Unit 6. A concern for the environment & 1. Read the introduction to the unit and answer the questions:

1 . Which two kinds of natural resources ensure the well-being of our civilisation?

2. Since when have people lacked mineral resources?

The well-being of our society depends on the resources provided by the earth. There are removable resources such as timber, food, and water, and non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels and minerals; the earth also provides maintenance of the life-support systems such as pollution absorption capacity. Until the world population reached 3 billion the means the earth provided were adequate. However, the present growth in population coupled with industrial growth has caused all the resources, which are limited, to be outstripped by human demands. And they are not just overexploited to a small degree: both society and the natural world are being destroyed at such a rate that the very survival of our species on this planet is now seriously threatened.

& 2. Read the text and find words which are similar in meaning to the following. Then answer the questions:

1. made to think of

2. very sadly

3. endangered, the ones that soon may no longer exist

4. the place where animals or plants live

5. cutting down trees for wood

6. a factory where trees are cut into flat pieces

7. gone down in number

8. non-existent

9. an extremely beautiful place

10. a small light

11. people concerned about saving the natural world

12. greatly

13. very good, splendid

14. destroyed

15. hit sth extremely hard with a lot of damage or noise

ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION

T he chin may be too large and the arms too long, but when you look at an orangutan, you are often reminded of someone you know. And there's a simple reason. Humans share 97% of their genes with orangutans.

Orangutans are found mostly in the rainforests in Indonesia, on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Tragically, the survival of these beautiful, human-like animals is being threatened. In the last fifty years, much of their natural habitat has disappeared. Nearly 80% of the rainforests in Indonesia have been destroyed, mainly by logging but also by forest fires.

In parts of the rainforests, the noise of trees can be heard crashing to the ground every three or four minutes. According to studies by the WWFN (Worldwide Fund for Nature), as soon as trees reach a certain size - 20 cm in diameter - they are cut down and transported to the nearest port ready to be shipped as hardwood to the developed world, particularly the USA.

The result of so much logging is that orangutans have been forced out of their natural habitat so rapidly that they may be completely wiped out. Their numbers have declined by 50% in the last 20 years. Fewer than 25,000 orangutans were recorded in 2001 and today there are only 15,000. For Indonesian wildlife this is a continuing tragedy. Says one wildlife officer in Borneo: 'If orangutans become extinct, part of our paradise will be destroyed.'

But there is a glimmer of hope. A few years ago in Gunung Leuser National Park in Borneo, where the orangutans' natural habitat was being severely threatened, conservationists insisted that illegal logging should be stopped and tried to ban the international sale of hardwood from Indonesian rainforests. By December 2002 the sawmills there had been closed down and illegal logging had been vastly reduced.

The question is: can anything more be done to save our magnificent red-haired cousin from extinction before it is too late?

s3. Answer these questions on the text.

Why are orangutans like humans?	4. What has happened to the orangutan population in the last 20 years?
Who buys the hardwood?
Why is logging dangerous for
orangutans?	5. And to the sawmills in Borneo?

@ 4. Complete the factfile about orangutans:

Animal in danger:

Where found:

Natural habitat:

Estimated existing number:

Reasons for decline:

Recent measure:

Ç 5. Look at the pictures and match them with the names of some endangered species from the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation also known as Red Book:

1

2

3

4

a) Amur Sturgeon, b) Puffin, c) Golden Eagle, d) Ladoga seal

_ 6. Talk about these questions:

1. What animals, birds or fish in our country are endangered?

2. What should people do to save them?

Begin like that: To my mind, ...

one of the best ways to protect endangered species is	to prevent their decline and deterioration to maintain healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plant species to promote broad-based conservation efforts
Other ideas: to save all our natural resources, to stop interfering in vital breeding and behavioral activities, donate to organisations protecting wildlife

# 7. Fill in the gaps with the following words: ecosystem, back, chain, forever, disastrous

Once they are gone, they are gone 1._________ and there is no going 2._________. Losing even a single species can have 3._________ impacts on the rest of the 4._________, because the effects will be felt throughout the food 5._________.