The challenge of resource management
What's covered
Key facts
Burning coal releases the most CO₂ per unit of energy of any common fossil fuel — more than oil, and roughly twice that of natural gas.
Aeroponics grows plants with their roots suspended in the air, sprayed with a misted nutrient solution, with no soil required.
Energy consumption per capita is the term for daily energy use averaged across a country's population.
Contaminated water is a major health risk in LICs because diseases like cholera spread rapidly when people drink sewage-contaminated water.
Energy insecurity can drive political tension between countries that depend on imported fossil fuels and the producer states they buy from.
Agroforestry is the practice of growing crops and trees together on the same land to improve soil quality, biodiversity and long-term sustainability.
A country achieves food security when it has reliable access to enough affordable and safe food for all its people.
Desalination is the process of removing salt from seawater to produce fresh water suitable for drinking or irrigation.
Energy security means reliable access to sufficient and affordable energy supplies for a country's needs.
Climate change can reduce crop yields (through drought, heat stress and pest range shifts) and so reduce food security at both the household and national scale.
Sample questions
A taste of the 57 questions in this topic — answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What is energy security?
- •a policy of not importing energy from other countries
- •dependence on renewable energy for all electricity generation
- ✓reliable access to sufficient and affordable energy supplies
- •the total amount of fossil fuel reserves a country holds
What is a genetically modified (GM) crop?
- •A crop grown in controlled greenhouse conditions without soil
- •A crop grown using intensive fertiliser and pesticide inputs to maximise production
- ✓A crop with altered DNA to improve yield, disease resistance or nutrition
- •A hybrid crop produced by traditional selective breeding over many generations
What is food security?
- •a country's ability to export more food than it imports
- •a government guarantee of minimum food prices for farmers
- ✓reliable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs
- •the absence of food waste throughout a country's supply chain
Why does population growth in NEEs increase water insecurity?
- •Larger populations create more industrial pollution that contaminates water sources
- ✓More people require more water for drinking, sanitation, farming and industry
- •NEEs invest less in water infrastructure as their populations grow
- •Population growth leads to deforestation, which increases rainfall and floods water sources
What is the main advantage of renewable energy over fossil fuels?
- •Renewable energy is always cheaper than fossil fuels to produce
- •Renewable energy needs no grid infrastructure and works anywhere immediately
- •Renewables produce more power per unit of land than fossil fuels
- ✓They will not run out and produce minimal greenhouse gas emissions
Why might some countries oppose GM crops despite their potential to increase food supply?
- •GM crops are less productive than Green Revolution high-yield varieties
- •GM crops cannot grow in tropical climates where insecurity is worst
- •GM crops require more water than conventional crops, worsening water insecurity
- ✓Unknown health risks, biodiversity damage and corporate control of seed patents
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