Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696): Topic 12 – Environmental management – Revision Notes

For full explanations, read the Environmental management study guide first.

These notes cover topic 12, Environmental management (sections 12.1 to 12.4), of the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026. It is an Advanced Human Geography Option assessed in Paper 4 (1 hour 30 minutes, 60 marks, 25% of the A Level). On each of your two chosen options you answer one structured question (10 marks) and one essay from a choice of two (20 marks).

Track your progress on the Cambridge A Level Geography hub and checklist. Then try the practice questions.

What the syllabus lists

• 12.1 Sustainable energy supplies: renewable and non-renewable resources; national-scale factors in energy demand, supply and mix (sustainability, levels of development, resource endowment, climate, income, technology, pollution, energy policy, energy security); trends in fossil fuels, nuclear, HEP, wind and biofuels in LICs, MICs and HICs; environmental impacts of production, transport and usage at local and global scales.
• 12.2 The management of energy supply: two case studies – one country’s overall electrical energy strategy, and one named located scheme to produce electricity. Both must show changes in demand and supply, power production and its location, and be evaluated.
• 12.3 Environmental degradation: land, air and water pollution (nature, causes, solutions); water demand, supply and quality; factors in rural and urban degradation; constraints on improvement; protection of environments at risk at the local or regional scale (needs, measures, outcomes).
• 12.4 The management of a degraded environment: one case study – causes, problems, issues in improving it, evaluation of the attempted solutions.

Key terms

Term	Meaning
Non-renewable (stock) resource	Formed over geological time and finite: coal, oil, gas, uranium
Renewable (flow) resource	Naturally replenished on a human time scale: HEP, wind, solar, biofuels
Energy mix	The balance of sources a country uses
Energy security	Reliable access to enough affordable energy
Resource endowment	The natural resources a country has within its territory
Sustainability	Meeting present needs without harming the ability of future generations to meet theirs
Point-source pollution	Pollution from one identifiable outlet, such as a factory pipe
Diffuse pollution	Pollution from many scattered sources, such as farm runoff
Eutrophication	Nutrient enrichment of water causing algal growth and oxygen loss
Physical water scarcity	Not enough water exists to meet demand
Economic water scarcity	Water exists but people cannot afford to access it
Salinisation	Build-up of salt in soils, often from irrigation without drainage
Environmental degradation	Decline in the quality of land, air, water or ecosystems

Energy trends by development level (12.1)

Source	LICs	MICs	HICs
Fossil fuels	Low use per person; oil for transport	Rising with industrialisation; coal large in China	Coal falling (UK’s last coal plant closed 30 September 2024)
Nuclear	Little or none	Growing in some, such as China	Mixed: France relies on it; Germany has left it
HEP	Much potential untapped because of cost	Large schemes: Three Gorges, Itaipu	Many of the best sites already used; Norway relies on HEP
Wind	Small but growing	Rapid growth in China	Rapid growth, helped by falling costs
Biofuels	Traditional biomass (fuelwood, charcoal) a main household fuel	Brazil’s sugar-cane ethanol	Used as a blend in vehicle fuel

Pollution summary (12.3)

Type	Main causes	Example solutions
Air	Vehicles, power stations, industry, burning waste	Emission standards, scrubbers, low-emission zones
Water	Sewage, industrial effluent, farm nitrates, thermal discharge	Wastewater treatment, buffer strips, discharge permits
Land	Solid waste, mining spoil, heavy metals, pesticides	Sanitary landfill, recycling, clean-up of contaminated land

Case studies and examples at a glance

Example	Syllabus point	What happened	Key fact	One evaluation point
Germany, Energiewende	12.2 country strategy	Feed-in payments from the EEG (2000); nuclear exit; coal to end by 2038 at the latest	Last reactors closed 15 April 2023; renewables 54% of demand in 2024	Large change in the mix, but north-south grid lag (SuedLink now due 2028) and high prices
Three Gorges Dam, Hubei, China	12.2 named scheme	22,500 MW HEP plant on the Yangtze, fully running 2012	Nearly 112 TWh in 2020; 1.13-1.4 million displaced	National success on output; local people and the river ecosystem bear the costs
London ULEZ	12.3 air pollution	Charge on older vehicles from April 2019, London-wide from August 2023	TfL report: NO2 27% lower than without the zone	Health gains, but the cost falls hardest on lower-income drivers
Cape Town	12.3 water supply and demand	Drought from 2015; “Day Zero” threatened	50 litres per person per day from 1 February 2018	Demand halved quickly, but winter rain also saved the city
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park	12.3 protection at regional scale	Park created 1975; rezoned 2004	No-take zones raised from 4.6% to 33.3%	Zoning handles local pressures, not global warming
Aral Sea	12.4 degraded environment	Rivers diverted from the 1960s to irrigate cotton	Dike Kokaral (2005) raised the North Aral 12 m by 2008	Partial success: the South Aral’s eastern basin dried out in 2014

Must-know distinctions

• Renewable vs sustainable. A renewable source can be used unsustainably – fuelwood cut faster than it regrows.
• Strategy vs scheme. 12.2 needs both: a national strategy (many sources and policies) and one located scheme (one plant).
• Demand vs supply factors. Income and climate mainly drive demand; resource endowment and technology mainly shape supply. Policy and security affect both.
• Local vs global impacts. A coal power station causes local air pollution and global CO2 emissions; say which scale you mean.
• Point-source vs diffuse. Point sources are easier to regulate because the polluter is known.
• Rural vs urban degradation. Rural: overpopulation, poor farming practices, deforestation. Urban: urbanisation, industry, waste.
• Needs, measures, outcomes. For protection questions, these are three separate parts; outcomes need evidence of change.

Mini essay plan

Question type: “With reference to one degraded environment you have studied, evaluate the success of attempts to improve it.” (20-mark essay style)

1. Introduction: define degradation; name the Aral Sea and its location; state your line – partial success.
2. Causes and problems (brief): diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for cotton from the 1960s; area down 60% and volume 80% between 1960 and 1998; salinity rise; fishing collapse at Muynak.
3. Success in the north: Dike Kokaral (2005, World Bank loans); level up 12 m to 42 m by 2008; freshwater species and fishing returned.
4. Failure in the south: Amu Darya still used for irrigation; eastern basin dry in 2014; dust and health problems continue.
5. Why the difference: scale (transboundary river), economics (cotton income), cost, conflicting interests between farmers and fishing communities.
6. Conclusion: judge success by area and by group. Success where the fix was local and affordable; failure where it needed many countries to change how they use water.

Spend most of your words on paragraphs 3-5. That is where AO4 evaluation marks sit.

Quick self-test

1. Give two examples of non-renewable energy resources.
2. Define energy security.
3. Name three of the national-scale factors the syllabus lists for energy demand and supply.
4. When did Germany’s last nuclear reactors close?
5. What is the installed capacity of the Three Gorges Dam?
6. Give one local and one global environmental impact of burning coal for electricity.
7. What is the difference between point-source and diffuse pollution?
8. What daily water limit did Cape Town introduce in February 2018?
9. Name two factors in the degradation of urban environments listed in the syllabus.
10. By how much did the 2004 rezoning raise no-take zones in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park?
11. Which river was diverted to irrigate cotton and still starves the South Aral Sea?
12. Give two constraints on improving a degraded environment.

Answers

1. Any two: coal, oil, natural gas, uranium.
2. Reliable access to enough affordable energy.
3. Any three: sustainability, levels of development, resource endowment, climate, income, technology, pollution, energy policy, energy security.
4. 15 April 2023.
5. 22,500 MW.
6. Local: air pollution such as particulates or acid rain. Global: CO2 emissions adding to the enhanced greenhouse effect.
7. Point-source comes from one identifiable outlet; diffuse comes from many scattered sources.
8. 50 litres per person per day.
9. Any two: urbanisation, industrial development, inadequate waste management.
10. From 4.6% to 33.3% of the park.
11. The Amu Darya.
12. Any two: cost, weak governance or enforcement, conflicting interests, transboundary scale, poverty, long recovery times.

Where marks are usually lost

• Giving a case study without the syllabus’s required parts. The 12.2 studies must cover demand, supply, production and location, plus an evaluation.
• Mixing up the two 12.2 case studies. A question on a “named located scheme” wants one plant, not a whole country.
• Listing energy trends without separating LICs, MICs and HICs, or without naming a source (HEP, wind, biofuels, nuclear).
• Stating impacts without a scale when the question asks for “local and global”.
• Describing pollution without its solutions, or solutions without saying how well they work.
• Treating “protection” answers as only measures. Needs and outcomes earn marks too.
• Ending an essay with a summary instead of a judgement. Paper 4 weights AO4 Evaluation at about 40%.
• Using numbers you are unsure of. A wrong statistic weakens an answer more than a well-explained general point.

The other Advanced Human Geography Options are Production, location and change, Global interdependence and Economic transition.

Official syllabus

These notes follow the Cambridge International AS & A Level Geography (9696) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, topic 12, Environmental management (12.1-12.4). See also the exam preparation guide.