Resource management strategies: trade-offs and sustainable development

OCR J383 Paper 2 tests resource management with evaluate questions that require you to weigh up the advantages, disadvantages and trade-offs of different approaches. The concept of sustainable development underpins all resource management — meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own (Brundtland Commission, 1987).

Key principle: trade-offs

Every resource management strategy involves trade-offs. The questions to ask are:

• Who benefits and who loses out?
• Short-term vs long-term benefits?
• Environmental cost vs economic benefit?
• Local vs national vs global impact?

Water management strategies

UK water transfers

The problem: the UK's water is unevenly distributed.

• North and West (e.g. Wales, Scotland, Lake District): high rainfall; relatively low population density.
• South and East (e.g. London, East Anglia): lower rainfall; highest population density and demand.

Water transfers: moving water from water-surplus areas to water-deficit areas via pipelines, rivers and canals.

• Severn-Thames Transfer: proposal to pipe water from the River Severn (catchment surplus: ~1,000 million litres/day) to the Thames (deficit: up to 800 million litres/day in dry years).
• Benefits: maintains supply in the South/East; no new reservoir needed (avoiding flooding of valleys); uses existing infrastructure.
• Trade-offs: expensive infrastructure; ecological risk (transferring invasive species between river systems); Welsh water boards object to exporting water without adequate compensation.

Reservoirs:

• Kielder Reservoir (Northumberland): largest artificial lake in the UK by volume; serves Teesside industry and North East England.
• Trade-off: communities displaced (flooded); habitats lost; but provides water security for 2 million people.

Global water strategies

Mega-dams:

• Three Gorges Dam (Yangtze River, China): 22,500 MW of electricity; flood control for millions downstream.
• Trade-off: 1.3 million people displaced; 1,300 archaeological sites flooded; fish migration disrupted (Chinese sturgeon critically endangered).

Desalination:

• Saudi Arabia: 50% of water from desalination; world's largest capacity.
• Trade-off: very high energy demand (currently fossil-fuel powered); brine discharge damages marine ecosystems.

Food management strategies

Food supply chains and food miles

• Food miles: the distance food travels from producer to consumer.
• UK imports ~46% of its food; many products travel thousands of miles by air/sea.
• Carbon footprint: air freight is 50× more carbon-intensive than sea freight.
• Local food movement: farmers' markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), allotments — reduce food miles.
• Trade-off: local food can be more expensive; seasonal; seasonal shortages; not always lower carbon (heated UK greenhouses vs solar-heated Spanish fields).

Reducing food waste

• UK food waste: 9.5 million tonnes/year (WRAP, 2022); worth £19 billion.
• Interventions: "ugly vegetable" campaigns; use-by date reform (best-before vs use-by); supermarket food redistribution to food banks; anaerobic digestion of food waste for biogas.
• Trade-off: behaviour change is slow; commercial incentives conflict with waste reduction.

GM crops (Genetically Modified)

• Benefits: drought-resistant, pest-resistant varieties; higher yields; reduced pesticide use.
• Golden Rice: engineered to contain beta-carotene (Vitamin A precursor) → addresses Vitamin A deficiency (kills ~2 million children/year).
• Trade-offs: ecological risk (cross-pollination with wild plants); corporate control (Monsanto/Bayer dominate seed markets); public opposition in Europe (banned in EU); unknown long-term health effects.

Energy management strategies

Renewable energy transition

UK energy mix 2023:

• Wind (offshore + onshore): 28%
• Gas: 32%
• Nuclear: 12%
• Solar: 5%
• Other renewables: 5%
• The UK has moved from 7% renewable in 2010 to ~40% in 2023.

Offshore wind: UK generates more offshore wind than any other country.

• Benefits: falling costs (now often cheaper than gas); no direct emissions; long operating life (25 years).
• Trade-offs: visual impact offshore; risk to seabirds; supply chain (rare earth minerals for turbine magnets, concentrated in China/DRC); grid balancing challenges (intermittency).

Nuclear energy

• Benefits: low carbon; reliable baseload (runs 24/7); high energy density.
• Trade-offs: expensive and slow to build (Hinkley Point C: £33 billion; opening delayed to 2031); radioactive waste storage unsolved; public opposition; meltdown risk (Fukushima 2011 triggered German nuclear phase-out).

Carbon pricing

• Mechanism: put a price on carbon emissions → incentivise low-carbon alternatives.
• UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS): companies buy permits to emit CO2; permit price creates financial incentive to decarbonise.
• Trade-off: can increase energy costs for businesses → passed on to consumers; carbon leakage (companies move to non-ETS jurisdictions).

Sustainable development: the balance

The 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework — 17 goals including:

• SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation for all.
• SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy.
• SDG 2: Zero hunger.

Key tension: development vs sustainability. LICs argue they should be allowed to use fossil fuels to industrialise (as HICs did) before being required to adopt expensive renewables — the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

Common OCR exam mistakes

1. Treating resource management strategies as simply "good" or "bad" — always evaluate trade-offs.
2. Forgetting that "sustainable development" involves both environmental and economic/social dimensions.
3. Not applying local, national and global scales to trade-offs.
4. Confusing "food miles" with "food carbon footprint" — local food is not always lower-carbon (heated UK greenhouses can have higher carbon than Spanish field-grown produce shipped by sea).