Practice A.3 Water scarcity and water quality with authentic IB Geography exam questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank mirrors Paper 1, 2, 3 structure, covering key topics like physical geography, human geography, and geospatial analysis. Get instant solutions, detailed explanations, and build exam confidence with questions in the style of IB examiners.
Paper
Level
Question 1
SL & HLPaper 1
Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (UN).
1.[1]
Identify the region with the greatest forest area increase due to restoration between 2000 and 2019.
2.[1]
Identify one region with less than 1 million hectares of forest restoration.
3.[2]
Describe the overall pattern of forest restoration progress shown in the infographic.
4.[6]
Explain two reasons why forest restoration is important for managing freshwater in drainage basins.
Question 2
SL & HLPaper 1
Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Conservation MOnitoring Centre (WCMC),World Resources Institute (WRI), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Atlas of Population and Environment (2001).
1.[1]
(i) Identify the continent where the Amazon River basin is located.
2.[1]
(ii) Identify one river basin located in Asia.
3.[2]
Describe the global distribution of the major river basins shown on the map.
4.[6]
Explain two reasons why drainage basins are important for human populations.
Question 3
SL & HLPaper 1
The graph below shows the predicted world water stress in 2040
1.[1]
Identify a country that is predicted to have high water stress in 2040.
2.[3]
Describe the pattern of predicted water stress in 2040.
Question 4
SL & HLPaper 1
Either
(a) Examine the consequences of high domestic water use in high-income countries.
Or
(b) Discuss the effectiveness of strategies used to reduce domestic water consumption.
1.[10]
Examine the consequences of high domestic water use in high-income countries.
2.[10]
Discuss the effectiveness of strategies used to reduce domestic water consumption.
Question 5
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[10]
(a) Examine how climate and vegetation affect runoff in drainage basins.
2.[10]
Discuss how variations in runoff can affect the availability of freshwater resources.
Question 6
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[10]
Examine the role of land use change in affecting the hydrology of drainage basins.
2.[10]
Discuss strategies for improving the sustainability of freshwater supply in drainage basins.
Question 7
SL & HLPaper 1
Source: Zhang, A.T., Gu, V.X. Global Dam Tracker: A database of more than 35,000 dams with location, catchment, and attribute information. Sci Data 10, 111 (2023).
1.[1]
Identify one country with a large number of dams.
2.[1]
Identify one country where dam construction has caused a large increase in surface water area.
3.[2]
Describe the global pattern of dam-induced surface water area change shown on the map.
4.[6]
Explain two reasons why countries build large numbers of dams.
Question 8
SL & HLPaper 1
Source: Aqueduct by World Resources Institute.
1.[1]
Identify one country with a high drought risk index score.
2.[1]
(a)(ii) Identify one region with a low to medium drought risk.
3.[2]
Describe the global distribution of countries with medium to high drought risk
4.[6]
Explain two physical or human factors that contribute to drought risk.
Question 9
SL & HLPaper 1
Source: Aqueduct, World Resources Institute
1.[1]
Identify the sector with the greatest increase in water withdrawals since the 1960s.
2.[1]
State the approximate percentage increase in industrial water withdrawals between 1960 and 2020.
3.[2]
Outline one reason why water withdrawals for irrigation have increased more slowly than for domestic use.
4.[6]
Explain two reasons why domestic water withdrawals have increased more rapidly than withdrawals in other sectors.
5.[10]
“Domestic water use is the most pressing threat to sustainable freshwater supplies.”
To what extent do you agree with this statement?
6.[10]
Discuss the effectiveness of strategies that aim to reduce sectoral pressures on water resources.
Question 10
SL & HLPaper 1
1.[1]
Source: Sujud, L.H., Jaafar, H.H. (2022)
2.[1]
(a) (ii) Identify one region with low mean annual runoff.
3.[2]
(b) Describe the global distribution of high and low runoff areas.
4.[6]
Explain two natural factors that can influence runoff in a drainage basin.