development of primary activities by providing a market for raw
materials produced through lumbering, agriculture and mining.
Examples of Secondary Activities:
• Coffe pulping, cotton gining,
• Sisal decortication, cloth making,
• Construction of houses, manufacturing
of glass,
• Car assembly, making paper, making
glue,
• Processing of steel and iron from
ore.
3. Tertiary
Activities
These are the activities that involve
the provision of services that are needed in the society.
Examples
of tertiary activities include:
• Trade (restaurants, hotels, lodges,
supermarkets), water supply
• Schools (Teachers), advertising,
mechanics
• Hospitals (Doctors), legal services
in court, entertainment,
• Transportation (Driving), plumbing,
waste management, religious services.
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Teaching |
4. Quaternary
Activities
These are activities that involve
provision of intellectual services and information. These activities were
formally included in the tertiary activities. Quaternary activities
include, High-tech industries with information
technology, Scientific research, consultancies and library services. Computer
based activities like making software are part and parcel of quaternary
activities.
In general quaternary activities are
considered to be new and started in the last decade.
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Computer based activity |
5. Quinary
Activities
These are activities that are done by
top executives or officials in fields such as governments. They involve the
highest level of planning and decision making in the society or economy.
Quaternary and quinary activities e.g. research and information are important
in the development of farming, mining, tourism and trade.
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Leadership |
Importance of Human Activities
Human activities are important in various ways:
1. Helps in generation of government
revenue
2. Helps in producing raw materials such as cotton for textile industries.
3. They provide employment to peoples in the country..
4. Human activities such as agriculture
and fishing lead to production of food.
5. Activities like construction of roads contribute to the development of
transport and communication networks.
Environmental Problems Caused by Human
Activities
Apart from having positive impacts on
the development of the country, human activities tend to lead to occurence of
varios environmental problems as follows:
1. Air pollution. This can be caused by
industrial emissions and burning of agricultural activities
2. Water pollution. It can be caused by
dumping of untreated waste materials into the water bodies.
3. Soil pollution. It can be caused by
dumping of radioctive materials into the ground and applying chemicals in the
farms.
4. Deforestation. This can take place
when trees are excessively cleared during preparation of large farms,
lumbering, overgrazing and settlements.
5. Soil erosion. This takes place
easily on the land that has been left bare due to excessive cutting of trees
for lumbering, farming and construction.
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Air Pollution |
Measures for Controlling Environmental Problems Caused by Human Activities
Environment problems caused by human
activities can be addressed in varios ways which include:
1. Discouraged the improper dumping of
waste in the soil or water
2. The use of modern methods in
agricultural activities such as crop rotation, inter cropping, fallowing
strips, contour ridging.
3. Encouraging Afforestation and
restricting deforestation 4. Excessive use of chemicals in the control of pests
should also be discouraged.
5. The government should Enact strict
laws