Global Resource Management: Food, Water & Energy Security

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Food, Water & Energy Significance & Global Inequality

1. Food security: People need ~2,000-2,500 kcal/day; undernutrition in sub-Saharan Africa limits children's education and adult work capacity, while obesity affects HICs. 2. Water security: Clean water is essential for drinking, sanitation, crop irrigation (70% of global water use), and industry. 3. Energy security: Needed to power factories, transport, heating, and hospitals. HICs consume ~10x more energy per person than LICs.

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UK Food: Food Miles, Agribusiness & Organic Farming

The UK imports ~45% of its food due to demand for out-of-season fruit/vegetables (e.g., green beans from Kenya, strawberries from Spain in winter), cheaper overseas labour, and exotic foods. High 'food miles' increase transport carbon footprints (though growing tomatoes in heated UK greenhouses in winter actually emits more CO₂ than shipping field-grown tomatoes from Spain). Responses: eating seasonal local produce, farm shops, agribusiness (large-scale intensive mechanised farms in East Anglia), and organic farming.

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UK Water: Surplus vs Deficit, Transfer & Pollution

Only ~4% of UK water is used in homes involves drinking; most is baths/toilets/washing, plus industry and power cooling. The wet, sparsely populated North and West have a water surplus; the dry, densely populated South East has a water deficit (water stress). Large-scale national water transfer grids (pumping water from Wales/Scotland to London) are often rejected due to high cost, energy use, and ecological disruption; instead, the UK uses reservoirs (Kielder Water), fixes leaky pipes, installs water meters, and treats river pollution (runoff nitrates and sewage) via Environment Agency regulations.

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UK Energy Mix: Fossil Fuels, Fracking, Nuclear & Renewables

The UK's domestic North Sea oil and gas reserves are declining, making the UK reliant on imported energy. Coal stations have closed; nuclear (e.g., Hinkley Point C) provides low-carbon baseload power (despite high cost and nuclear waste debates); wind farms (Dogger Bank offshore wind) have expanded rapidly (despite visual/bird concerns onshore); and fracking for shale gas (pumping high-pressure water/sand/chemicals underground to fracture shale rock) was halted due to earthquake tremors and groundwater pollution fears.

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Global food security strategies (hydroponics vs appropriate tech)

Food insecurity (caused by drought, pests, poverty, conflict, and climate change) leads to famine, soil erosion, and rising food prices/riots. 1. Large-scale: Almería in southern Spain (40,000 hectares of plastic greenhouses using hydroponics, computerised drip irrigation, and low-paid migrant labour) or the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS). 2. Sustainable strategies: Organic farming, permaculture, urban farming (rooftop gardens), sustainable fish quotas, and LIC appropriate technology (e.g., Makueni County in Kenya building concrete sand dams across seasonal rivers to trap water for irrigation, boosting maize yields).

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Global Water OR Energy Security Strategies

Water security: Large-scale water transfer (China's South-North Water Transfer Project or Lesotho Highlands Water Project: huge supply vs high cost and displaced communities) vs Sustainable water conservation (drip irrigation, greywater recycling, and rainwater harvesting / sand dams in LICs). Energy security: Fossil fuel extraction vs Renewable energy & Micro-hydro / Biogas schemes in LICs (e.g., micro-hydro in Chambamontera, Peru, or solar/biogas in rural India/Nepal providing clean off-grid electricity without deforestation).

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1. Q1

   Explain why the UK imports a large proportion of its food, and evaluate the environmental and economic impacts of reducing UK food miles by growing more food domestically. [6 marks]

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   Click “Check Mark Scheme” to compare your answer, 1. Reasons for importing food: UK consumers demand year-round availability of seasonal fruit and vegetables (such as strawberries and asparagus in winter) as well as tropical products (tea, coffee, bananas, cocoa) that cannot grow in the UK's cool temperate climate [1 mark]. 2. Economic cost driver: Transnational supermarkets import food from LICs and NEEs (e.g., green beans and roses from Kenya) because warm climates and lower farm wages make foreign production cheaper than UK farming [1 mark]. 3. Environmental impact of food miles: Transporting food thousands of miles by air freight and refrigerated lorries burns aviation fuel and diesel, contributing significantly to the UK's carbon footprint and global climate change [1 mark]. 4. Counter-argument on carbon footprint: However, growing out-of-season crops like tomatoes in the UK during winter requires artificially heated and lit glasshouses, which can actually consume more energy and emit more CO₂ per kilogram than growing them naturally in sunny Spain and shipping them by lorry [1 mark]. 5. Domestic agribusiness & organic farming: Producing more food domestically via intensive agribusiness boosts UK food security and rural jobs, though chemical fertilisers and hedgerow removal can harm UK biodiversity (whereas local organic farming protects soil and wildlife but is more expensive for low-income families) [1 mark]. 6. Impact on LIC farmers: Suddenly boycotting air-freighted food from LICs like Kenya would devastate hundreds of thousands of small-scale African farmers who rely on UK supermarket exports for their income and development [1 mark].

2. Q2

   Explain the causes of areas of water surplus and water deficit in the UK, and assess the methods used to manage UK water supply and demand. [6 marks]

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   Click “Check Mark Scheme” to compare your answer, 1. Physical supply (Rainfall): Prevailing moist south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean rise over the high mountains of North and West Britain (Scotland, Wales, and the Lake District), causing heavy relief rainfall (>2,000 mm/year), whereas the flat South East is in the rain shadow (<650 mm/year) with high summer evaporation [1 mark]. 2. Human demand (Population density): The North and West have a low population density (creating a water surplus), whereas the South East (London and the Home Counties) is densely populated with high domestic and business demand, creating severe water stress and a water deficit [1 mark]. 3. Supply management (Reservoirs & Transfers): Regional water transfers (such as pumping water from Welsh reservoirs like Elan Valley to Birmingham, or Kielder Water in Northumberland) successfully balance regional deficits [1 mark]. 4. Limits of supply schemes: However, building a giant national water grid from Scotland to London is rejected as too expensive and energy-intensive, and flooding new valleys for reservoirs (like Abingdon in Oxfordshire) faces fierce local environmental and social opposition [1 mark]. 5. Demand management (Conservation): Water companies install household water meters (which reduce household use by ~15%), fix leaking underground Victorian pipes, and promote dual-flush toilets, spray taps, and greywater recycling in new homes [1 mark]. 6.Overall assessment: A combination of demand reduction (meters and fixing leaks) alongside regional aquifer storage and wastewater treatment is much more sustainable and cost-effective than giant national pipeline transfers [1 mark].

3. Q3

   Explain how the UK's energy mix has changed in recent decades, and evaluate the economic and environmental issues associated with this transition. [6 marks]

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   Click “Check Mark Scheme” to compare your answer, 1. Changes in the energy mix: The UK has phased out coal-fired power stations completely and seen declining North Sea oil and gas output, replacing them with a rapid rise in renewable energy (especially offshore wind, solar, and bioenergy, now generating >40% of UK electricity) alongside natural gas and nuclear power [1 mark]. 2. Drivers of change: Driven by declining domestic fossil fuel reserves, European/UK air pollution regulations, and the UK's legally binding target to reach Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 [1 mark]. 3. Economic issues (Costs & Jobs): Closing coal mines and fossil-fuel plants caused unemployment in traditional coalfield areas, and building new nuclear plants (like Hinkley Point C at >£30 billion) and offshore wind farms requires huge upfront capital investment, which is passed on to consumers in higher electricity bills [1 mark]. 4. Economic opportunities: However, the transition has created tens of thousands of skilled green engineering jobs in offshore wind hubs (such as Hull and Grimsby on the Humber estuary) and reduced long-term exposure to volatile imported gas prices [1 mark]. 5. Environmental benefits: Shutting coal plants and expanding wind/solar has drastically cut the UK's carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions, reducing its contribution to climate change and acid rain [1 mark]. 6. Environmental/Reliability challenges: Wind and solar are intermittent (unreliable on calm winter nights, requiring gas or nuclear backup), onshore wind turbines cause visual/noise complaints, and nuclear power leaves radioactive waste that must be stored safely for thousands of years [1 mark].

4. Q4

   Using a named example you have studied, evaluate how either a large-scale scheme OR a small-scale sustainable scheme has increased food, water, or energy security. [6 marks]

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   Click “Check Mark Scheme” to compare your answer, 1. Named case study (Large-scale Food): The Almería greenhouses ('Sea of Plastic') in southern Spain (or Makueni County sand dams in Kenya for small-scale sustainable food/water) [1 mark]. 2. How the scheme works: Over 40,000 hectares of the arid Campo de Dalías plain are covered in plastic-clad greenhouses using soil-free hydroponics and computerised drip irrigation to grow peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers year-round [1 mark]. 3. Economic & Food Security benefits: Turns Europe's driest region into a multibillion-euro agricultural powerhouse exporting millions of tonnes of affordable fresh vegetables across Europe in winter, creating 100,000+ jobs and local wealth (plus reflecting sunlight to cool the local microclimate) [1 mark]. 4. Environmental disadvantages: Despite drip irrigation, over-abstraction of underground aquifers has dangerously depleted groundwater levels and caused saltwater intrusion, while thousands of tonnes of discarded plastic sheeting pollute the land and Mediterranean Sea [1 mark]. 5. Social disadvantages: The scheme relies heavily on tens of thousands of migrant workers from North and West Africa who often work in 45°C greenhouse heat for very low wages and live in cramped shanty settlements without basic services [1 mark]. 6. Overall evaluation: While Almería is extraordinarily productive at boosting European food supply, small-scale appropriate technology schemes (like Makueni sand dams and agroforestry in Kenya) are far more environmentally and socially sustainable for improving local food security in LICs [1 mark].

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