2.3.1 - resource management Flashcards
(8 cards)
Why are resources such as food, water and energy important?
They are needed for basic human development. . People need food and water to survive and stay healthy and energy is needed for a basic standard of living e.g. to provide lighting and heat for cooking.
How does access to food affect the economic and social well-being of people and countries?
- without access to enoungh safe, nutritious food, people can become malnourished - don’t have the right balance of nutrients e.g. iron deficiency causes tiredness and can affect children;s development. Malnourishment includes undernourishment - where people don’t get enough food of any kind.
- Malnourishment increases the likelihood of getting diseases - 1/3 of under 5s globally die from diseases linked to malnourishment.
- People who aren’t getting enough to eat may not perform as well at school, meaning they lack the skills needed to help a country’s economic development. Malnourishmet can also prevent people from working, lowering the money the earn and harming the economy of their country.
How does access to water affect the economic and social well-being of people and countries?
- people need clean, safe water for drinking, cooking and washing
- without proper sanitation, water sources get polluted by raw sewage
- water-borne diseases e.g. cholera and typhoid kill many people each year
-having to walk long distances to get clean water can also have an economic impact on people and on a country’s economy - people aren’t able to spend as much time working and children may spend less time in school. - water is needed to produce food, clothes and many other products - it has a big impact on people’s lifestyles.
How does access to energy affect the economic and social well-being of people and countries?
- needed for industry, transport, use in homes
- can allow industries to develop, creating jobs and many countries wealthier.
- way of life in HICs depends on having a large, stable supply of energy
- without electricity, people may burn wood or kerosene for cooking and to provide light and hear for their homes. Using fuelwood can lead to local deforestation, meaning people have to walk further and further to find food. Kerosene stoves can release harmful fumes and may start fires
- electricity can also power pumps for wells and provide more safe water for communities
Give an overview of global inequalities in the supply and consumption of resources.
The global distribution of resources is very uneven. Some countries don’t have their own energy reserves, others have dry climates or environments that are not suitable for food production.
To access more resources, there countries must import them or find technological solutions to produce more e.g. build desalination to produce freshwater form saltwater - this is expensive.
So consumption of resources depends on a country’s wealth as well as their availability.
- consumption of resources is greater in HICs because they an afford to buy the resources they need and expect a higher standard of living.
-consumption is increasing rapidly in NEEs. Industry is developing very fast which requires lots of energy and population and wealth are also increasing rapidly.
- Consumption is lower in LICs as they either can’t afford to exploit the resources they have or to import resources if they’re lacking their own.
How is production and availability of food in the UK changing?
People want seasonal food all year round
- since 1960s
- import fruit and veg e.g. apples from South Africa and strawberries from Mexico.
- Increasing demand for high value food e.g. exotic fruits, coffee, spices - become more popular as incomes increase
Often grown in LICs e.g. Peru and exported to UK
- organic produce increasingly popular - produced according to strict regulations e.g. banning the use of artificial fertilisers. People concerned about environmental impact of food production and effect of chemicals on health. Some is produced in UK, lots still imported.
Carbon footprint of food is growing
- growing, processing and packaging food produces CO2 and other ghgs.
- transport also releases CO2. Distance food is transported to market = its food miles. Higher food miles=more CO2
- greenhouse gas produced during production, packaging and transport = carbon footprint. Lrge carbon footprint- more ghgs - more global warming
- imported foods travel a long way so have a very largecarbon footprint
- people are becoming aware of environmental issues caused by transporting food over long distances. Many buy more local food and farm shops are becoming more popular.
Farming is becoming more industrialised
- growth in UK agribusiness since 1960s.
agribusiness: large scale, industrial farming where processes from seed and fertiliser production to processing and packaging is controlled by large firms
So farms in the UK are changing:
1. farm sizes are increasing - many small farms have been taken over and field size increases so food can be produced more cheaply
2. Amount of chemicals used in food production is increasing - large quantities of artificial fertilisers and pesticides are applied to crops, and animals are given special feed to encourage growth
3. Number of workers is falling due to greater use of machinery e.g. in planting and harvesting
- industrial farming also has environmental impacts - increasing farm size means hedgerows have been removed, leading to a loss in biodiversity and heavy machinery is causing soil erosion.
How is production and availability of water in the UK changing?
- Demand for water varies across UK
North and West - high rainfall so good water supply
North and West are areas of water surplus (greater supply than demand)
South East and midlands - high population density - high water demand
South East and midlands are in a water deficit (greater demand than supply)
-DEMAND FOR WATER IS INCREASING
Increased by 70% since 1975 in UK - people have lots more appliances that use more water e.g. dishwashers, UK population predicted to increase by 10 million before 2040, population densities are changing - new homes planned to be built in the south east, where there’s already a water deficit.
WATER POLLUTION NEEDS TO BE MANAGED
-Polluted/low quality water reduces amount available for use - more pressure on water resources esp. in deficit areas
-overall, quality of river water is improving in the UK, but there are still problems:
1. nitrates and phosphates from fertilisers used on crops are washed into rivers and groundwater
2. pollutants from vehicles washed into water sources through runoff when it rains
3. accidental chemical and oil spills at factories are polluting local water sources and groundwater supplies
- Up to 80% water comes from groundwater in parts of Southern England, but pollution is affecting the quality of almost 50% of groundwater used for public supply in the UK. Many sources closed or have to have expensive treatment to make them safe to use
-Strategies to manage water quality include improving drainage systems( e.g. by slowing movement of rainwater to rivers so that pollutants can be broken down in the soil) and imposing regulations on the amount and types of fertilisers and pesticides used.
WATER TRANSFERS CAN HELP MAINTAIN SUPPLIES
-one way to deal with supply and demand problem - transfer water from areas of surplus to areas of deficit e.g. Birmingham - deficit supplied with water from middle of Wales - surplus
-issues of water transfer:
1. Dams and aqueducts (bridges used to transport water) are expensive to build
2. can affect the wildlife that lives in rivers e.g. fish migration disrupted by dams
3. might be political issues e.g. people not wanting their water transferred to another area.
How is production and availability of energy in the UK changing?
UK’S CHANGING ENERGY MIX
-traditionally, UK relied on fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) to supply its energy. 1970 - 91% came from oil and coal
-discovery of large gas reserves under North sea - 1980 - 22% supplied by gas
-use of nuclear energy to produce electricity increased during the 1990s
-recently - shift away from burning fossil fuels and towards renewable sources.
- Wind and bioenergy are the biggest sources of renewable energy, solar and hydroelectric also increased.
UK SUPPLIES OF COAL, OIL AND GAS ARE RUNNING OUT
-North Sea oil and gas reserves being rapidly used up and production been declining since 2000
- UK still has coal reserves but coal production has hugely fallen since the mid-20th century. Decline in demand due to effort to reduce CO2 emissions and cost of mining remaining reserves is increasing. Last deep coal mine in UK closed in December 2015
-use of underground shale gas being considered in UK - extracted using fracking - fluid pumped into shale rock at high pressure so it cracks. Forces gas trapped in the rock to flow back out of a well where it is collected.
ECONOMIC ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH EXPLOITATION OF ENERGY SOURCES
- extraction of fossil fuels is expensive and cost increases as reserves are used up
- North Sea oil esp. expensive to produce. If price of oil on world market drops, it may cost to produce than it can be sold for
- cost of producing electricity from nuclear and renewable energy sources is high
-money needed for research into alternative energy resources (e.g. shale gas) and for initial investment (e.g. building nuclear power stations)
-many renewable sources don’t provide a reliable enough supply of energy, so UK still has to pay to import energy from other countries.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH EXPLOITATION OF ENERGY SOURCES
-burning fossil fuels releases CO2 and other greenhouse gases
-fracking may pollute groundwater and cause mini-earthquakes - some people in the UK are campaigning to ban it
-accidents e.g. oil spills/nuclear disasters can leak toxic chemicals into water sources, soils and the atmosphere
-natural ecosystems can be damaged by renewable energy generators like large windfarms or the tidal barrage system planned for Swansea in Wales
- power stations and windfarms often considered visually unattractive.
