Objective 1: To understand the components of soil and how it is formed
Soil is all around us in most of the places we travel around the world, but it is quite a fragile things and can take a long time to develop, so what is soil and what is it made up from? It is actually made up of a lot of things but has 4 main ingredients. Soils can be very different since as these ingredients change, we can get vast variations in the type of soil we have. In this short section we will find out the recipe to make soil in order to understand how it is formed and subsequently, how it is destroyed. |
Objective 2: To understand soil degradation
and the factors that cause it
The trailer for the documentary about the Dust bowl below shows us the consequences of living in areas that experience severe soil degradation. The reasons why this happens are a mixture of natural and human causes. In the context of climate change and our ever growing global population, human efforts to protect soil and use it wisely are increasingly important. In this section we will be seeking to understand the factors that cause degradation of the soil.
Objective 3: To discuss the environmental and
socio‑economic consequences of soil degradation.
To explore this further we are going to look at some specific impacts of soil degradation by studying areas that are experiencing desertification. You will follow a guided case study investigation to find out some specific details and case studies for desertification and how it affects people and the economy.
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Why does soil degradation matter? In the context of our worlds ever growing population, the greater the incidence of soil degradation, the more likely we are to suffer issues relating to food security. We will investigate this further looking specifically at the following factors and considerations; Increasing affluence of global population; increasing food demand; higher pressure on land resources; decline in long term soil productivity; increasing rate of soil degradation; 75% of Central America’s soil is degraded; 20% Africa; 11% Asia; Food supply reduced; lower agricultural income; slower economic growth for agriculturally based economies; higher food prices; lack of availability of staple food crops for most people who depend on it; increased malnutrition, especially in children; rural to urban migration.
Case Study: How do our food choices impact on people from other parts of the world? We will look at this with a small case study on the growing popularity of Quinoa and the impact increasing global demand has on the areas that use this as a staple crop?
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