Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies: Natural Resources – An Issue of Sustainability (0448)

This guide covers Natural Resources – An Issue of Sustainability, the second of eight sections in Paper 2 The Environment of Pakistan, Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies (0448), 2026 series, opening up the physical and human geography half of the syllabus alongside the Land of Pakistan guide covering Section 1. The section was chosen because it is one of the most self-contained of the eight, giving candidates a complete, exam-ready unit rather than a partial view of a longer section.

Where this fits in 0448

Paper 2 is organised into eight named sections: the land of Pakistan; natural resources; power; agricultural development; industrial development; trade; transport and telecommunications; and population and employment. Cambridge’s own guidance asks teachers to weave four recurring themes through every section – the problems and opportunities of being a developing country, effects on and conservation of the environment, the promotion of sustainable development, and the importance of feasibility studies – and Section 2 is where these four themes are introduced most explicitly, since “sustainability” is in the section’s own title.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE IGCSE PAKISTAN STUDIES (0448) — PAPER 2, SECTION 2: NATURAL RESOURCES

(a) Water

• Identifying the Mangla, Tarbela and Warsak dams on a map, and naming two examples of barrages
• The importance of water as a resource: how supplies for agriculture, industry and domestic use are obtained, maintained, controlled and used, and the reasons for and consequences of the Indus Waters Treaty
• The causes of, and solutions to, water supply problems including pollution, the value of water as a resource for development, and how water supply issues can lead to conflict

(b) Forests

• The different types of forest, their main locations, and the physical factors controlling their distribution alongside the human factors that have reduced their extent
• The reasons for plantation development in the Indus Plain and for afforestation on mountain slopes and plateaux
• The value of forests as a development resource and the importance of managing them sustainably
• The effects of deforestation – soil erosion, silting and flooding – and possible solutions

(c) Mineral resources

• The main locations of limestone, gypsum and rock salt extraction and their uses
• Pakistan’s main metallic and non-metallic mineral resources, the quantities extracted and held in reserve, and the extent to which they can be exploited
• The environmental problems caused by mineral extraction, weighed against the benefits of developing mineral resources and the sustainability of extraction
• The main minerals Pakistan imports, their sources and the quantities involved

(d) Fish

• The fishing methods used in marine and inland waters, including fish farms, and examples of fish caught or reared in each
• The fishing ports of the Balochistan and Sindh coasts, and the uses of the fish caught
• Improvements in fishing methods and processing techniques
• The problems facing the fishing industry and the possibilities for its further, sustainable development

The four parts also connect to one another in ways worth tracing. Deforestation (b) accelerates the silting of the very dams and barrages named under water (a), reducing their storage capacity over time; mineral extraction (c) and inland fish farming (d) both depend on the water supply and water quality discussed under (a); and every part of the section ultimately feeds into the “problems and opportunities for Pakistan as a developing country” theme, since each resource represents both an opportunity for economic development and a risk of environmental damage if managed poorly. Recognising these links turns four separate factual lists into one coherent argument about sustainable development, which is closer to what Paper 2’s structured questions are actually testing than rote recall of each resource in isolation.

How to approach it

Every one of Section 2’s four resources – water, forests, minerals and fish – follows the same underlying question: how is this resource used, and can that use continue without running the resource down? Structuring revision around that single question (what is the resource used for, what damages it, what would make its use sustainable) works across all four parts and mirrors the four cross-cutting themes Cambridge asks teachers to weave through every Paper 2 section. It is also worth being able to name specific, located examples for each resource – the three named dams and named barrages for water, a named plantation area for forests, a named mineral and its main extraction site, and a named fishing port – since Paper 2 questions frequently ask candidates to support a general point with a specific place, and vague answers without named locations lose marks even when the underlying explanation is sound. Command words also matter: an “identify” question wants a named location or fact, while an “evaluate” question on, say, mineral extraction wants the environmental cost weighed explicitly against the development benefit, not simply listed alongside it. The Indus Waters Treaty is worth particular attention: it links directly to the “conflict” strand of the section’s sustainability theme and connects water supply to Pakistan’s relationship with its neighbours, a link examiners return to when testing the wider significance of a resource issue rather than just its technical detail.

Official syllabus

Cambridge IGCSE Pakistan Studies (0448) syllabus for exams in 2026 — cambridgeinternational.org.