Question
Where relevant, answers should refer to case studies or examples, and where appropriate include well-drawn maps or diagrams.
“The policies used to manage natural population change are more successful than those used to manage climate change.” To what extent do you agree with this statement? [10]
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans:
Possible applied themes (AO2) demonstrating knowledge and understanding (AO1):
- Responses should show knowledge and understanding of the reasons that population change needs to be managed and could refer to ageing societies, issues of population growth, issues of population decline, rapid growth of urban populations due to youthful populations etc. Answers should show knowledge and understanding of policies used to address issues of population change that could include control of birth rates (increase or decrease), government and societal policies used to address issues of an ageing population etc. Some answers may refer to policies that exploit the advantages of the demographic dividend.
- Responses should show knowledge and understanding of the effects of climate change that need to be managed and could refer to sea level change, extreme weather, changes to agriculture, health issues, migration and changing ocean transport routes. Answers should show knowledge and understanding of policies used to issues of climate change which could refer to government led strategies such as geopolitical treaties, carbon offset and trading, geo-engineering. Some answers may refer to corporate and individual strategies such as reduction of carbon footprints.
- Responses should show knowledge and understanding of the operation and level of success of the policies discussed.
Good answers may be well-structured (AO4) and may additionally offer a critical evaluation (AO3) which focuses on the relative success of the policies selected with reference to population change and climate change and may refer to the difficulty of controlling natural systems. Responses may focus on a comparison between policies used for population and climate change or may compare the success of policies within climate change and population change. Some comments may refer to the relative success introducing ideas of community risk and vulnerability. Other critical evaluation may refer to spatial variations in success such as a comparison of nations/regions and spatial variation in exposure to population and climate change. Some answers may comment on temporal variations of success.
For 5–6 marks, expect a weakly-evidenced outlining of some of the policies (and their success) used to manage population and/or climate change.
For 7–8 marks, expect a well-structured account, which includes:
• either a well-evidenced synthesis which links together several themes from the guide and acknowledges both sides of the argument
• or a critical conclusion (or ongoing evaluation) informed by geographical concepts and/or perspectives.
For 9–10 marks, expect both traits.
Question
Refer to the infographic on pages 4–5 of the accompanying resource booklet.
The infographic shows global impacts of climate change.
(a) (i) Identify the extreme weather event in the Americas with the highest economic cost in 2019. [1]
(ii) Identify the modal value, in billions, for the cost of floods in 2019. [1]
(b) Suggest one reason for the trend in weather-related disasters between 1980 and 2019. [2]
(c) To what extent does the evidence in the infographic support the view that the impacts of climate change are uniform? [6]
▶️Answer/Explanation
Ans:
(i) Wildfires/droughts/extreme temperatures
(ii) $2.5 (billion).
(b) Award [1] for stating a valid reason for the increase that specifies a consequence of climate
change (e.g. increased temperatures/humidity) and [1] for valid development relating to increased number of disasters per year.
For example: Increasing due to global warming [1] due to rising temperatures causing more cyclones [1].
Other possibilities include:
• Increased water vapour in atmosphere [1] resulting energy increases the number of intense storms [1]
• Increased sea level [1] increased incidence of flooding in low lying areas [1]
• Increased frequency of El Niño [1] more hurricanes in Pacific/more droughts in Australia [1].
(c) Award [1] for each valid point supported by evidence taken from the infographic, up to a maximum of [5].
Award a maximum of [4] if only one side of the argument is given.
Award the final [1] for an overall appraisal, which weighs up the points made in the answer relating to the infographic as a whole.
Supporting:
• Storms occur on all continents.
• Floods occur in most areas.
• Climate threatens health of all settlements.
• Weather events produce similar diseases.
• Affects people of all ages/cultures Against:
• Reference to differences in population displaced by different extreme weather events
• Reference to differences in damage between extreme weather events
• Reference to differences in damage between world regions
• Reference to differences in the changes of number of climate related disasters over time
e.g. fluctuating.
Do not credit simple quoting of data from the resource – it needs to be given a context.
For example: The information on the infographic supports the view as it shows that climate
change effects all types of settlement [1]. It also shows that cyclones, typhoons and
hurricanes have an economic impact across all the regions shown [1] However their overall
cost is more than the other extreme weather events [1] at $55.2 million whilst floods only
cost $43.6 million and wildfires etc costs $25 million [1 for contextual use of data]. There is
also a difference in the number of internally displaced population caused by different events
with floods and cyclones etc displacing the most people [1]. In my opinion the impacts of
climate change are far from uniform and are instead unbalanced [1].
Question
The third Millennium Development Goal is to “promote gender equality and empower women”. To what extent might international migration play a role in helping this goal to be achieved?
▶️Answer/Explanation
Markscheme
There are many possible approaches to this question.
It would be expected that responses show a clear understanding of this particular MDG and some understanding of outcomes for gender empowerment and/or equality. This can be stated or implied. It would also be expected that most responses make use of valid recent example(s) of international migrations that could impact upon the migrants themselves or on women either in the source country or the destination, ie the impact may not be isolated to just the migrants (for example the migration of Indonesian and Filipino women to Hong Kong as domestic workers has had numerous positive and negative outcomes for gender empowerment within the host society). Voluntary or forced migrations may be discussed in the response but the examples referenced must involve movement across an international border.
The focus of the argument will depend on the examples chosen. Candidates may look at the large-scale movement of women from countries such as the Philippines or Indonesia to other regions to do domestic work. Alternatively the essay may focus on the movement of economic migrants of both genders from, for example, Mexico to the USA, and how this migration and the flow of remittances and ideas impacts upon gender roles/empowerment for both the migrants and those still in the country of origin.
There are some obvious positive and negative outcomes for gender as a result of migration:
Example: Domestic workers from Indonesia to Hong Kong:
For the female migrants:
+ independence, travel, financial security;
– abuse, trauma of being away from families, low wages, live-in policy, right of abode
For the destination:
+ Most households have two working adults, with women having successful careers;
– Domestic and childcare work is still seen as “women’s work” and grossly underpaid.
These gender-related outcomes would be determined by the movement(s) being utilized in the response.
At band D, expect an example/examples of international migrations and a description of impacts of this movement on gender empowerment.
At band E, expect an example/examples of international migrations and some explanation of both positive and negative impacts of this/these movements on gender empowerment.
At band F, expect an example/examples of international migrations and some explanation of both positive and negative impacts of this/these movements on gender empowerment and there should be some attempt at an evaluation of the “to what extent” part of the statement.
Marks should be allocated according to the markbands.