Problems and Concerns caused by Human Influences on the Environment

Natural Resources

Natural resources are the animals, plants and natural features of the Earth which humans use to support their lives and their needs. The natural resources of the world include the forests, which provide us with wood, and animal life, such as fish, which we take from the sea. There is a great danger that we are using up these natural resources too quickly.

In some cases there are things we can do to prevent disaster. In the case of the forests, we can make sure that we plant as many trees as we chop down. This will guarantee a constant supply of wood.

FACT 1	Since the beginning of the 18th century the Earth has lost over 6 million square kilometres of forest. This is equivalent to an area of land greater than Europe.
FACT 2	The area of cultivated land in France rose from half a million hectares in 1959 to three million hectares in 1993 - this is a 500% increase.
FACT 3	At the beginning of the 20th century Brazil was covered by 20 million square kilometres of forest. By the end of the 1980's over half of the Brazilian forest had "disappeared".

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© Paul Billiet, Shirley Burchill, Alan Damon and Deborah James 2009