Soil Degradation & Conservation (DP IB Environmental Systems & Societies (ESS): SL)

Explain how deforestation contributes to soil degradation.

Outline how soil degradation can be caused by human activities other than deforestation.

Explain how allowing arable farmland to remain fallow (unused) between growing seasons might contribute to soil degradation.

The figure below shows information about desertification in Northern Africa.

Describe the distribution of the areas in Northern Africa where the risk of desertification is very high.

Describe the impacts of desertification on local people.

Landslides are often triggered by intense rainfall following a hurricane.

The photograph below depicts a landslide occurring in Cusco, Peru as a result of substantial rainfall on a steep incline.

Galeria del Ministerio de Defensa del Perú, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Outline one method farmers in Peru could employ to mitigate soil erosion on hillsides and why this method would be beneficial.

Explain why commercial industrialised food production systems generally tend to reduce soil fertility more than small-scale subsistence farming methods.

Evaluate the soil management strategies used by farming systems for soil conservation.