✅ 3.2.5.1 RESOURCE SECURITY - Resource Development

Question 1

What is a resource

Answer 1

Any aspect of the natural environment that can be used by humans to meet their needs

Question 2

Stock Resources

Answer 2

Stock resources can run out and can’t be replaced in the foreseeable future (the planet has a limited ‘stock’, which when used up won’t be replaced within human timescales).
Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are stock resources- they take millions of years to form, so when used up are no longer available.

Question 3

How can stock resources be divided up further

Answer 3

Stable resources (e.g diamonds)
Expandable/ exhaustible (e.g fossil fuels)
Reusable/ recyclable (e.g aluminium)

Question 4

Flow resources

Answer 4

Flow resources are resources that can be replenished.
They include resources that will never run out.
Some don’t rely on human input to manage them, e.g. sunlight, wind.

Question 5

What is a critical flow resource

Answer 5

A flow resource that may require careful management by humans to ensure they are replenished, e.g. wood from forests.

Question 6

What is a reserve

Answer 6

A known quantity of a resource (usually minerals) which are currently available for extraction, with the technological ability to obtain them economically & there is legal entitlement to do so

Question 7

What factors are considered to make a resource a reserve

Answer 7

Political and legal access
Physical availability
Economic viability
Sustainability concerns
Technological ability to access

Question 8

What is an example of law preventing a resource becoming a reserve

Answer 8

The Antarctic Treaty

Question 9

Economically viable

Answer 9

If it can be extracted and sold whilst still making a profit.

Question 10

Possible resources

Answer 10

Possible resources these are resources that are thought to exist (e.g. based on knowledge of local geology), but haven’t been sampled.

Question 11

Inferred resources

Answer 11

Inferred resources- these are resources that have been identified (e.g. from limited samples of local geology) but haven’t been measured.

Question 12

Indicated reserve

Answer 12

Indicated reserve the size of the reserve has been partly measured, and the measurements have been used to estimate the actual extent.

Question 13

Measured reserve

Answer 13

Measured reserve - the size of the reserve has been measured and is known accurately.

Question 14

Resource Frontier

Answer 14

A resource frontier is a place with abundant natural resources that are being exploited for the first time. Areas often haven’t previously been exploited because they are geographically remote (e.g. the Arctic) or hard to access (e.g. very mountainous or sub-sea areas).

Resource frontiers often develop as other, more accessible, resources are depleted. Ongoing or increasing demand makes it necessary or economically viable to exploit areas that weren’t previously worth exploiting.

Question 15

What is an EIA

Answer 15

An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is undertaken before a new development project is started. It’s used to assess the potential environmental effects of the development, as well as related social, economic and cultural impacts. These are used to decide whether it can go ahead.

Many LICs such as South Africa require EIAs to be undertaken

Question 16

An EIA is used when planning a new resource development (e.g. a new mine, wind farm or dam). It normally involves the following steps:

Answer 16

Assessing potential impacts, e.g. damage to habitats, increased pollution, health impacts for people living nearby.
Identifying how any negative impacts can be managed or reduced.
Looking at alternatives to see whether there are less damaging options (e.g. a different type of development or a different location).
Making a decision about whether the project can go ahead, and under what conditions.
Monitoring the development to assess whether the impacts are in line with those predicted (continues assessment in post-extraction).

Question 17

Resource frontier: The Arctic

Answer 17

Some areas of the Arctic contain rich resources of oil, natural gas and minerals (e.g. iron ore, gold).

Question 18

Many of these Arctic resources haven’t been exploited, for several reasons:

Answer 18

They are hard to access e.g. more than 80% of the Arctic’s gas and oil reserves are offshore.
There is little infrastructure (e.g. roads, pipelines) in the Arctic, which makes extraction and transportation of resources difficult.
The environment is challenging-sea ice can make transport difficult, while extreme cold and winter storms can put equipment and workers at risk.

Question 19

Some parts of the Arctic are being exploited

Answer 19

e.g. large oil reserves were discovered at Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska. In the 1970s, the Trans-Alaska pipeline was constructed to carry oil to southern Alaska, from where it could be transported to customers.