(a) Country X is 95% desert. The government of Country X is concerned about not having enough arable land (land capable of being used to grow crops) in the country to produce the food needed to feed its population without increasing food imports. One government official proposes a project to irrigate large areas of the desert to convert these areas of desert to agricultural fields.

(i) Describe one potential benefit of this proposed project.

(i): Any of these answers are correct ⬇️
• the irrigated desert can produce food for the population.
• the irrigated desert will create a new type of habitat for wildlife./the new habitat will increase biodiversity.
• the project could provide an economic benefit of creating jobs in the area.

(ii) Describe one potential negative consequence of this proposed project.

(ii): Any of these answers are correct ⬇️
• irrigating the desert could divert water from native habitats/decrease biodiversity in surrounding areas.
• irrigating the desert could cause water shortages for humans/decrease the amount of drinking water available.
• the project could be expensive/have high costs that the country must fund.

(b) Country X is experiencing rapid population growth.

(i) Propose one solution for slowing the population growth rate in Country X

(i): Any of these answers are correct ⬇️
• provide free/low-cost access to family planning to citizens in the country.
• introduce/increase educational programs or family planning to the citizens in the country.
• use government regulations to limit the number of children per family.
• encourage limited family size by providing incentives to families with smaller family size/fewer than a certain number of children.
• provide education on gender bias and work to eliminate it in the country.

(ii) Explain how the solution in (i) would also address Country X's concern about having enough arable land to feed its population.

(ii): The response explains that slowing population growth would address the concerns over having enough arable land to feed the population. The response must address that a rapidly growing population will need to have land for habitat and that the population will likely expand onto arable land. If population growth rates are reduced, the population will not need to build on as much arable land.

(c) The demographic data for country X for the year 2020 is provided in the table below.

(i) calculate the National population growth rate for country X. Show your work.
(i) using the rule of 70, calculate the doubling time for this population.

(i): the correct set up is (38/1,000 - 24/1,000 + 2/1,000) x 100 = (38-24+2/10) = 1.6% for the final calculation.
(ii): the correct set up is 70/growth rate (1.6).
Any of these final calculations are correct ⬇️
• 43.75 years
• 43.8 years
• 44 years