Environmental and natural resource management
What is tested
Environmental and natural resource management: how ecosystems work, how human activity damages them, and what can be done at household, community and national level.
Core concepts
Natural resources may be renewable (forests, fish, soil, water) or non-renewable (minerals). Renewable does not mean unlimited - if use exceeds regeneration, the resource declines. Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations.
Common problems
- Deforestation driven by charcoal, fuelwood and clearing for farming; leads to soil erosion, siltation of rivers and reduced rainfall.
- Soil erosion from bare slopes, overgrazing and poor farming.
- Water pollution from waste, agrochemicals and poor sanitation.
- Loss of biodiversity through habitat destruction and poaching.
- Poor waste management: litter, plastic and uncollected refuse.
- Climate change: more frequent droughts and floods, uncertain rainfall.
Management measures
Tree planting and agroforestry; terracing, contour ridges and vetiver grass; crop rotation and manure; controlled burning; fishing regulations such as minimum mesh size and closed seasons; protected areas; recycling and composting; sanitation and safe water.
Worked example
A village complains that crops fail and the river is silting. The reasoning: the likely chain is deforestation on the slopes, then erosion, then silt in the river, then reduced water quality and yield. A suitable response combines terracing, replanting trees, and a community rule against cutting trees near the stream, with alternative income from beekeeping.
Traps
- Calling forests renewable and therefore inexhaustible.
- Giving only "plant trees" without linking it to the problem.
- Blaming only government; household and community action counts.
- Confusing climate change with weather.