3.2 Impacts of changing trends in resource consumption - the Water-Food-Energy nexus Questionbank

Outline one way in which a linear economic model contributes to long-term environmental degradation.

Suggest two reasons why global efforts to improve water security often fail in low-income or politically unstable regions.

Explain how the growing demand for rare earth elements and critical minerals might create new global inequalities or tensions.

Suggest two ways in which current global patterns of food consumption are contributing to long-term resource insecurity.

Discuss how energy insecurity can create geopolitical tensions at both regional and global scales.

The map shows the embodied energy trade 

Source: Sankey Diagrams

Suggest two reasons why some regions import more energy than they produce domestically.

Using specific examples from the map, examine how energy trade flows reflect patterns of global inequality in production and consumption.

Suggest two reasons why energy-exporting regions may remain economically or politically vulnerable despite their resource advantage.

Define the term resource security.

Explain two benefits of transitioning to renewable energy sources.

Suggest two reasons why energy demand is increasing globally.

The map shows the Global State of Food Security 2022

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit

Identify one country with a food security index score of 80 or above.

Name one country with a high food security score and one country with a low food security score, based on the map.

Describe the global pattern of food security shown on the map.

Suggest two reasons why countries in Sub-Saharan Africa tend to score lower on the Global Food Security Index.

Define the term water scarcity.

Define the term energy security.

Define the term circular economy.

Suggest two reasons why the ecological footprint of a city might be higher than that of a rural area.

The map shows the countries with proven oil reserves (in millions of barrels)

Source: US EIA

Identify one country with over 200,000 million barrels of oil reserves.

Identify one continent where most countries have less than 10,000 million barrels of oil reserves.

Describe the global pattern of oil reserves shown on the map.

Suggest two ways in which having large oil reserves might affect a country’s development.

Define the term food insecurity.

Suggest two reasons why some countries are more energy secure than others.

Explain two ways in which the uneven global distribution of natural resources can affect development.

The chart shows the share of global primary energy supply by source

Source: shares of primary energy supply for 2018 in the world

Identify the largest single source of global primary energy.

Identify two sources that together account for less than 10% of global energy supply.

Describe the overall pattern shown in the chart.

Suggest two reasons why fossil fuels are still the dominant energy sources globally.