Grade 11 · CAPS

Grade 11 Environmental Sustainability

Economics practice questions and a worked example

Economic activity puts real pressure on the environment, and Grade 11 asks learners to connect that pressure to real responses -- green taxes, environmental impact assessments, and frameworks like South Africa's own National Framework for Sustainable Development, which these practice questions are built directly from.

Worked example

NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The world is facing severe pressures that put sustainable development at risk for most people. Population growth, growing inequalities, climate change, and emerging zoonotic diseases are setting back many recent human well-being achievements while rapidly worsening planetary health. The NFSD aims to enhance the quality of life in the country and includes 5 pillars: nature, environmental health, climate change, living organisms and biosecurity. (Source: nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32415-9) 3.3.5 How can economic growth and environmental protection be balanced?

Answer & explanation

Producers should use more renewable and fewer non-renewable resources, wastewater from industry should be recycled to produce clean water, and natural resources should be used cautiously so that economic growth and ecological conservation happen together.
To balance economic growth and environmental protection, producers can focus on using renewable resources instead of non-renewable ones. This reduces the depletion of finite resources and minimizes environmental impact. Recycling wastewater from industries can help in conserving water resources and maintaining ecological balance. Additionally, using natural resources cautiously ensures that they are available for future generations, supporting both economic growth and environmental sustainability. By integrating these practices, it is possible to achieve economic development while preserving the environment.

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Environmental Sustainability

Question 1 of 3

1.1.8 Resources that may become exhausted if they are not managed sustainably are known as ...resources.
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More practice questions

Explore additional Grade 11 Environmental Sustainability questions.

  • 2
    NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The world is facing severe pressures that put sustainable development at risk for most people. Population growth, growing inequalities, climate change, and emerging zoonotic diseases are setting back many recent human well-being achievements while rapidly worsening planetary health. The NFSD aims to enhance the quality of life in the country and includes 5 pillars: nature, environmental health, climate change, living organisms and biosecurity. (Source: nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32415-9) 3.3.1 Identify from the extract above ONE pillar of the National Framework for Sustainable Development (NFSD).
  • 3
    NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The world is facing severe pressures that put sustainable development at risk for most people. Population growth, growing inequalities, climate change, and emerging zoonotic diseases are setting back many recent human well-being achievements while rapidly worsening planetary health. The NFSD aims to enhance the quality of life in the country and includes 5 pillars: nature, environmental health, climate change, living organisms and biosecurity. (Source: nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32415-9) 3.3.2 Give any ONE example of green tax.
  • 4
    NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The world is facing severe pressures that put sustainable development at risk for most people. Population growth, growing inequalities, climate change, and emerging zoonotic diseases are setting back many recent human well-being achievements while rapidly worsening planetary health. The NFSD aims to enhance the quality of life in the country and includes 5 pillars: nature, environmental health, climate change, living organisms and biosecurity. (Source: nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32415-9) 3.3.3 Describe the term National Framework for Sustainable Development.
  • 5
    NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The world is facing severe pressures that put sustainable development at risk for most people. Population growth, growing inequalities, climate change, and emerging zoonotic diseases are setting back many recent human well-being achievements while rapidly worsening planetary health. The NFSD aims to enhance the quality of life in the country and includes 5 pillars: nature, environmental health, climate change, living organisms and biosecurity. (Source: nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32415-9) 3.3.4 Briefly explain the environmental impact assessment as an approach to sustainability.

Common mistakes

  • Describing environmental protection purely in terms of what individuals should do, when the exam focuses on economic policy tools -- green taxes, subsidies for conservation, and regulatory frameworks -- as the mechanisms learners are actually expected to explain.

More Grade 11 Economics topics

Environmental Sustainability in other grades

Aligned to CAPS Grade 11 Economics — Environmental Sustainability. Curriculum source: CAPS for the FET Phase, Department of Basic Education.

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