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Year 5 - Geography

Biodiversity and sustainability

Sustainable world: does it matter how we live?

Unit Summary

This unit introduces sustainability by exploring how human choices affect the environment. Pupils learn about energy use, food waste, biodiversity and urban living, and consider how individuals and communities can work towards a more sustainable future.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to explain what biodiversity is and give some reasons why nature matters for a sustainable world.

Key Notes

  • The demand for resources for land, water, food, and shelter shapes the environment for other wildlife too.
  • Many animal populations have become much smaller, but a few have increased, thanks to conservation and rewilding.
  • Pollinator insects – bees, wasps, beetles, flies, ants and butterflies – play an important role in agriculture.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • climate crisis: Climate crisis is a term used to describe climate change and global warming, and the impact of these on Earth.
  • conservation: Conservation is the careful protection of something.
  • rewilding: Rewilding allows an area to restore itself to a natural state in which wildlife can return without human intervention.
  • pollinator: A pollinator is an animal or insect that helps transfer pollen from plants.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Children may assume that biodiversity means the total population of a species.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this geography topic using two clear key points.

The demand for resources for land, water, food, and shelter shapes the environment for other wildlife too. Many animal populations have become much smaller, but a few have increased, thanks to conservation and rewilding.

2. Define this geography term and use it in an example. 'climate crisis'

Climate crisis is a term used to describe climate change and global warming, and the impact of these on Earth.

3. Correct this common geography misunderstanding.

Mistake: Children may assume that biodiversity means the total population of a species. Correction: Biodiversity is is the variety of all living things on Earth.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 5 Geography guide library.