People–Environment Interaction and Resource Management
This domain explores how people use resources and manage environments, including sustainability, carrying capacity and hazard risk. Questions ask you to evaluate trade-offs rather than simply list impacts.
Core rules and concepts
- Resources are renewable or non-renewable. A reserve is a known resource that can be extracted profitably with current technology; a resource may be larger than a reserve.
- Carrying capacity is the maximum population an environment can support without degradation. It can change with technology and consumption.
- The ecological footprint measures the area needed to supply resources and absorb waste. If footprint exceeds biocapacity, there is an ecological deficit.
- Sustainability means meeting present needs without compromising future generations. Conservation is careful use; preservation is protection from use.
- Hazard risk depends on the hazard, exposure and vulnerability, and is reduced by capacity to cope. A hazard becomes a disaster when it causes serious disruption.
Worked example
A region has a population of 1 million and an average footprint of 2.5 global hectares per person. Total footprint = 2.5 million gha. If biocapacity is 1.8 million gha, the deficit is 0.7 million gha. Reasoning: multiply per-person footprint by population, then subtract available biocapacity; a positive result is a deficit.
Traps
Do not assume renewable resources are always sustainably used. Do not confuse conservation with preservation. Do not treat a hazard as a disaster automatically. Do not ignore scale: a local footprint calculation cannot be compared directly with a national one without matching units.