The Challenge of Resource ManagementMemory Aid

Exam Framework: CAPED

Part of Food Resource Management — GCSE Geography

This memory aid covers Exam Framework: CAPED within Food Resource Management for GCSE Geography. Revise Food Resource Management in The Challenge of Resource Management for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 20 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 12 of 15 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.

Topic position

Section 12 of 15

Practice

15 questions

Recall

20 flashcards

🧠 Exam Framework: CAPED

Use CAPED to remember the main causes of food insecurity. In an explain or evaluate question, you can work through each cause systematically and show how they interconnect:

C — Climate change — Rising temperatures, more erratic rainfall, and more frequent extreme weather events reduce crop yields, especially in already-vulnerable sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. A 2°C global temperature rise could cut yields in sub-Saharan Africa by up to 20%.

A — Access and affordability — Poverty is the core access barrier: families on £1/day cannot afford food even when it is available. Conflict (affecting 60% of the world's hungry) destroys supply chains, forces displacement, and prevents food aid reaching civilians. Infrastructure failures in LICs mean food cannot physically reach remote communities.

P — Population growth — The global population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Sub-Saharan Africa's population may double. More people require more food from land that is not expanding — placing ever-greater pressure on soil, water, and farming systems.

E — Environmental degradation — Soil erosion, desertification, deforestation, and aquifer depletion reduce the productive capacity of agricultural land over time. The UN estimates a third of the world's topsoil is already degraded. Pest outbreaks (desert locust swarms in East Africa, 2019–21) can devastate crops across multiple countries in a single season.

D — Distribution and food waste — 30–40% of all food produced is wasted — at consumer level in HICs (£800/yr per British household), and at harvest/storage in LICs due to lack of refrigeration and roads to market. Improving food distribution and reducing waste could significantly increase effective food supply without growing a single extra crop.

For evaluating strategies, use: PEACE

Productivity — Does it increase food production?
Environment — What is the ecological cost?
Access — Does it reach the people who need it most?
Cost — Is it affordable for LIC governments and farmers?
Externalities — What are the long-term side effects?

Use PEACE when evaluating Green Revolution, GM crops, vertical farming, Fairtrade, or food aid questions. A full Level 3 answer uses at least three of these five dimensions.

Exam Framework: CAPED

🧠 Exam Framework: CAPED

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