(i) Economic factors:

As minerals are unevenly distributed; development and specialization of resource will depend upon the availability of that resource, its quality and quantity, i.e., whichever resource is economical and in greater demand will be developed first.

(ii) International demand:

Specialization of a resource takes place at times due to international demand, e.g., Malaysia specializes in rubber while copper mining is well developed in Zaire.

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(iii) Availability of tools and techniques:

If the necessary skills and technology for developing a particular resource are available, then the country be­comes specialized in developing that particular resource.

(iv) Social, economic and political organization of the people living in the area.

The Amazon basin and Malaysia have similar tropical rainforest vegetation. While the forests of Amazon basin are inaccessible, in Malay­sia the area is accessible because of the narrow peninsular. The forests of the Amazon are undeveloped whereas rubber plantation has developed in Malaysia after replacing the original forest cover. Ganganagar in North Rajasthan remained undeveloped due to scanty rainfall. With the con­struction of the Indira Gandhi canal, this desert land has turned into a green agricultural land. Damodar River, the sorrow of Bengal, was a wild river which now has been tamed into a mild river by the construction of a series of dams on the river and its tributaries.