Explain how rising global demand for one raw material has led to environmental degradation.

“The barriers to global interactions are increasing, not decreasing.” Discuss this statement.

Raw materials may include fossil fuels, ores, timber or food stuffs such as soya. Any unexpected interpretations, the validity of which is not clear, must be referred to a team leader.

• Located impacts for degradation could include the Niger delta or Gulf of Mexico (oil), Brazil (timber/soya), shale gas (USA), oil sands (Canada).
• Specific impacts might include loss of biodiversity or acid rain. A good account of impacts that lacks locational detail can still reach the higher band if the process details are good.
• The idea of degradation might also be linked to the lifecycle of the raw material/product including waste disposal issues.
• Good answers may be structured to show different scales of environmental degradation (local and global) or may look at transmission of effects (questioning whether degradation occurs at the source or destination/market eg coal burning).

Details of rising demand are required for band E, or can help candidates to access band D if they are lacking details about environmental degradation. Rising demand could be linked specifically with the growth of emerging economies/rising affluence/growth of new consumer classes. Some credit can be given for suggesting population increases, although rising demand is in fact related far more to changing lifestyles in China, Brazil, Indonesia, etc.

At band D, expect either a detailed description of some range of environmental degradation, or a clear explanation of how/why rising demand plays a role.

For band E, expect both.

Credit all content in line with the markbands. Credit unexpected approaches wherever relevant.

Global interactions may be defined as a diverse set of flows (economic, social, cultural, etc), potentially “setting the scene” for an essay which provides a nuanced conclusion that discusses the extent to which the statement is true for different types of global interaction.

Likely themes and barriers include:

• free trade versus protectionism (and the role trade blocs play); the focus will be loss of sovereignty and multi-governmental organizations (MGOs) [Guide 6]
• information exchange versus censorship, linked to growing importance of technology/“shrinking world” theory [Guide 2]
• “open-door” migration versus points systems and restrictions either in the context of economic migration or diaspora studies [Guide 3, Guide 5]
• some possible considerations of the now well-documented and growing risks associated with outsourcing/offshoring [Guide 3] – perhaps an “end of globalization” argument
• physical/environmental barriers may not be growing but are certainly falling due to overcoming of friction of distance [Guide 2]
• developed further, the migration and offshoring debates can be linked with the resurgence of nationalism and anti-globalization movements [Guide 6, Guide 7].

The double-edged effect of MGOs may be remarked on – namely, that they reduce barriers to internal exchanges while erecting barriers to external trade (eg through the adoption of a common external tariff in the case of the EU, thereby excluding some producers from access to European markets).

Good answers may conclude that the response to the question depends on the type of interaction that is being discussed (thus China is more open to flows of FDI than in the past, pre-1978; yet efforts to censor the internet have increased in line with its growing popularity). Some countries encourage economic interactions but attempt to curtail cultural ones.

At band D, expect either a detailed explanation of a variety of ways in which barriers are changing, or a more critical discussion of different kinds of barriers and interactions.

At band E, expect both.

Many mediocre responses were seen. Some very generalized impacts were described, with many candidates offering little beyond “pollution” or “global warming”. Also, the phrase “rising global demand” was glossed over in most cases, with candidates simply asserting that more oil or timber (the most popular choices) is needed today than in the past. Few could link the rising demand with important global development such as the rise of consumption in emerging economies. Higher level diploma geography candidates really ought to be in possession of supporting data in relation to the changing global pattern of wealth. One good starting point for updating content, already mentioned in a previous subject report for this paper, is this recent McKinsey report:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/consumer_and_retail/capturing_the_worlds_emerging_middle_class 

A pleasing number of candidates who chose this question were able to offer a proper evaluation that gave nuanced consideration to what is meant by a “barrier” (poverty, languages, and political obstacles were all possibilities). Many grasped the paradox that trade blocs simultaneously increase and decrease barriers (according to who is a member of the bloc, and who is not).