Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management: Natural Resources (0680)

This guide covers Topic 1 Natural Resources, the first of seven topics in Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management (0680), for examination 2027-2029. The syllabus develops understanding of both the natural and human environment, and this refreshed 2027-2029 series reorganises content into seven topics (down from an earlier nine-topic structure).

Where this fits in 0680

Topic 1 opens the syllabus by examining how rocks form and how humans extract and manage them, establishing a pattern – natural process, human use, environmental impact, sustainable management – that recurs across the topics that follow: Land, Water, The atmosphere and human activities, Ecosystems, biodiversity and fieldwork, Natural hazards, and Human population.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE IGCSE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (0680) — TOPIC 1 NATURAL RESOURCES

• 1.1 Formation of rocks — the formation of named igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, the rock cycle, and the permeability of different rock types
• 1.2 Extraction of rocks, ores and minerals — methods of extraction (surface, subsurface and biological), the factors affecting extraction decisions, and the environmental, economic and social impacts of extraction
• 1.3 Sustainable management of rocks, ores and minerals — the concepts of finite resources and sustainable resource management
• 1.4 Energy resources — the range of energy resources available and their characteristics
• 1.5 Conservation and management of energy resources — strategies for using energy resources sustainably
• 1.6 Fracking — the process of hydraulic fracturing and its environmental implications

How to approach it

Because this topic follows a clear cause-and-effect structure – formation, extraction, impact, then management – organise revision around that same sequence for each resource type (rocks and minerals, then energy), rather than treating the six sub-topics as unconnected facts. Named examples are not prescribed by the syllabus, which gives teachers freedom to choose relevant case studies, so make sure you know the specific named examples used in your own course (particular mines, energy projects or fracking sites) rather than assuming generic knowledge will transfer. Extraction-impact questions typically reward balanced answers that weigh environmental, economic and social impacts against each other, so practise structuring answers around all three dimensions rather than focusing on environmental impact alone.

Official syllabus

Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management (0680) syllabus for examination 2027, 2028 and 2029 — cambridgeinternational.org.

Classifying resources

A natural resource is any material or energy source from the environment that people find useful.

• Renewable resources replenish naturally within a human timescale — biofuels (bioethanol, biomass, biogas and wood), geothermal power, hydro-electric power, tidal power, wave power, solar power and wind power.
• Non-renewable resources exist in a fixed stock and are consumed faster than they form — coal, oil, natural gas, and mineral ores.
• Sustainable is not a synonym for renewable. A renewable resource can be used unsustainably: a forest is renewable, but if felling outpaces regrowth the stock still collapses. Sustainable use means meeting present needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs.

Fossil fuels

Coal, oil and gas formed from organic matter buried under heat and pressure over millions of years. They have high energy density, established infrastructure and reliable output, which is why they remain dominant.

Their costs are the reason the topic exists: carbon dioxide driving the enhanced greenhouse effect, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides causing acid rain, particulates harming health, land damage from extraction, and oil spills during transport. Supplies are also finite and unevenly distributed, creating political and economic dependence.

Renewable energy compared

Source	Strengths	Limitations
Solar	No fuel cost, no emissions in use, good in low-latitude countries	Intermittent, needs storage, large land area
Wind	No emissions in use, land beneath remains usable	Intermittent, visual and noise objections
HEP	Reliable, long-lived, allows flood control	Dam displaces people and habitat, high capital cost, silting
Geothermal	Continuous output, small footprint	Electricity generation only viable in tectonically active areas – ground/air source heat pumps for heating work anywhere
Biofuels (bioethanol, biomass, biogas, wood)	Use waste, can be carbon-neutral if replanted	Combustion pollutants, competes with food for land

Rocks, ores and minerals (1.1–1.3)

Half of this topic’s six sub-topics are about rocks, not energy, and are covered here in outline — for the full detail, see the Rocks and Minerals guide (written for the sibling O Level, but the rock content is shared).

Formation (1.1). Igneous rocks (granite, basalt) form by the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Sedimentary rocks (limestone, sandstone, shale) form from eroded particles compacted and cemented in layers, and commonly contain fossils. Metamorphic rocks (marble, from limestone; slate, from shale) form when existing rock is altered by heat and pressure without melting — fossils generally do not survive this, though low-grade metamorphic rock such as slate can rarely preserve distorted ones. The rock cycle links all three types through weathering, erosion, transportation, sedimentation, compaction, cementation, crystallisation and deposition, and it branches rather than following one fixed loop — any rock type can be weathered directly, and sedimentary rock can melt directly without first becoming metamorphic. Permeability is the ability of water to pass through the pore spaces of rock and soil: most sedimentary rocks (limestone, sandstone) are permeable; igneous, metamorphic and some sedimentary rocks (shale) are impermeable.

Extraction (1.2). An ore is defined as rock containing minerals and metals — a mineral itself is a naturally occurring solid with a definite chemical composition and crystalline structure, regardless of whether it is mined. Three extraction methods are named: surface extraction (opencast, open-pit, open-cut, strip mining), subsurface extraction (deep mining, shaft mining) and biological extraction (phytomining and bioleaching — using plants or microorganisms to recover metals from low-grade ore). The decision to extract depends on exploration findings, geology, accessibility and terrain, the quantity and quality of the deposit (ore grade), climate, environmental impact assessment, and supply, demand, cost and profit. Impacts span habitat and biodiversity loss; air, land, noise, visual and water pollution; water usage; waste management; and changes to employment, local/national economies, and infrastructure. Management strategies include land restoration (replacing overburden, soil improvement, bioremediation, tree planting) and repurposing land (landfill, lakes, recreation, nature reserves).

Sustainable management (1.3). A finite resource is used up faster than it is replaced. Sustainable management strategies include reduce and reuse; recycling (accessibility, ease, education); increased extraction efficiency; avoiding resource depletion; legislation and enforcement; and using alternative materials.

Sustainable management

Practical strategies group into four ideas: use less through efficiency and conservation; use again through reuse and recycling; substitute with renewable alternatives; and restore through replanting, land rehabilitation and protected areas. Legislation, international agreements, education and appropriate pricing are the tools that make these happen at scale.

Worked example

Explain why a country with abundant sunshine might still rely mainly on fossil fuels.

Solar output is intermittent  -> needs storage or back-up generation
High initial capital cost     -> difficult for a lower-income economy
Existing infrastructure       -> grid and plant already built for fossil fuels
Land requirement              -> large arrays compete with agriculture
Fossil fuels give reliable, continuous, dispatchable output

The question asks why abundance is not enough — cost, intermittency and infrastructure are the marks.

Common mistakes

Using renewable and sustainable interchangeably. Saying solar and wind produce “no pollution” without the qualifier in use, ignoring manufacturing emissions. Describing HEP as having no environmental impact. Listing renewable sources without their limitations when the question says “discuss the benefits and limitations” – 0680’s own command-word table has no “evaluate” entry, so this stem is how the syllabus actually phrases the instruction. Forgetting that fresh water can be depleted despite being renewable.

Quick revision checklist

• Classify resources as renewable or non-renewable and explain why sustainable means something different.
• Explain how fossil fuels form and give balanced advantages and disadvantages.
• Discuss the benefits and limitations of at least four renewable sources.
• Describe how each of the three rock types forms, and define ore, permeability and finite resource.
• Name the three rock/ore extraction methods, including the two biological-extraction processes.
• Apply the use less / use again / substitute / restore framework to any resource.
• Water supply, demand and scarcity belong to Topic 3 (Water), not this topic — see the Water guide for that content.