IB DP Economics: Sustainable development – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – the IB holds copyright in its own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available through your school or the IB store.

This set follows the IB Diploma Programme Economics guide (first assessment 2022, published February 2020), the course examined from the 2022 session onwards. It covers sub-topic 4.7, sustainable development, in Unit 4. The meaning of sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals are SL and HL. Questions 9, 10 and 11 cover the sustainability and poverty link and are HL only. All countries, resources and figures are invented. The guide says calculators are not allowed in Paper 1 and are allowed in Papers 2 and 3. The marks here are a revision aid only.

Start with the study guide and revision notes. Course pages are the IB DP Economics hub and the printable checklist.

Questions

1. Define sustainable development. [2]

2. (calculator-free) Harrow Sound is an invented fishing ground. Its fish stock is 150,000 tonnes and regenerates by 8% of the stock each year. Fishers catch 15,000 tonnes a year.

(a) Calculate the yearly regeneration of the stock. [1] (b) Calculate the stock at the end of the first year. [2] (c) Explain why continuing to catch 15,000 tonnes a year is unsustainable. [2]

3. (calculator-free) A fictional country holds 900 million tonnes of an ore.

(a) It extracts 18 million tonnes a year. Calculate how many years the reserves last. [1] (b) Instead, extraction starts at 18 million tonnes and rises by 2 million tonnes every year (18, 20, 22 and so on). Show that the ore is used up during the 23rd year. [3]

4. A fictional country opens free secondary schools for girls in rural districts. Identify two Sustainable Development Goals this supports and explain the link in each case. [4]

5. Explain why a fishing ground that nobody owns is likely to be fished beyond a sustainable level. [4]

6. Explain two constraints that a low-income country may face in pursuing sustainable development. [6]

7. A fictional country dredges a coral reef to build a deep-water port that will increase exports. Explain how this may involve a conflict between Sustainable Development Goals. [4]

8. Analyse why economic growth that depends on exhausting a natural resource may not amount to sustainable development. [8]

9. (HL only) Explain two ways in which environmental degradation can deepen poverty. [6]

10. (HL only) (calculator-free) Dunvale is an invented village of 500 households. Each household burns 1.8 tonnes of wood a year. The nearby woodland holds 5,400 tonnes and regrows 720 tonnes a year.

(a) Calculate the yearly demand for wood and the yearly shortfall against regrowth. [2] (b) Calculate how long the woodland lasts if nothing changes, ignoring any fall in regrowth. [1] (c) Find how many households must switch to a non-wood fuel to remove the shortfall. [2] (d) A scheme pays 120 sols per switching household. Calculate the total cost. [1]

11. (HL only) Analyse the two-way relationship between poverty and the sustainable use of resources in a low-income farming region. [8]

12. Veltmark is a fictional country with 600,000 hectares of forest. The forest regrows by 3% of its area each year. Logging for timber export clears 30,000 hectares a year and employs many low-paid rural workers.

(a) Calculate the yearly regrowth. [1] (b) Calculate how many years the forest lasts at the current rate, ignoring any fall in regrowth. [2] (c) Calculate the percentage cut in logging needed to make it sustainable. [2] (d) Apply the Sustainable Development Goals to the logging, giving at least one that it supports and one that it works against. [3] (e) Suggest one policy that could move Veltmark towards sustainability and explain one constraint on it. [4]

Answers

1. Sustainable development means raising living standards and meeting present needs [1] while leaving later generations able to meet theirs, which means limiting resource depletion and degradation [1]. [2] Examiner insight: Advice: include both the present and the future in a definition.

2. (a) 8% × 150,000 = 12,000 tonnes [1]. (b) Stock = 150,000 + 12,000 − 15,000 [1] = 147,000 tonnes [1]. (c) The catch exceeds regeneration by 3,000 tonnes a year, so the stock falls [1]. A smaller stock regenerates less (8% of 147,000 is 11,760 tonnes), so the gap widens each year [1]. [5] Examiner insight: Advice: set the catch against regeneration, then say what happens to the stock over time.

3. (a) 900 ÷ 18 = 50 years [1]. (b) Extraction after n years totals 18n + n(n − 1), since the increases of 2 add up to 2 × (0 + 1 + … + (n − 1)) [1]. After 22 years: 396 + 462 = 858, which is below 900 [1]. After 23 years: 414 + 506 = 920, which is above 900, so the ore runs out in the 23rd year, 27 years earlier than the constant-rate figure [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Advice: for a “show that” answer, display both checks (year 22 below the total, year 23 above it) so the conclusion follows from your working.

4. Goal 4, quality education: free schooling raises girls’ attendance and skills [1], which supports learning and later earning [1]. Goal 5, gender equality: girls gain access to education on the same terms as boys [1], which narrows the gap in opportunity between the sexes [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Advice: name the goal by number and title, then explain the link to this case; a list of goals without links tends to earn little.

5. Nobody owns the fishing ground, so no one can stop others from fishing [1]. Each fisher gains the full value of an extra fish but shares the cost of a smaller stock with everyone [1]. The private cost is therefore below the social cost, so the total catch rises above the regeneration rate [1]. The stock falls, which lowers future catches and the incomes of all fishers [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Advice: show the gap between private and social cost, not only sharing.

6. Constraint one, limited income: clean technology, conservation and monitoring need funds [1]; basic needs such as food and health compete for the same funds [1], so environmental spending may be delayed [1]. Constraint two, short time horizons: the costs of protecting a resource arrive now while the benefits come later [1]; urgent needs favour present income [1], so harmful use continues [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Advice: for each constraint give the cause, the way it blocks action, and the result in that order.

7. The port supports goal 9 (infrastructure) and goal 8 (growth and jobs through exports) [1]. Dredging the reef damages goal 14 (life below water) [1]. The goals conflict because the same project advances one aim while harming another [1]. The reef may support fishing and tourism, so the long-run loss may outweigh the export gain [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Advice: name both sides of the conflict and say who gains and loses, now and later.

8. Growth measured by output can rise while the resource stock falls [1]. Income earned today then comes at the cost of lower income later, because the stock cannot be used again [1]. The market price may not include the cost of depletion, so output and profit look larger than the true gain [1]. If the resource is non-renewable or used faster than it regenerates, the income stream ends or falls [1]. The jobs created are not secure, so living standards fall when the resource runs out [1]. The gains may go to a few owners, so poverty falls little [1]. Growth can be sustainable if the income is reinvested in other assets such as education, infrastructure or alternative industries, which replace what is lost [1]. So the result depends on whether use is within regeneration and what the income is used for [1]. [8] Examiner insight: Advice: tie your points to the generational definition and end with a short conditional judgement.

9. (HL only) Way one, lower incomes: degradation such as soil exhaustion or a falling fish stock reduces output from the resource [1], which cuts the income of households that depend on it [1], so more fall below the poverty line [1]. Way two, health and vulnerability: polluted water or smoky fuel raises illness [1], which reduces the ability to work and learn and raises health costs [1], so the household is poorer and less able to recover [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Advice: finish each mechanism on its effect on poverty.

10. (HL only) (a) Demand = 500 × 1.8 = 900 tonnes [1]. Shortfall = 900 − 720 = 180 tonnes [1]. (b) 5,400 ÷ 180 = 30 years [1]. (c) Demand must fall to 720 tonnes, which is 720 ÷ 1.8 = 400 households using wood [1], so 500 − 400 = 100 households must switch [1]. (d) 100 × 120 = 12,000 sols [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Advice: show the shortfall before using it in later parts, so an early slip does not undermine everything that follows.

11. (HL only) Poverty to resource pressure: households with low and uncertain income value present needs far above the future, so they cut trees, graze or fish heavily [1]. They depend directly on local resources and lack affordable alternatives such as credit or clean energy [1]. Fuelwood use above regrowth shrinks the woodland [1]. Resource pressure to poverty: lower yields, a smaller woodland or soil loss reduce incomes [1], and the poor are most exposed to drought, flood and pollution and least able to recover [1]. The two links form a vicious circle in which poverty and degradation reinforce each other [1]. Policy can address both at once, for example subsidised clean energy or secure credit to invest in soil care [1]. A limit is cost and whether households can sustain the change after support ends [1]. [8] Examiner insight: Advice: show both directions and say how they connect; an essay about only one direction covers half of the relationship.

12. (a) 3% × 600,000 = 18,000 hectares [1]. (b) Net loss = 30,000 − 18,000 = 12,000 hectares a year [1]. Forest lasts 600,000 ÷ 12,000 = 50 years [1]. (c) Logging must fall to 18,000 hectares, a cut of 12,000 [1], which is 12,000 ÷ 30,000 = 40% [1]. (d) Supports goal 8 (employment and export growth) [1] and possibly goal 1 (higher incomes for rural workers) [1]. Works against goal 15 (life on land), and goal 13 if the forest stored carbon [1]. (e) Policy: a logging quota set at regrowth, or a tax on timber that includes the cost of lost forest [1], backed by replanting or support for other rural jobs [1]. Constraint: the workers are low-paid and depend on logging, so a quota cuts their income unless alternatives exist [1], and the government may lack the funds or enforcement to monitor the forest [1]. [12] Examiner insight: Advice: in an “apply” part use the case facts (jobs, hectares); in “suggest” give a policy and a reasoned limit, not just a policy name.

Where marks are usually lost

• Defining sustainable development without the idea of future generations.
• Reciting goal names with no link to the case in front of you.
• Calling a resource use unsustainable without comparing it with regeneration.
• Missing the fall in regeneration as a stock shrinks.
• Leaving out working in short calculations, or leaving out units.
• Treating the poverty link (HL) as one-directional.
• Writing constraints as bare labels, with no explanation of how they limit action.

Next steps

• Revise with the revision notes and the study guide.
• Return to the IB DP Economics hub and tick off the printable checklist.
• Find weak spots with all free 10-minute diagnostics.
• Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

Source: Economics guide, IB Diploma Programme, first assessment 2022 (International Baccalaureate Organization, February 2020). Sub-topic 4.7.