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[EDEXCEL] A2 Geography Unit 4: Life on the Margins - the Food Supply Problem

I can't seem to find anyone else doing this so I decided to create a new thread for people who are doing Option 3.

OPTION 3: Life on the Margins – the Food Supply Problem

• Explore the possible demographic, environmental and other causes of food insecurity.
• Research the patterns of food insecurity at different scales to establish why food insecurity varies from place to place.
(edited 8 years ago)

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Reply 1
Original post by Hody421
I can't seem to find anyone else doing this so I decided to create a new thread for people who are doing Option 3.


Great! :smile:
how many case studies are you doing?
Reply 2
Original post by annamul
Great! :smile:
how many case studies are you doing?


6 or more case studies - depending upon type of question.

Madagascar, Nepal, China, Cuba, Brazil, Australia, Mongolia etc.
Reply 3
Original post by Hody421
6 or more case studies - depending upon type of question.

Madagascar, Nepal, China, Cuba, Brazil, Australia, Mongolia etc.


wow that's a lot! you think you'll deffo have time for them all?!
Reply 4
Original post by annamul
wow that's a lot! you think you'll deffo have time for them all?!

No but I really a need a deep pool of case studies.

What do you think the question is going to be?

They hinted demography and environmental etc.
Reply 5
Wow that's a lot! Do you happen to have any notes on them? I'm planning on doing Darfur, Ethiopia, India, Australia and Sub Saharan Africa
Reply 6
Original post by Niall_18
Wow that's a lot! Do you happen to have any notes on them? I'm planning on doing Darfur, Ethiopia, India, Australia and Sub Saharan Africa

I have them all at the top of my head :tongue:

Mongolia (LEDC physical - desertification)
Nepal (LEDC physical - recent earthquake)
China (BRIC - Economic and Demographic Transition)
Belo Horizonte, Brazil (Rural-Urban Migration)
Cuba Food Insecurity after fall of communism
Madagascar (LEDC Food Insecurity due to: Prone region to cyclones, cyclones creates ideal conditions for locusts breeding, destroys crops etc)

Also contrasting MEDC - LEDC e.g Singapore/Australia and Niger
Reply 7
how are you both structuring it?
like by theme/cause or case study?

and how do you contrast the different case studies, in the same paragraph or in a different section?
Reply 8
Original post by Hody421
I have them all at the top of my head :tongue:

Mongolia (LEDC physical - desertification)
Nepal (LEDC physical - recent earthquake)
China (BRIC - Economic and Demographic Transition)
Belo Horizonte, Brazil (Rural-Urban Migration)
Cuba Food Insecurity after fall of communism
Madagascar (LEDC Food Insecurity due to: Prone region to cyclones, cyclones creates ideal conditions for locusts breeding, destroys crops etc)

Also contrasting MEDC - LEDC e.g Singapore/Australia and Niger


Ok that's great, thanks. What sort of thing are you going to put in your introduction. In my I define food security, WHO food security pillars, umbrella fact and theories
Reply 9
Original post by annamul
how are you both structuring it?
like by theme/cause or case study?

and how do you contrast the different case studies, in the same paragraph or in a different section?

It all depends upon the question. If it's something like assess the causes of food insecurity i.e which is the most significant, I'll go with different sections via concepts and argue which one is more significant e.g human or physical.

Original post by Niall_18
Ok that's great, thanks. What sort of thing are you going to put in your introduction. In my I define food security, WHO food security pillars, umbrella fact and theories

Yep all definitions and outline of my framework. The good thing about Introductions is that you can basically copy out text from websites, and just put it under quotation - and add a few words to integrate it in to your research. Basically memorising this:

'Food Security is the condition characterized by the sufficiency of available, adequate, accessible ,affordable, safe and nutritious food that satisfies dietary needs and food preferences of all people at all times for an active and healthy life'
(World Food Summit, 1996)

1. Food Availability: the amount of food that is physically present in a country or area through all forms of domestic production, commercial imports and food aid.
2. Food Access; the ability of households to regularly acquire adequate amounts of food through a combination of their own stock, home production and collection, purchases, barter, borrowing or food aid.
3. Food Utilization: the biological conversion factors of food by the human body - the factors affecting or to the ability of individuals and households to absorb nutriets and meet their specific deitary and health needs.
Original post by Hody421
It all depends upon the question. If it's something like assess the causes of food insecurity i.e which is the most significant, I'll go with different sections via concepts and argue which one is more significant e.g human or physical.


Yep all definitions and outline of my framework. The good thing about Introductions is that you can basically copy out text from websites, and just put it under quotation - and add a few words to integrate it in to your research. Basically memorising this:

'Food Security is the condition characterized by the sufficiency of available, adequate, accessible ,affordable, safe and nutritious food that satisfies dietary needs and food preferences of all people at all times for an active and healthy life'
(World Food Summit, 1996)

1. Food Availability: the amount of food that is physically present in a country or area through all forms of domestic production, commercial imports and food aid.
2. Food Access; the ability of households to regularly acquire adequate amounts of food through a combination of their own stock, home production and collection, purchases, barter, borrowing or food aid.
3. Food Utilization: the biological conversion factors of food by the human body - the factors affecting or to the ability of individuals and households to absorb nutriets and meet their specific deitary and health needs.


Yeah the question will be ok I reckon. If the question incorporates scales, how are you going to integrate scales into the report. Will you do it by case study
Reply 11
Original post by Niall_18
Yeah the question will be ok I reckon. If the question incorporates scales, how are you going to integrate scales into the report. Will you do it by case study

Yeah at different scales so local, national and global. I mostly have 'national' level case studies - I need to diversity my case studies though.
I've just made an account for this unit D:
Trying to combine "scales" and "place to place" as suggested in the second part of the question is annoying me.
Could that mean local, regional and global in both urban and rural areas?
I'm so worried about this question as our pre release is so vague! I have also about 5,6 solid case studies varying among demographic, environmental and other. Anyone have a prediction for the question? And have people learnt their methodology table?
Reply 14
http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/usa/05579-20080905.pdf

An actual published report by FES and Global Policy Forum, I recommend everyone to check it out. It's a concept based report.
Reply 15
Original post by Brandonad
I've just made an account for this unit D:
Trying to combine "scales" and "place to place" as suggested in the second part of the question is annoying me.
Could that mean local, regional and global in both urban and rural areas?


It's about spatial and temporal variations in food security just make sure you have case studies for these e.g Cuba after fall of communism - loss of aid from USSR, increased food insecurity etc.

Original post by iceangel8
I'm so worried about this question as our pre release is so vague! I have also about 5,6 solid case studies varying among demographic, environmental and other. Anyone have a prediction for the question? And have people learnt their methodology table?

Yeah I agree, the hint they gave us is difficult to decode.

I have no idea what the question is going to be exactly about but my teacher gave us a mock question which was:

Spoiler

Reply 16
Is anyone using any diagrams?
im planning on just memorizing my report and then maybe tweeking the introduction a bit to fit with the question. do you think that will be okay?
Reply 18
Im planning on talking about India's Caste system for Demographic problems, with a high increase in population of the lower caste's. Do you think that this would be okay?
Original post by Hody421
It's about spatial and temporal variations in food security just make sure you have case studies for these e.g Cuba after fall of communism - loss of aid from USSR, increased food insecurity etc.


Yeah I agree, the hint they gave us is difficult to decode.

I have no idea what the question is going to be exactly about but my teacher gave us a mock question which was:

Spoiler



Great. I have written a similar report arguing if demographic and environmental are the most important causes.

How many pages are you expecting to write? I'm worried of the length of mine being around 9,10 sides handwritten does this seem too optimistic?

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