Life and Nature
Senior 6 · English (Languages)
Life and Nature
Lesson 1 of 4
30 min
Let's begin
Everything we eat, drink, build and burn begins as a natural resource. In a small, steep and crowded country, the question of how to use those resources is not abstract: it decides whether a hillside keeps its soil, whether a town has water in the dry season, and whether a forest is still standing for the next generation. This lesson reads an essay on natural resources and then prepares a guided talk on one of Rwanda's national parks.
An essay written for this lesson.
1 From the road that winds west towards Lake Kivu, the hills look as if someone has drawn contour lines on them with a ruler. Terraces step down each slope, holding soil that the rain would otherwise carry into the valleys. They are a reminder that in a small, steep, crowded country even soil is a resource to be looked after, and that it can be lost far faster than it forms.
2 Natural resources are usually divided into two kinds. Renewable resources, such as sunlight, wind, water, forests, fish and soil, can replace themselves, but only if they are used no faster than they recover. Non-renewable resources, such as metal ores and fossil fuels, exist in fixed amounts; once used, they are gone on any human timescale. The distinction is less tidy than it looks. A forest is renewable, but a forest cut faster than it can grow behaves like a mine. Soil forms so slowly that a field which loses its topsoil in a few seasons of heavy rain may need centuries to rebuild it.
3 Rwanda's resources illustrate both kinds. Its rivers and lakes supply water and hydroelectric power; its forests, from Nyungwe in the south-west to Gishwati in the west, protect the sources of streams and draw visitors from around the world. Beneath its hills lie ores of tin, tantalum and tungsten, which the country mines and exports. And beneath Lake Kivu lies one of the strangest resources on Earth: methane gas dissolved in the deep water. Since 2016, gas extracted from the lake has been used to generate electricity, and removing it brings a second benefit: it reduces the build-up of gas that, if it were ever released suddenly, could endanger people living along the shore.
4 The question with any resource is not only how much there is but how it is used. In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development, often called the Brundtland Commission, defined sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". The definition is simple; applying it is not. It asks a farmer to maintain a terrace she may never see fail, and a country to leave minerals in the ground, or wildlife in a park, when the money they could bring is needed today.
5 Some of the most valuable resources appear on no balance sheet: the forest that stores the water a town drinks, the wetland that soaks up a flood, the bees that pollinate a coffee farm. Economists call these ecosystem services. They are easy to ignore because they are free, until the day they stop.
Definition
Key terms
| Word (paragraph) | Word class | Meaning here |
|---|---|---|
| contour lines (1) | noun | lines on a map joining points of equal height |
| topsoil (2) | noun | the fertile upper layer of soil |
| ores (3) | noun | rocks from which metals can be extracted |
| compromising (4) | verb (-ing form) | weakening or putting at risk |
| pollinate (5) | verb | carry pollen from flower to flower so that plants produce fruit |
Rwanda has four national parks. Choose one and prepare a three-minute talk as if you were a guide welcoming visitors at the park gate.
| Park | Where | Landscape | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volcanoes | North-west, on the Virunga volcanoes | Volcanic slopes, bamboo and mountain forest | Mountain gorillas; golden monkeys |
| Nyungwe | South-west | Ancient mountain rainforest | Chimpanzees and other primates; the canopy walkway; birdlife |
| Akagera | East, on the border with Tanzania | Savanna, lakes and wetlands | Large mammals, including lions and rhinos reintroduced in 2015 and 2017 |
| Gishwati-Mukura | West | Restored forest | Chimpanzees; forest restoration; the newest of the four |
Language for a guide's talk
Worked example
A model opening, analysed
"Good morning, and welcome to Nyungwe. Before we walk, stand still for a moment and listen. (pause) What you can hear is one of the oldest mountain rainforests in Africa. It is home to chimpanzees, to many other primates and to hundreds of bird species. Today we will climb to the canopy walkway, where you will stand at the height of the treetops. We ask you to stay on the path, to speak quietly, and to take nothing but photographs."
Warning
Practice
Sources and credits
