Key learning points

1. Increasing human population size requires increased land use for resources (including food and fuels) and urbanisation.
2. Increased land use by humans leads to habitat destruction, e.g. deforestation and biodiversity loss.
3. Increasing human population size increases production of waste and pollution, leading to biodiversity loss.
4. Release of greenhouse gases contributes to climate change, including global warming, leading to biodiversity loss.
5. There is very strong evidence linking human release of greenhouse gases to global climate change.

Keywords

• Urbanisation - Urbanisation is the increase in the number of people living in towns and cities (urban areas).

• Deforestation - Deforestation is the removal of trees; often to use for timber or fuel or to repurpose land for houses or farming.

• Biodiversity - Biodiversity is the range of different living organisms (species) that live in a place.

• Greenhouse gas - Greenhouse gases are gases that are responsible for the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation and trapping ‘heat’ in the atmosphere.

• Climate change - Climate change is a long term shift in weather patterns.

Common misconception