The maintenance of high quality soil, water and air is an essential component of sustainable development.
The countryside is used in a wide variety of ways, each of which can have an impact on the environment.
For example, pesticides and fertilisers used in agriculture, fish farming and forestry, if not carefully controlled, may affect the air, water and soil quality and eventually contaminate food.

The disposal of wastes, access to the countryside for leisure and amenity use and the introduction of new technology may also have an environmental impact. Changes to ecosystems resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases and ozone depleters could significantly affect the rural landscape.
This module will allow the student to define what is meant by soil, water and air quality and to identify some of the major risks to environmental quality arising from our varied use of the countryside.

Approaches to managing the countryside so as to maintain or improve the environmental quality will then be evaluated together with assessment of appropriate environmental legislative requirements.