1.3.7—Ecosystem collapse
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2026
- Objective
- 1.3.7
- Level
- HL
Overharvest Can Collapse Society Too
When extraction exceeds renewal for long enough, ecological structure and the social systems dependent on it can both collapse.
Trace rate → stock decline → food-web or ecosystem change → lost livelihoods. A temporary fall is not automatically collapse; look for persistent loss of function.
More efficient fishing removes cod faster than reproduction, the stock falls, the fishery closes and dependent communities lose work.
Persistent stock and system-function loss plus linked social consequences.
A temporary decline is not automatically ecosystem collapse.