Knowledge Organiser: Resource Management Overview

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)

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

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

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

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

F → W: Producing food uses 70% of global freshwater
W → E: Treating and pumping water requires energy
E → W: Generating electricity (nuclear, coal, hydro) requires large quantities of water
E → F: Food production needs energy for fertilisers, machinery, and cold storage
W → F: Irrigation makes food production possible in dry regions
F → E: Biofuels use agricultural land and crops to generate energy

Resource Management Overview, Knowledge Organiser