Resources and environment, Year 10: development and desertification (Hot deserts option)

Strong sunshine and cloudless skies nearly all year

HintWhat do the panels need, and what never gets in the way here?

The whyDeserts also have large areas of empty, flat land for solar farms. Energy is one of the four development opportunities AQA names; the others are mineral extraction, farming and tourism.

irrigation

HintIt begins like "irritate".

The whyWith it, the long hot growing season of a desert becomes an advantage and crops can be grown all year. Without it, commercial farming in a hot desert is impossible.

An aquifer

HintIts first four letters are Latin for the liquid it holds.

The whyMany desert farms and towns depend on one. The water may have collected thousands of years ago. If it is pumped out faster than rain refills it, the level drops and the supply will not last.

It evaporates before the crops can use it

HintPuddles vanish fast on a scorching day.

The whyThis links two of AQA's challenges: extreme temperatures and water supply. Drip irrigation, which feeds water through pipes straight to the roots, wastes far less. Extreme heat also limits the hours people can safely work outdoors.

Workers, equipment and the product must all travel long distances, with few roads

HintFar from ports and towns, and little tarmac.

The whyRoads, railways, pipelines and airstrips often have to be built before any work can start. Use this framework for your own case study: name the opportunity, then explain which challenge makes it expensive.

Desertification

HintA long word built from the name of the dry land it produces.

The whyIt happens in dry regions that still get some rain, where the plant cover is already thin. It is caused by a mix of climate and the way people use the land.

Animals eat the plants faster than they regrow, leaving bare soil for wind and rain to remove

HintToo many goats, too little grass.

The whyPlant roots bind the soil and leaves shelter it. Hooves also trample the ground hard, so rain runs off and does not soak in. Once the fertile top layer has gone, grass cannot return.

More fuel wood is cut than can regrow, so the tree cover that protects the soil is lost

HintExtra cooking pots, fewer branches.

The whyTrees shade the ground, break the wind and hold the soil with their roots. As nearby trees disappear, people walk further for wood and the cleared area widens around each village.

cultivation

HintA noun from the verb for tilling and planting.

The whyIn the past, land was left fallow for some years so that it could recover. With more people to feed, there is less land to spare, so fields are used without a break. Worn-out soil grows little, is left bare and blows away.

They slow the water running downhill, so it soaks in and the soil it carries is trapped

HintA tiny dam for each rainstorm.

The whyRain in these regions comes in short, heavy storms and runs straight off hard ground. Each line holds the water back for a while. Soil builds up behind the stones and crops grow better there. This is both water management and soil management.

It is cheap, uses local materials and skills, and local people can build and repair it

HintCould a village make and mend it without outside help?

The whyExpensive machines can fail when there is no money for fuel or spare parts. A simple method that people already understand carries on working. Tree planting can work the same way when local people choose and look after the trees.