DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

To what extent is pollution impacting human food production systems?

Discuss with reasons or evidence, the environmental impacts of two named food production systems.

A vegetarian diet is often described as “better for the environment”. Discuss this statement using your knowledge of ecosystems and environmental value systems.

Including reference to their relative efficiency, discuss whether terrestrial or aquatic food production systems show the greatest potential for feeding a growing human population. Support your conclusion with valid reasons or evidence.

Evaluate ways in which different agricultural techniques may affect the sustainability of soil as a resource.

Fish are an important food source for the people of Inle Lake. With reference to Figure 4(b), identify two other local sources of food.

Discuss the relationship between social systems and food production systems with the help of named examples.

Identify two reasons why a human vegetarian diet is considered to be more energy efficient than a diet containing meat.

Discuss the relationship between the economic development of countries and the sustainability of their food production.

Evaluate the proposal to convert an area of tropical rainforest into agricultural use.

Explain two examples of soil degradation and the appropriate soil management strategies from a named farming system.

Technocentrists may support the belief that technological development has always been able to overcome limits to human population growth.

To what extent do the patterns of growth and development in human populations, as demonstrated in the Demographic Transition Model, support this claim?

Climate can both influence, and be influenced by, terrestrial food production systems.

To what extent can terrestrial food production strategies contribute to a sustainable equilibrium in this relationship?

Outline one advantage for local populations within the Coral Triangle in harvesting their food from terrestrial agriculture.

Discuss the consequences of changing global per capita meat consumption on the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity.

Discuss strategies that can be used to improve the sustainability of food production systems.

Explain how the inequitable distribution of natural resources can lead to conflict.

Explain how organic waste may be an effective fertilizer in terrestrial systems but a source of pollution in aquatic systems.

Quantitative models are frequently constructed to show the flow of energy and cycling of matter in natural systems.

To what extent can these models be useful in assessing the sustainability of named food production systems?

With reference to Figures 4(a), 4(b) and 4(c), outline two reasons why a change from tavy agriculture to agroforestry may be more sustainable.

The provision of food resources and assimilation of wastes are two key factors of the environment that determine its carrying capacity for a given species.

To what extent does the human production of food and waste each influence the carrying capacity for human populations?

Identify two strategies that could be used to grow crops in areas of high water stress.

With reference to Figure 8, outline two reasons for the relationship between the area used for grain production and the quantity of grain produced.

Describe the relationship between harvested area and grain production as shown in the resource booklet, Figure 8.