12 mark discuss question (Paper 3)

Discuss the view that UK population growth and net migration will create pressures on the UK’s
ecosystems.

Use information from the resource booklet and knowledge and understanding from the rest of your
geography course of study to support your answer.

16 marks (12 for content and 4 for SPaG).

UK population has grown in the past and is expected to grow in the future. Net migration has
fluctuated over the last few decades. This will put pressure on ecosystems because more space is
needed to build houses, to provide food and resources.

Population is predicted to grow as shown in figure 5b. But, population growth is uneven so the
pressure will be different in different areas of the UK. Figure 5b shows that growth in areas of the
north of England is between 2.8-4.2% but it is at least 7.4% in the south of England. Also, although
net migration has increased in recent decades, figure 5d shows that it has fluctuated and might not
increase in the future.

Population growth will result in the need for more space to build houses. In the past 50 years, UK
population has grown by over 10 million people. There was a shortfall of house by 3 million up to
2010. As new homes are built, land is urbanised, and natural ecosystems are lost. This causes
disruptions to nutrient cycles in ecosystems and can threaten plant and animal species. It can also
disturb natural services provided by ecosystems. There has been a 50% decline in services provided
by ecosystems in the last 50 years. A rise in population could also create more noise and air pollution
which could also affect ecosystems.

However, the pressure on ecosystems could be less if different options are explored. New houses
could be built on brownfield sites. For example, figure 5e shows that there is enough brownfield land
to build 200,000 homes which would not disturb natural ecosystems. Also, figure 5e shows that
urbanised land is only 10% of the UK, therefore there is more undeveloped land then expected.
Finally, many of the UK’s most valuable natural areas are protected and therefore development
would not happen here. These points all mean that pressure on ecosystems could be less in some
areas.

In conclusion, the increase in population and net migration will cause pressure on ecosystems
however this pressure could be less in some areas and could be managed to be reduced if for
example brownfield land is used to build on.