EQ3 - indicative mock content

Question 1

What is the environmental Kuznets curve?

Answer 1

It is the model which shows how much environmental degradation occurs throughout a country’s level of development increase. There is a peak at peak industrial sector employment, and a dip towards investing in renewables.

Question 2

Name some examples on the Environmental Kuznets curve:

Answer 2

low develop., low emissions = (Remote Amazonia today)
incr. develop., higher emis. = Indonesia today = 530,000,000 t
middle develop. peak emis. = China today = 10,000,000,000 t
lowering emis. peak devel. = UK today = 770,000,000 t

Question 3

What are anomalies to the EKC?

Answer 3

Canada = high development but extract tar sands which leads to 2.5 MHa of tree loss in 2021.
Togo = loss of 60% of its forests
Costa Rica = mid devel. = 100% carbon neutral.

Question 4

what are the four ecosystem services?

Answer 4

Cultural services
supporting services
Regulating services
provisional services

Question 5

What are Cultural services?

Answer 5

An ecosystem service which aids in the education, and spiritual wellbeing to humans. Non-material benefits. e.g., Bathing in the Andes.

Question 6

What are Provisional services?

Answer 6

An ecosystem service which accounts for the material product people can gain from the ecosystem. I.e., wood, fuel. E.g., timber from the Tundra in Russia.

Question 7

What are Regulating services?

Answer 7

An ecosystem service which accounts for global regulation of systems. E.g., air quality and water quality. E.g., phytoplankton photosynthesis on the sea’s surface.

Question 8

What are Supporting services?

Answer 8

An ecosystem service which keeps the ecosystem healthy through biological processes. E.g., nutrient cycling, primary producer production.

Question 9

What is an example of a degrading supporting system?

Answer 9

service: Coral reefs in Maldives = shield 25% of marine life.
degradation = 60% of its reefs have been affected by bleaching.
management: Reefscapers are replanting scaffoldings of reefs to protect them.

Question 10

what is an example of a degrading provisional service?

Answer 10

service: provide timber in the UK through UK forests. 11 million tonnes.
threat: 60% of our native animals and species have been wiped out int he last 50 years.
management: forestry commission - fast-growing spruce in Scottland.

Question 11

What is an example of a degrading regulating service?

Answer 11

service: The arctic regulated thermohaline circulation.
threat: It is warming 4X as fast as the rest of the world.
management: No arctic treaty, we need to reverse climate change.

Question 12

What is an example of a degrading cultural service?

Answer 12

service: Mangroves employ 300,000 fishers in Thailand
threat: 35~% of global mangroves have vanished.
NGOs: Mangroves for the Future. Re-planting through local people.

Question 13

What are the impacts of climate change on the H2O cycle?

Answer 13

inc. glacier melt.
temp. inc. = larger at poles.
precip. = more rain, not snow.
storm freq. inc.
inc. evapo.
inc. groundwater = less permafrost
wet = wetter
dry = drier.

Question 14

What is adaptation?

Answer 14

It is the methods used to cope with the present consequences of climate change:
- GM plants (Drought resistant)
- Thermal mapping and smart irrigation.
- solar radiation management
- land-use planning
- flood-risk management ]

Question 15

what is mitigation?

Answer 15

it is the attempted decrease of the consequences of climate change:
- renewables
- recyclables
- radical energy
- reducing energy use

Question 16

Rank the adaptation strategies

Answer 16

1) Water conservation management - 6 x less water consumption in Singapore
2) Resistant agricultural systems - 30% higher crop yield in Senegal from GM plants.
3) Flood-risk management - Beavers re-introduced at Knepp - increase biodiversity.
4) solar radiation management - America are planning to reflect more light from the sun back into the atmosphere through aerosols.

Question 17

Rank the mitigation strategies

Answer 17

1) CCS - Canada cut emissions by 90%
2) energy efficiency - Germany is making it the law that emissions are cut by 25% domestically.
3) Afforestation - China’s Great Green Wall’ - planted 1 billion trees.
4) carbon taxation - Quota forcing lower emissions on businesses.

Question 18

What are the costs and benefits of water conservation?

Answer 18

benefit: Singapore used 6x less water.
cost: the used a holistic system not applicable to bigger nations.

Question 19

What are the costs and benefits of drought-resistant agricultural systems?

Answer 19

benefit: Senegal got a 30% higher crop yield.
Cost: they are owned by large TNC’s which exploit farmers.

Question 20

What are the costs and benefits of solar radiation management?

Answer 20

benefit: Would offset some GHG.
cost: Ludicrously expensive. And in its infancy.

Question 21

What are the costs and benefits of land-use mapping?

Answer 21

benefit: increased wetland areas in places such as Knepp estate in Sussex.
Cost: Farmers dislike the disruption to land caused by beavers.

Question 22

What are the costs and benefits of flood-risk management?

Answer 22

benefit: Not permanent, is not an eye-sore, do aid in the prevention of flooding. installed after Storm Franklin.
cost: they can be expensive to install, they have a risk of faulty forecasting.

Question 23

What are the costs and benefits of carbon taxation?

Answer 23

benefits: Gives EU companies a motive to decrease carbon emissions clearly with quotas.
cost: They can trade quotas, therefore there is little motivation to decrease emissions.

Question 24

What are the costs and benefits of energy efficiency?

Answer 24

benefits: unequivocally reduces emissions. In Germany by 25%.
costs: Germany itself is still wasting a lot of energy.

Question 25

What are the costs and benefits of afforestation?

Answer 25

benefits: Create carbon sinks such as ‘China’s Great Green Wall,’
Costs: They created a monoculture and planted the wrong trees.

Question 26

What are the costs and benefits of CCS?

Answer 26

benefits: Can create a carbon neutral factory. Canada cut emissions by 90%.
costs: is expensive and certain locations cannot be used because of incorrect rock type.

Question 27

When was the first climate agreement?

Answer 27

the Kyoto agreement in 1997

Question 28

What is the real problem surrounding climate change?

Answer 28

There needs to be an attitudinal fix, not a technological fix.