TopMyGrade

GCSE/Geography/Edexcel

T7.2Resources from the biosphere: indigenous and global use of biosphere resources (food, fuel, medicine, building materials); rising demand and pressures

Study with AI tutor7 flashcards →Snap a question →

Notes

Resources from the Biosphere

What the biosphere provides

The biosphere is the global zone of all living organisms. Humans extract four main categories of resource from it:

  • Food: grains, fish, meat, fruit, vegetables — the biosphere produces all human food.
  • Fuel: wood, charcoal, biomass (60% of sub-Saharan African energy); biofuels (sugarcane ethanol in Brazil).
  • Medicine: ~25% of modern pharmaceuticals derive from rainforest plants — quinine (malaria, from cinchona bark), aspirin (willow bark), the rosy periwinkle (Madagascar) producing leukaemia drugs.
  • Building materials: timber (softwood from boreal forests; hardwoods like mahogany from rainforest), bamboo, thatch.

Indigenous use vs global commercial use

Indigenous communities (e.g. Yanomami in Amazon, Baka in Congo) have used biosphere resources sustainably for millennia:

  • Shifting cultivation (small clearings, rotated, allow regrowth).
  • Selective hunting/gathering — never depleting populations.
  • Deep ethnobotanical knowledge — Yanomami use 500+ plant species.
  • Low population density means low ecological footprint.

Global commercial use is fundamentally different:

  • Industrial-scale extraction for export to HICs (palm oil, soy, beef).
  • Monoculture plantations replace biodiverse forest.
  • Bioprospecting — pharmaceutical companies patent indigenous knowledge without compensation (biopiracy).
  • Long supply chains hide environmental cost from consumers.

Rising demand and pressures

Demand is rising rapidly:

  • Population: 8 bn (2022) → projected 10 bn by 2050; food demand will rise ~60%.
  • Affluence: rising meat consumption in EDCs (Chinese meat consumption tripled since 1990).
  • Bioenergy: EU and US biofuel mandates drive crop demand.

Pressures on the biosphere

  • Deforestation: Amazon ~17% lost; SE Asian rainforest cleared for palm oil.
  • Overfishing: ~33% of global fish stocks overfished (FAO).
  • Soil degradation: ~25% of agricultural soils degraded.
  • Biodiversity loss: vertebrate populations down 69% since 1970 (Living Planet Index).

The challenge: meet rising demand without exhausting the biosphere's regenerative capacity.

AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-geography-leaves

Practice questions

Try each before peeking at the worked solution.

  1. Question 14 marks

    Resources extracted from the biosphere (4 marks)

    Identify and explain TWO ways humans use resources from the biosphere. [4 marks]

    Ask AI about this

    AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-geography-leaves

  2. Question 28 marks

    Examine indigenous vs global use of the biosphere (8 marks)

    Examine how the use of biosphere resources by indigenous communities differs from global commercial use. [8 marks]

    Level mark scheme:

    LevelMarksDescriptor
    L11–3Simple statements about resource use; no clear contrast; no/limited examples.
    L24–6Some explanation of indigenous and commercial differences; partial contrast; some named examples.
    L37–8Detailed examination contrasting scale, methods, sustainability and ethics; named examples for each; evaluative conclusion.

    Indicative content:

    Indigenous use (sustainable, small-scale):

    • Shifting cultivation — small clearings rotated, allowing forest regrowth (e.g. Yanomami in Amazon use 1 ha plots for 2–3 years, then move).
    • Selective hunting/gathering — never depleting any one species.
    • Deep ethnobotanical knowledge — Yanomami use 500+ plant species; Baka in Congo know dozens of medicinal plants.
    • Population density very low (~0.5/km² in Amazon interior), so footprint is tiny.
    • Cultural and spiritual relationship — forest is home, not a commodity.

    Global commercial use (industrial, large-scale):

    • Industrial monocultures — Indonesian palm oil plantations replace 24 m hectares of rainforest.
    • Cattle ranching — drives ~80% of Amazon deforestation; for global beef export.
    • Biopiracy — pharmaceutical companies patent indigenous medicinal knowledge without compensation (e.g. neem tree disputes in India).
    • Long supply chains hide environmental cost from end consumers in HICs.

    Conclusion: the difference is not just scale but logic — indigenous use treats the biosphere as a long-term shared system, while commercial use treats it as a stock of resources to be extracted for short-term profit. Without strong governance, commercial use erodes the very ecosystems indigenous communities have sustained for millennia.

    Ask AI about this

    AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-geography-leaves

  3. Question 312 marks

    Evaluate pressures on the biosphere from rising demand (12 marks)

    Evaluate the extent to which rising global demand is creating unsustainable pressures on the biosphere. [12 marks]

    Level mark scheme:

    LevelMarksDescriptor
    L11–4Simple description of pressures; no genuine evaluation; weak/no examples.
    L25–8Discussion of multiple pressures with examples; partial evaluation.
    L39–12Detailed evaluation; multiple pressures compared; named examples with data; weighted judgement on extent of unsustainability.

    Indicative content (rising demand drivers):

    • Population: 8 bn (2022) → projected 10 bn by 2050; food demand to rise ~60%.
    • Affluence: rising meat consumption in EDCs — Chinese per-capita meat tripled since 1990.
    • Bioenergy mandates: EU, US biofuel quotas drive cropland competition.

    Indicative content (pressures and evidence):

    • Deforestation: Amazon ~17% lost; SE Asian rainforest cleared for palm oil; 10 m ha forest lost annually globally (FAO).
    • Overfishing: 33% of global fish stocks fished beyond sustainable limits (FAO 2022); North Atlantic cod still recovering since 1990s collapse.
    • Soil degradation: ~25% of agricultural soils degraded; loss of organic matter, salinisation.
    • Biodiversity loss: vertebrate populations down 69% since 1970 (Living Planet Index 2022); Earth in 6th mass extinction.
    • Hydrological pressure: Aral Sea collapse from cotton irrigation; Amazon drought from deforestation feedback.

    Indicative content (counter-arguments and responses):

    • Sustainable certification schemes — Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), RSPO palm oil — but coverage limited.
    • Lab-grown meat and plant-based proteins reducing land pressure.
    • Indigenous land rights — protected reserves have lowest deforestation rates; can be scaled.
    • Ecosystem service valuation — Costa Rica's PES scheme reversed deforestation.

    Conclusion: pressures are largely unsustainable by any objective ecological measure — biodiversity loss, fish stock decline and forest cover loss all exceed planetary boundaries. However, evidence (Costa Rica reforestation, MSC fish recoveries, declining EU meat consumption) shows decoupling demand from ecological damage IS possible. Whether the biosphere collapses or stabilises will depend on governance and consumer choices in the next two decades — the demand itself is not destiny.

    Ask AI about this

    AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-geography-leaves

Flashcards

T7.2 — Resources from the biosphere: indigenous and global use; rising demand and pressures

7-card SR deck for Edexcel Geography (leaves batch 2) topic T7.2

7 cards · spaced repetition (SM-2)

Sign in to studyPreview cards