AQA GCSE Geography (8035) · Spec 3.2.3.1
Resource management
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- Food, water and energy are resources people need. They matter for economic well-being and social well-being. Social well-being means health, safety, education and quality of life.
- Resources are spread unevenly around the world. Some places have a surplus and others have a deficit.
- In the UK, food is grown at home and imported. Food miles are the distance food travels from where it is grown to where it is eaten. Water moves from areas of surplus in the north and west to areas of deficit in the south-east. The energy mix has changed as coal has declined and renewables have grown.
- Water quality is a different issue from water supply. Quality is about pollution and its management.
Key terms
- Social well-being
- Health, safety, education and quality of life.
- Food miles
- The distance food travels from where it is grown to where it is eaten.
- Carbon footprint
- Greenhouse gases released by producing, moving and wasting a product.
- Surplus
- More supply than is needed.
- Deficit
- Less supply than is needed.
- Agribusiness
- Large-scale, company-run farming organised like an industry.
Common mistakes
- Thinking social well-being means being sociable. It means health, safety, education and quality of life.
- Answering a water quality question with water supply and shortages. Quality is about pollution and treatment.
- Saying that reducing a food carbon footprint is the same as cutting carbon dioxide in general. It covers production, processing, transport and waste of food.
Exam tip
Q3 in Paper 2 Section C is compulsory and includes a 6-mark question that uses a figure about UK resources. Use the figure and your own understanding together: answers that use only one are capped.
Free practice questions
6 questions, 10 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which statement best describes social well-being?
- Question 2 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
What do food miles measure?
- Question 3 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
Water moves from areas of ___ in the north and west to areas of ___ in the south-east.
Word bank: drought · deficit · surplus
- Question 4 · Matching[3 marks]
Match each term to its meaning.
- Question 5 · Choose more than one[2 marks]
Which TWO actions would reduce the carbon footprint of the food a household buys?
Choose 2.
- Question 6 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which is an example of poor water supply harming social well-being?