Page 239 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies

Change [IPCC]) to creating awareness of and implementing solutions for selected natural resource management issues
Sample questions: “What criteria might you
use to determine the effectiveness of a particular individual’s or group’s contribution?” “How does the role of an intergovernmental organization like the IPCC differ from that of an international ENGO like Greenpeace?” “How can social enterprises help to resolve environmental problems?”
C1.4 analyse Canada’s contribution to international efforts to resolve selected global environmental or resource management issues
Sample questions: “What was Canada’s role in drafting and implementing one of the following international accords: the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Basel Convention), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora? Why did Canada participate in the accord? What expertise might Canada have provided to the drafters of the accord? What were some of the laws and regu- lations that Canada introduced or changed in order to meet its obligations under the accord?”
C2. Development of Natural Resources
FOCUS ON: Interrelationships; Geographic Perspective
By the end of this course, students will:
C2.1 analyse competing points of view about a natural resource development issue, using a geographic perspective
Sample questions: “How do we, as a society, make decisions about contentious resource- development issues when there are strongly competing interests and points of view?” “What criteria should be used to determine whose arguments should be given the most weight?” “What are the characteristics of a natural resource–based community? How does the discovery of a natural resource affect the residents of a community and the community’s development? What happens to a resource- dependent community when the resource is
no longer profitable?” “What are the positions of various stakeholders on oil sands develop- ment (e.g., the oil companies; the Alberta, Saskatchewan, and federal governments; the community of Fort McMurray; Aboriginal communities along the Athabasca River; environmentalists; consumers; foreign importers)?”
C2.2 analyse the environmental impacts of various resource extraction activities (e.g., ecological impacts of clear-cutting and forest monocultures; habitat disruption from pipeline construction, and potential impacts of pipeline leakage on watersheds and climate; ecosystem destruction, impacts on fish, changes in sediment transport patterns, and increases in greenhouse gas emissions from damming of waterways; impact of wind farms on migratory birds; air and water pollution and destruction of natural landscapes resulting from mining), and assess options for making these activities more sustainable
Sample questions: “What incentives do industries have to minimize the environmental impacts of their activities?” “What are some of the solutions that various industries have applied to reduce specific impacts from their activities? How effective have these been? How costly have they been to implement?” “If the current rate
of extraction is maintained, how likely is it
that we can continue to extract this resource? Could international pressure change the rate
of extraction?”
Using spatial skills: Students can use annotated maps to plot the extent of the area affected by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and to document local impacts.
C2.3 compare the economic, cultural, and social costs and benefits of selected resource develop- ment projects for various individuals or groups (e.g., indigenous peoples, businesses, farmers, tourists)
Sample questions: “How might a person who lives in a resource-based community and a person who does not differ in their attitudes towards resource extraction?” “What health concerns might a person living near this development have?” “How might different groups use the Ontario First Nations Environmental Assessment Toolkit when analysing an existing or proposed resource development project?” “How does one measure the cost of displacing a community in order to develop a resource? What were the social and economic costs of displacing Cree communities in northern Quebec to allow the development of the La Grande River power project or of displacing more than a million people along
the Yangtze River to allow the development
of the Three Gorges Dam project? What was
the balance of costs and benefits for the people displaced? What was the balance of costs and benefits for Quebec or China?” “How are indigenous people being affected by logging activities in the Brazilian rainforest? What
are the benefits and for whom? How might pharmaceutical companies seeking to develop new medicines be affected?”
SUSTAINABILITY AND STEWARDSHIP OF NATURAL RESOURCES
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The Environment and Resource Management
CGR4M