Social Development and Environmental Challenges

Living well, and looking after the land

This theme joins two big ideas. One is how the daily life of people improves, and the other is how the land they depend on can be protected. Often the two go together. The module works through both: - Social development: improving quality of life through health, education, clean water and sanitation. - Environmental challenges: problems such as desertification, soil and water degradation, and shrinking forests. - Sustainability: the idea that links them, meeting the needs of today without spoiling the future. How development is measured belongs to an earlier theme. Here the focus is the social issues people face, the pressures on their environment, and how careful choices can improve both.

Words for development and environment

Five terms you need before you use them. Learn what each one means.

Match each challenge to what it means

Economic growth against social development

A country can grow richer without the lives of ordinary people getting better. Telling the two apart is a key idea in this theme.

Which is a social development improvement?

Which of these is a clear improvement in social development, rather than just economic growth?

• More children able to go to school and finish their education
• A rise in the total output of the country on its own
• More forest cleared quickly for short-term profit
• A widening gap between the richest and poorest

Tap the two environmental challenges

Tap the TWO statements that describe an environmental challenge.

• Fertile farmland slowly turning to desert
• Rivers and wells running short of clean water
• More children completing their primary schooling
• A new health clinic opening in a town

What sustainability really means

Sustainability is one of those words that gets used loosely, so it is worth pinning down. It means meeting the needs of people today in a way that does not spoil things for those who come after. A useful way to see it is as three strands held together: caring for people and their quality of life, protecting the environment they live in, and keeping the economy strong enough to pay for it. A choice is only truly sustainable when all three hold. Cutting down every tree for quick money helps the economy for a year and wrecks the land for a generation. Planting trees while teaching new skills can help all three at once. Look for the choice that lasts.

Pick the true facts about these challenges

Select the TWO statements that are true.

• Desertification can be slowed by planting trees and managing grazing
• Access to clean water improves both health and quality of life
• Clearing all the forest as fast as possible is a sustainable choice
• Social development means only raising the total income of a country

Order how a region can manage its land sustainably

Put the steps a region might follow to manage an environmental challenge sustainably in a sensible order.

• Identify the environmental challenge the region faces
• Involve the local people who know the land best
• Choose methods that protect the soil and water
• Put the plan into action and share the skills
• Review whether the land and the lives are improving

One village, two problems solved together

Picture a farming village where two problems met: the wells were often short of clean water, and the fields were drying to dust after years of hard use. Listening first: rather than a distant plan handed down, the local farmers who knew the land were asked what they had seen changing over the years. A joined-up answer: they dug simple pits to catch and store the rain, and planted rows of trees whose roots held the soil and whose shade slowed the drying. The stored water lasted longer, and the fields slowly began to recover. The wider gain: with water closer to home, children spent less time carrying it and more time in school, and health across the village improved. One careful plan, made with the people who lived there, eased both the land and their daily lives, in a way that could carry on for years to come.

Complete the development and environment facts

Improving health, education and clean water is _____ development. Fertile land gradually turning into desert is called _____. Meeting the needs of today without harming the future is _____. Too little clean, safe water for those who need it is water _____.

Build a development point

Choose the words that complete this statement about lasting development.

The development and environment run

Five questions on social development and environmental challenges. Three lives.

Make the sustainable choice

Read each case and choose the most sustainable response, then think about why.

• A farming region is steadily losing its farmland to advancing desert. What is the most sustainable response?
• A town needs more energy but wants to protect its environment for the future. What fits best?
• A charity wants to improve life in a rural area for the long term. What approach works best?

Explain these social and environmental challenges

A student in the year below has to answer a question bringing together social development and environmental challenges. Explain it using what this module has covered.

• Explain what social development means and give two examples
• Explain one environmental challenge, such as desertification or water scarcity
• Explain what sustainability means
• Explain one way a region can manage its environment sustainably
• Finish by explaining how caring for people and caring for the land can work together