DP Environmental Systems and Societies Questionbank

Using data from Figure 5(a) in the resource booklet, calculate the natural increase rate for Brazil in 2015.

Identify one reason why the natural increase rate, calculated in part (a), is different from the actual growth rate of the population, which was 0.63% in 2015.

From the shape of the age-gender pyramid in the resource booklet, Figure 5(b), suggest how the population in Brazil is likely to change in the next 30 years.

With reference to Figures 2, 3(a) and 3(b), identify two reasons why Madagascar is considered to be at Stage 2 of the demographic transition model.

With reference to Figures 3(a) and 3(b) describe the trends in Iceland’s population dynamic

Calculate the range between the highest and lowest projected population size for 2100.

Identify two factors that could explain the variation in the projected population growth for the world.

Outline one economic implication of the highest projection for world population being realised.

Outline one environmental implication of the highest projection for world population being realised.

Outline one advantage of modelling future human population sizes.

Outline one disadvantage of modelling future human population sizes.

Outline how demographic tools can be used to study a human population.

Identify the most densely populated country in Figure 3(a).

With reference to Figure 3(b), outline two reasons for differences between the age-gender pyramids for Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

Technocentrists may support the belief that technological development has always been able to overcome limits to human population growth.

To what extent do the patterns of growth and development in human populations, as demonstrated in the Demographic Transition Model, support this claim?

Outline two possible reasons for the projected change in total fertility rate in Sub-Saharan Africa in the period 2045–2050.

Identify two reasons for the projected increase in total fertility rate in Europe by the period 2045–2050.

After the hurricane, thousands of men and women left Dominica in search of work. With reference to Figure 4(a), draw a post-hurricane age–gender pyramid for Dominica to illustrate this outward migration.

With reference to Figures 4(a) and 4(b), suggest how population change may impact resource use on Dominica in the future.

Discuss the effect of hurricanes on the social and ecological development of Dominica.

Costa Rica has a crude birth rate (CBR) of 15.3 and a crude death rate (CDR) of 4.8. Identify the stage in which Costa Rica would be placed on the demographic transition model shown in Figure 1.

Costa Rica has a crude birth rate (CBR) of 15.3 and a crude death rate (CDR) of 4.8. Calculate the natural increase rate (NIR) for Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has a crude birth rate (CBR) of 15.3 and a crude death rate (CDR) of 4.8. Calculate the doubling time for Costa Rica.

Outline one strength and one limitation of the demographic transition model.

Outline the socioeconomic factors that may cause a society to move from Stage 2 to Stage 3 on the demographic transition model.

To what extent does the development of different societies impact their choice of mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change?

The future growth of human populations is unlikely to be limited by the availability of energy resources. However, they could easily be limited by the impacts of energy production.

Discuss the validity of this statement.

Using Figure 3(a), identify the year in which the median prediction of the world population will reach 10 billion.

Outline one reason for the uncertainty in predicting the world’s population in Figure 3(a).

Using Figure 3(b), identify the region that has the most countries with a decrease in the percentage change in population between 2010 and 2019.

Outline two factors that could contribute to a reduction in population in the countries in Figure 3(b).

Discuss how a country’s stage in the demographic transition model (DTM) might influence its national population policy.

To what extent are natural limiting factors more likely than population policies to limit global human population growth in the future?

Based on the 2018 data in Figure 4(a), calculate the doubling time for the population of Costa Rica.

With reference to Figure 4(b), suggest three possible reasons for the changes between the age–gender pyramid for 1990 and that projected for 2050.

To what extent are the concepts of net productivity and natural income useful in managing the sustainable harvesting of named resources from natural ecosystems?

With reference to Figure 7(b), calculate the percentage reduction in the price of beaver pelt between 1940 and 2015.

Identify one reason why the value of beaver pelts has changed over time.

To what extent does Algonquin Provincial Park provide a model of sustainable management of a protected area?

Outline four different ways in which the value of named resources have changed over time.

With reference to Figure 5(a) describe how Uranium prices have changed over time.

Outline two reasons why the value of resources like Uranium can change over time.

Discuss the implications of environmental value systems in the protection of tropical biomes.

Outline the reasons why natural capital has a dynamic nature.

Discuss the role of humans in the destabilization of ecological systems.

Outline two ecosystem services in a named biome.

Explain the causes, and the possible consequences, of the loss of a named critically endangered species.

Discuss the potential for designing a protected forest area that allows for the harvesting of natural resources while at the same time conserving its biodiversity.

Outline how the concept of sustainability can be applied to managing natural capital.

With reference to Figure 3(c), explain three ways in which Hurricane Maria has affected ecosystem services provided by Dominica’s forests.

With reference to Figures 4(a) and 4(b), suggest how population change may impact resource use on Dominica in the future.

With reference to Figures 5(b) and 5(c), outline one reason why the yaranga is more sustainable than the modern city house.

Outline one ecological service provided by the Siberian taiga.

With reference to Figure 7(b), calculate the percentage of timber exports to China between the years 2012–2014.

Outline three ways that London’s green spaces are considered natural capital.

To what extent is London a sustainable city? 

Hydropower is a resource that can be exploited from rivers. Explain how the value of this resource to a society may vary over time.

With reference to the information in the resource booklet, to what extent has Costa Rica’s aim to become carbon neutral led to a more environmentally-sustainable nation?

Solid domestic waste may contain non-biodegradable material and toxins that have the potential to reduce the fertility of soils.

Explain how strategies for the management of this waste may help to preserve soil fertility.

The provision of food resources and assimilation of wastes are two key factors of the environment that determine its carrying capacity for a given species.

To what extent does the human production of food and waste each influence the carrying capacity for human populations?

Explain how organic waste may be an effective fertilizer in terrestrial systems but a source of pollution in aquatic systems.

Evaluate one possible pollution management strategy for solid domestic waste.

The management of a resource can impact the production of solid domestic waste.

To what extent have the three levels of the pollution management model been successfully applied to the management of solid domestic waste?

With reference to Figure 2, state the country that has the highest level of recycling/composting.

Outline two possible reasons for greater use of landfills in the United States compared with the European countries shown in Figure 2.

Outline two strategies for reducing the environmental impact of landfill sites.

Identify two problems associated with one of the waste disposal choices of Germany.

Discuss how solid domestic waste disposal options could be used to reduce the threats to marine organisms.

To what extent would different environmental value systems be successful in reducing a society’s ecological footprint?

With reference to Figures 10(a) and 10(b), suggest one reason why London’s recycling rates are lower than in the rest of England.

Evaluate the effectiveness of recycling as a waste management strategy for London

To what extent is London a sustainable city? 

To what extent is the use of solid domestic waste (SDW) as an energy source beneficial to a society?

Outline one reason for the shape of the recycling rate curve from 2013 to 2018.

Estimate the reduction in solid domestic waste (in million tonnes) going to landfill from 2001 to 2018.

Describe three reasons why the proportion of solid domestic waste being recycled/ composted and incinerated has changed.

Outline one reason why there has been an overall change in recorded total solid domestic waste between 2001 and 2018.

With reference to Figure 11(a), suggest what conclusions can be drawn regarding the sustainability of the Brazilian population over the period shown.

The provision of food resources and assimilation of wastes are two key factors of the environment that determine its carrying capacity for a given species.

To what extent does the human production of food and waste each influence the carrying capacity for human populations?

Outline why the ecological footprint for the total population of Madagascar has increased during the period shown in Figure 7.

To what extent might Iceland be viewed as a role model for sustainability by other countries?

Outline one environmental implication of the highest projection for world population being realised.

Evaluate the impact of economic development on the ecological footprint of a human population.

Define the term carrying capacity.

Identify three reasons why carrying capacity can be difficult to estimate.

Discuss the consequences of changing global per capita meat consumption on the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity.

Identify four factors that make the estimation of carrying capacity more problematic for human populations than for most other species.

Explain why the ecological footprint of two populations consuming the same quantity of food and energy may be different.

Outline the relationship between carrying capacity and ecological footprint.

To meet the minimum criteria for sustainability, a country needs to raise its human welfare above the threshold of high human development and have an ecological footprint below the Earth’s biocapacity.

Evaluate two strategies a country can implement to achieve the minimum criteria for sustainability.

Explain how environmental indicators are used to assess sustainability.

Outline two factors that enable a human population to increase its local carrying capacity.

To what extent would different environmental value systems be successful in reducing a society’s ecological footprint?

Describe the relationship between both pyramids in Figures 1(a) and 1(b).

Describe how foods high on the environmental impact pyramid, shown in Figure 1(b), are likely to affect the ecological footprint of global food production.

The future growth of human populations is unlikely to be limited by the availability of energy resources. However, they could easily be limited by the impacts of energy production.

Discuss the validity of this statement.

State one strength and one weakness of using the ecological footprint as a model for measuring sustainability.

With reference to Figures 8(a), 8(b) and 8(c), suggest how urban agriculture could be used to increase the carrying capacity of London.

To what extent is London a sustainable city? 

To what extent are natural limiting factors more likely than population policies to limit global human population growth in the future?

With reference to Figure 10(b), explain how sustainability in Costa Rica changed between 1961 and 2016.

With reference to the information in the resource booklet, to what extent has Costa Rica’s aim to become carbon neutral led to a more environmentally-sustainable nation?