Week 1 1 What has happened in Wolong Nature Preserve since its designation as a protected area Name three factors that have contributed to this outcome and two solutions that researchers have identified as likely to be effective In what way did protection of the preserve potentially contribute to undesirable effects Since the creation of the Wolong Nature Reserve in 1975 The habitat that was supposed to be protected by the reserve has declined Over time this habitat rather than increasing has decreased and has become more fragmented Also the amount of unsuitable habitat has increased It turns out native individuals that live in the habitat were the cause of the decline Since the establishment of this reserve this population has naturally increased especially since the one child law that applies to most other Chinese people does not apply to these native people Most individuals in this population are laborers of low socioeconomic status Farming building of roads the collecting of firewood and the cutting of timber by these people have all had a negative impact on this protected environment Also the demand for all the goods listed above has increased with the increased amount of ecotourism further adding to the decline of the habitat Since such restrictions as the limit on the firewood collection are hard to enforce in rugged terrain and the people cannot be moved by other means Researchers have proposed that either moving these people through the provision of education or the provision of electricity might decrease the demand for natural resources in this reserve 2 Draw two different graphs reflecting competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between per capita affluence and environmental degradation Be sure to label both axes in both plots and also title each graph with the name of the hypothesis Briefly explain why when one might expect the relationship in each graph to hold Environmental Degradation Kuznet s Curve IPAT Model Critcal point Human population x per capita affluence x technology factor Human population Environmental Degradation The IPAT model posits that all factors are equal in their effect on the environment and that all factors will cause a linear increase in degradation on the environment The Kuznet curve projects that degradation will increase with economic development to a critical point at which the effect on the environment will begin to decrease 3 Briefly explain the IPAT model in words and name at least two of its strengths and at least two of its weaknesses The IPAT model takes into account three different factors human population size per capita affluence and technology factor and multiplies them together to equal and overall environmental impact This model takes into account not only the population size but also each individual s consumption of such things as fuel clothing food and other possessions which is known as affluence This model assumes that all factors are positive linear and equal in their effect on the environment It is strong in the fact that it takes into account other factors besides human population size and is strong because of the grim picture paints and therefore incites positive change However it fails take into account the correlation of technology and population growth with economic development Old energy inefficient technologies and developing countries can be very harmful to the environment by means of exponentially increasing populations use of natural resources and pollution that can be attributed partially to the technologies being used On the other hand more economically developed countries have a slower rate of population growth or stable population as well as develop newer cleaner and more efficient technologies and can therefore decrease the amount of environmental impact With these factors take into account the graph is projected as increasing environmental impact up to a critical point at which the technology and economic development has begun to make a positive effect on the environment This graph is called a Kuznets curve 4 How do developed and developing nations differ with respect to population growth How might this change as developing nations become developed and what is the name used to refer to the change Draw a graph of birth and death rates and total population to help explain this change Name three factors that could drive the change There is a negative correlation between economic development in countries and population growth Meaning that the more economically developed a country is the slower it s population tends to increase to the point of stabilization This is called a demographic transition This can be attributed to survival rates of individuals to the reproductive age in each respective country less developed countries tend to have higher death rates Therefore less offspring mate and parents have more children than necessary in order to ensure the reproductive success of their progeny It can also be largely attributed to the negative correlation between the amount of education in a population and the rate of population growth 5 One argument regarding negative human impacts on the environment holds that economic development could alleviate such impacts Explain why one might expect this to be so and also give and briefly explain two reasons why it might not constitute a satisfactory solution The more economically developed a country is typically the lower the death rates and birthrates are in that particular country This can be argued to have a beneficial effect on the amount of environmental impact This idea fails to take into account the fact that increase or decrease in population may not be the only factor affecting the amount of environmental impact the other problem with the idea of demographic transition is the fact that it fails to take into account population momentum This is the phenomenon where the population continues to increase or decrease after the stabilization of the birth and death rates 6 What is the name given to population changes following a change in birth or death rates Explain the change that would take place given a hypothetical change in birth or death rates such as we did in lecture Be sure to explain the role of population age structure in driving this change The idea is known as demographic transition In this model birth and death rates are shown to decrease and stabilize therefore the population should theoretically stabilize as well However this fails to take into