Knowledge Organiser: Resource Management Overview
Part of Resource Management Overview · GCSE GCSE Geography revision
This topic summary covers Knowledge Organiser: Resource Management Overview within Resource Management Overview for GCSE Geography. Revise Resource Management Overview in The Challenge of Resource Management for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 22 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 16 of 16 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 16 of 16
Practice
15 questions
Recall
22 flashcards
Knowledge Organiser: Resource Management Overview
Key Terms
- Resource security — reliable, affordable access to sufficient food, water, and energy
- Resource insecurity — inability to access enough of a resource due to shortage, cost, governance, or infrastructure gaps
- FEW Nexus — the interconnection between food, energy, and water; managing one affects the others
- Water stress — using more than 25% of available renewable freshwater supply
- Energy poverty — lack of access to affordable, reliable modern energy
- Sustainable management — meeting present needs without compromising future generations (Brundtland, 1987)
- Renewable resource — naturally replenished at a rate sufficient for sustainable use (wind, solar)
- Non-renewable resource — forms over geological timescales; cannot be replenished (coal, oil, gas)
Global Data
- Food: 733 million hungry (FAO, 2023); world produces enough calories for everyone
- Water: Only 1% of Earth's water is accessible freshwater; 2.3 billion in water-stressed countries
- Energy: 733 million without electricity (IEA, 2022); mostly Sub-Saharan Africa
- Agriculture: Uses 70% of all global freshwater withdrawals
- Population: 8 billion (2022) → projected 9.7 billion (2050)
- Meat vs wheat water: 1 kg beef = ~15,500 litres; 1 kg wheat = ~1,600 litres
UK Facts
- Imports 46% of food; 97% of tomatoes are imported
- South-East England: "seriously water-stressed" (<600mm/year); most populated region
- Thames Water loses 24% of supply through pipe leakage
- Energy mix (2023): renewables ~40%, gas ~32%, nuclear ~13%
- 80% of homes use gas boilers — major challenge for net zero
- Hornsea One (1.2 GW offshore wind) — world's largest when opened 2019
- Net zero target: 2050; Clean Power target: 2030
Exam Must-Know Points
- PUCC: Population, Urbanisation, Changing diets, Climate change — four demand drivers that compound each other
- FEW Nexus: solutions to one resource can worsen another; always look for interconnections
- Resource insecurity is NOT just about physical shortage — governance, infrastructure, poverty, and access matter equally
- Level 3 answers show nexus thinking AND use specific named statistics
- UK is NOT fully resource secure — use South-East water stress and food import dependence as evidence
- SDGs 2, 6, 7 = Zero Hunger, Clean Water, Affordable Clean Energy
Common Mistakes
- Treating resource insecurity as only physical scarcity: The world produces enough food for 10 billion people but 733 million are hungry — insecurity is about access, governance and distribution, not just supply
- Ignoring the FEW Nexus in answers: Managing water (dams) affects food (irrigation) and energy (hydropower) simultaneously — evaluation answers that treat resources in isolation lose marks for synoptic thinking
- Saying the UK is fully resource secure: South-East England is "seriously water-stressed", the UK imports 46% of its food, and 80% of homes rely on gas boilers — always challenge the assumption that HICs are resource secure
- Vague demand drivers: Don't just write "population is growing" — use PUCC (Population, Urbanisation, Changing diets to more meat, Climate change) with supporting statistics
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Practice Questions for Resource Management Overview
Which of the following is a renewable resource?
Define the terms 'renewable resource' and 'non-renewable resource'.
Quick Recall Flashcards
15 questions on Resource Management Overview — practise free
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