§-Unit

Unit 3: Changing the land

7 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

How does climate change both drive and result from land cover change, and how can these processes be managed?

the relationship between climate change and land cover change, including how land cover change contributes to the enhanced greenhouse effect and how a warming climate alters land cover, and the responses to these processes

How climate change and land cover change interact: how clearing forests and melting ice add to the enhanced greenhouse effect, and how warming in turn shifts land cover, with responses, using the Arctic and Australian examples.

6 min read →

What causes deforestation and what are its impacts on people and the environment?

the processes and human activities causing deforestation as a form of land cover change, and the impacts of and responses to deforestation

Deforestation: the human activities driving forest loss, impacts on people and environment, and responses, using the Amazon and Borneo as case studies.

6 min read →

What causes desertification and what are its impacts on people and the environment?

the processes and human activities causing desertification as a form of land cover change, and the impacts of and responses to desertification

Desertification: the natural and human processes degrading drylands, the impacts on people and environment, and responses, using the African Sahel and inland Australia as case studies.

6 min read →

How and why does land use change in a local area, and how do geographers investigate it through fieldwork?

the characteristics, causes and impacts of land use change in a selected area, and the fieldwork techniques used to investigate it

Land use change: how land use differs from land cover, the causes and impacts of changing land use, and the fieldwork techniques used to investigate it, using Melbourne's urban fringe as a case study.

6 min read →

How does salinity change land cover, what human activities drive it, and how can it be managed?

the processes and human activities causing salinity as a form of land cover change, and the impacts of and responses to salinity

Salinity as land cover change: the natural and human processes behind dryland and irrigation salinity, the impacts on land and people, and the responses, using the Murray-Darling Basin and Western Australian wheatbelt as case studies.

6 min read →

What is causing the loss of ice and snow cover, and what are the impacts on people and the environment?

the processes and human activities causing the melting of ice and snow cover as a form of land cover change, and the impacts of and responses to this change

Melting ice and snow as land cover change: the warming processes driving it, environmental and human impacts, and responses, using the Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheet as case studies.

6 min read →

What are the major types of natural land cover and how are they distributed across the globe?

the characteristics and global distribution of the major types of natural land cover, and how land cover differs from land use

Natural land cover types, their global distribution, the factors that shape them, and the crucial distinction between land cover and land use.

6 min read →