Activity 2B

Keeping It All Together

Learner Objectives

After completing this activity, learners should be able to:

• Describe the causes of deforestation.
  
  
• Understand how social and economic factors influence deforestation.
  
  
• Demonstrate an understanding of how regions of the world are defined in terms of location and resources.
  
  
• Describe the economic development options of a region.
  
  
• Describe how an issue or conflict is influenced by location and physical and cultural geography.
  
  

Preparation

Prepare overheads, activity sheets, and role-play cards.

Doing the Activity

Part I: The Causes of Tropical Deforestation. What causes tropical deforestation? This is an important question with many different answers. Ask students to suggest some causes. You may wish to record their responses. Use Overhead 2B.1 to discuss some of the causes of loss of tropical forests. How did student responses compare to this overhead?

You'll note that there are two different figures for each category. This is partly due to the difficulty in collecting data in these faraway, inaccessible places on the earth. You can discuss the differences with the group.

Part II: Role Play. Give nine people role-play cards from Activity Sheet 2B.2 and a copy of Activity Sheet 2B.1. (If you have more than nine participants, they can play the roles as teams, or make up their own roles.) Read, or have someone read, the scenario.

You will play the part of the moderator for the role play. As moderator, you want to stimulate discussion about a plan to sustain the rainforest as well as a village located within. Start by giving individuals (teams) a chance to explain their assigned role in the exercise (they can read or paraphrase their cards). Then use the following questions to stimulate the discussion:

• What effect will your plan have on the rainforest?
• Will your plan change the plants or animals in the forest?
• Can the village thrive under your plan?
• What do you think is the biggest reason we should undertake your plan?

The final product is a sustainability plan. Explain to your group what the word sustain means:

Sustain: To keep intact; to make sure that products continue to come from the forest while protecting the land and the richness of species that live there.

You can use Overhead 2B.2 to develop a sustainability plan with the group. Fill in the information that the group has agreed to.

Evaluating Results

Ask the group to evaluate the sustainability plan. Will it work? Will everyone approve it? Will it protect plants, animals, and biological diversity? Does it balance the needs of every group? Is it likely to ensure sustainability? Using these criteria, ask students to grade the plan (A to F).

Ask students how they could have improved the plan. How about the process? Was it easier to solve problems when they were cooperating?

Values and Issues

One of the biggest underlying causes of tropical deforestation is population growth. Read the following statement to the group:

The second half of the 20th century has seen a doubling of world population. Ninety million new people are added each year. The global population is expected to reach 8 to 9 billion by the year 2050. But how many people can the earth realistically sustain?

Some researchers think that the need to grow food will limit the number of people on the earth. Already, agricultural needs are putting pressure on freshwater supplies, eroding soil, removing the world's forests, and polluting the environment.

Other researchers believe that technology and the human mind will conquer all. Many point out, however, that as resources get scarcer, we have to be smarter just to maintain our well-being. Problems such as growing poverty, inadequate education, and poor nutrition will make it harder to balance demands.

What do you think about how prepared the world is to meet the needs of a growing population? Do you agree or disagree with this statement:

People shouldn't panic. But they also shouldn't just ignore the problem. Earth's capacity to support people is decided by both natural constraints and by human choices. In the next 50 years, we will face difficult trade-offs as we attempt to balance environ-mental protection with our wants and needs.