Question 1
Define the term ethics.
[1]
Define the term ethical code.
[1]
Question 2
Explain why environmental ethics became prominent during the 1960s and 1970s.
[3]
Question 3
The figure summarizes three responses to a proposal to clear part of a forest for mineral extraction.
Identify the environmental worldview represented by each of pathways A, B and C.
[3]
Outline why people accepting the same scientific evidence about the forest may support different decisions.
[1]
Question 4
A coastal mangrove provides nursery habitat for fish, reduces erosion and supports a complex community of organisms.
Distinguish between the instrumental and intrinsic value of the mangrove.
[4]
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Question 5
Two organizations support the creation of a coral reef reserve. Organization X wishes to preserve the reef as a living community. Organization Y wishes to maintain fisheries, coastal protection and tourism income.
Outline what this example demonstrates about intrinsic and instrumental value.
[3]
Question 6
A land manager voluntarily prevents machinery from entering a nesting site, although no law requires this and using the site would increase profit.
Explain how this decision could be supported using virtue ethics.
[2]
Question 7
A speaker argues: “This mosquito is native and therefore natural, so controlling it can never be ethically justified,” although it transmits a serious disease.
Explain why this argument is an appeal to nature fallacy.
[3]
Question 8
Explain how assigning moral standing to future generations may affect a present decision to extract a non-renewable resource.
[3]
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Question 9
A proposed coastal barrier is expected to reduce flooding of a town but may cause the loss of salt-marsh habitat. Both effects are uncertain and may occur over several decades.
Explain how a consequentialist could judge whether constructing the barrier is morally acceptable.
[3]
Question 10
A hydroelectric dam would provide electricity and drinking water but would displace a rural community and permanently alter a river ecosystem.
Outline how a rights-based ethical system could be applied to this proposal.
[3]
Question 11
The coastal district of Lumea is considering whether to convert part of the Kiri mangrove forest into shrimp ponds. Two conservation organizations support protecting the mangroves, but they give different reasons.
State which organization bases its argument primarily on intrinsic value.
[1]
Using Figure 2(a), calculate the difference in the combined annual value of fishery income, avoided storm damage and tourism between one kilometre of intact mangrove and one kilometre of shrimp-pond coastline.
[3]
Explain why Organization A and Organization B could support the same conservation policy while applying different ethical values.
[3]
Discuss whether the instrumental-value evidence alone provides a sufficient ethical basis for rejecting the shrimp-pond proposal.
[4]
Question 12
A survey investigated how beliefs about the relationship between humans and nature were associated with support for three management strategies for the fictional Orana Forest.
Identify the respondent group showing the greatest support for engineered restoration after harvesting.
[1]
Calculate the difference in support for strict whole-habitat protection between respondents who believe humans have no superior status and those who believe nature exists primarily to meet human needs.
[1]
Describe the relationship between beliefs about humans and nature and support for the three forest-management strategies.
[2]
Explain how the three starting beliefs could lead to the contrasting management preferences shown.
[3]
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Question 13
The fictional Kelana Estuary is being considered for designation as a protected area. Figure 2(a) estimates selected annual benefits to people. Figure 2(b) presents statements made during a public consultation.
Calculate the total estimated annual instrumental value of the five benefits shown in Figure 2(a).
[1]
Distinguish between the grounds for valuing the estuary used by speakers P and Q.
[2]
Explain how speaker R demonstrates that instrumental and intrinsic value are not exclusive.
[2]
Suggest why excluding benefits without an estimated monetary value could affect, but would not necessarily eliminate, support for protection.
[2]
Question 14
Residents were asked which entities should receive direct moral consideration when decisions are made about a proposed mine beside the fictional River Luma. Respondents could select more than one entity.
Identify the non-human entity most frequently assigned direct moral consideration.
[1]
Calculate the percentage-point difference between respondents assigning moral consideration to future human generations and to non-living nature.
[1]
Describe how the scope of moral consideration changes across the entities shown.
[2]
Analyse what the data suggest about the extent of moral responsibility accepted by the respondents.
[3]
Question 15
An introduced herbivore is damaging endemic plants on an island. Managers are considering killing the introduced animals to prevent further ecological damage.
Distinguish how virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics and rights-based ethics could be applied to this decision.
[3]
Question 16
A city is selecting a site for a waste-processing facility. Information about the two communities nearest the proposed site is shown in the figure.
Indicators for the two communities nearest the proposed waste-processing site.
| Community | Annual mean / | Residents represented at planning meetings / % | Median household income | Major industrial sites |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Haven | 34 | 9 | Lower | 2 |
| West Ridge | 13 | 61 | Higher | 0 |
Explain why locating the facility in East Haven could raise concerns about environmental justice and equity.
[4]
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Question 17
The government of the fictional country of Navora proposes a reservoir in the Aro Valley. The reservoir would supply water to a rapidly growing city but would flood a wetland and require households to relocate.
Using Figure 1(b), identify the stakeholder group with the greatest percentage opposition to the reservoir.
[1]
Calculate the ratio of the proposed engineered-wetland area to the natural wetland area that would be flooded.
[2]
Explain how different beliefs about the relationship between humans and nature could account for the contrasting responses of water engineers and conservation scientists.
[4]
Evaluate the ethical case for approving the reservoir.
[5]
Question 18
The city of Daruna proposes a waste-to-energy incinerator. Three possible sites have been assessed. The city states that the facility would reduce landfill use and generate electricity.
Environmental and demographic indicators for wards associated with proposed incinerator sites.
| Ward / site | Median household income / currency units | Existing fine particulate / | Proportion of minority ethnic groups / % |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Ward (Site A) | 18 000 | 27 | 68 |
| Industrial fringe (Site B) | 31 000 | 19 | 34 |
| Lake Ward (Site C) | 74 000 | 12 | 11 |
Identify the site associated with the greatest existing environmental burden.
[1]
Calculate how many times greater consultation participation was in Lake Ward than in East Ward.
[2]
Explain two reasons why locating the incinerator at Site A could be considered an environmental-justice issue.
[4]
Distinguish equality from equity in the context of consultation for the proposed incinerator.
[2]
Evaluate the ethical case for selecting Site B for the incinerator.
[5]
Question 19
Introduced herbivores are damaging endemic vegetation and nesting habitat on the fictional island of Naro. Managers are considering three responses. Projected outcomes over five years are shown in Figure 4(a). Three advisers comment on the decision in Figure 4(b).
Projected five-year outcomes of three responses to introduced herbivores on Naro.
| Projected outcome after five years | Immediate removal | Fertility control | No intervention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herbivores deliberately killed | 900 | 80 | 0 |
| Herbivores expected to die from starvation | 20 | 170 | 450 |
| Endemic nesting birds remaining | 12 000 | 8 000 | 3 000 |
| Native vegetation cover / % | 78 | 55 | 24 |
| Programme cost / million LCU | 3.2 | 5.8 | 0.4 |
Identify the ethical approach represented by each adviser X, Y and Z.
[3]
Calculate the total projected number of introduced herbivore deaths under fertility control.
[1]
Explain why a consequentialist could support immediate removal rather than no intervention.
[2]
Explain why the virtue-ethics statement may not determine a single management response.
[2]
Question 20
A town compared two mosquito-control products during disease outbreaks. Product N is extracted from a naturally occurring plant. Product S is manufactured synthetically. Both were applied to equal areas.
Comparison of mosquito-control products applied to equal areas during disease outbreaks.
| Product | Larvae eliminated / % | Non-target mortality / % | Disease cases per 10 000 | Public support / % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (naturally derived) | 62 | 14 | 46 | 74 |
| S (synthetic) | 88 | 6 | 21 | 39 |
Describe one contrast between the measured outcomes and public support for the two products.
[2]
Calculate the percentage decrease in disease cases achieved by using product S rather than product N.
[1]
Explain why choosing product N only because it is natural would be an appeal to nature fallacy.
[2]
Suggest two considerations that would provide a more reliable ethical basis for selecting a product.
[2]
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Question 21
Four neighbourhoods in the fictional city of Varen surround a freight and industrial corridor. Figure 6(a) shows their locations. Figure 6(b) presents environmental and social indicators.
Environmental and social indicators for four neighbourhoods in Varen.
| Indicator | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income / thousand currency units | 82 | 61 | 74 | 29 |
| Annual mean fine-particle concentration / | 11 | 19 | 13 | 31 |
| Public green space / per resident | 24 | 12 | 20 | 4 |
| Residents attending planning consultation / % | 18 | 13 | 21 | 5 |
| Households lacking private transport / % | 8 | 17 | 10 | 46 |
Identify the neighbourhood experiencing both the highest fine-particle concentration and the lowest participation in planning.
[1]
Calculate how many times greater the green-space provision per resident is in neighbourhood A than in neighbourhood D.
[1]
Analyse the evidence that neighbourhood D is experiencing environmental injustice.
[4]
Distinguish between an equal and an equitable allocation of new air-filtration and green-space funding in this city.
[2]
Question 22
A regional authority is comparing three strategies for meeting an estimated water shortfall. The fictional Avara Valley contains an old-growth woodland and culturally significant rock formations.
Figure 7(a). Comparison of water-shortfall strategies. Demand reduction includes leakage repair, efficiency standards and progressive water pricing.
| Measure | Large valley reservoir | Demand reduction | Rainwater tanks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reliable water supplied or saved / million | 90 | 52 | 38 |
| Old-growth habitat permanently lost / ha | 1400 | 40 | 12 |
| Residents permanently displaced | 620 | 0 | 15 |
| Construction and 10-year operation cost / million currency units | 760 | 410 | 500 |
| Time to full operation / years | 7 | 3 | 4 |
Calculate the habitat loss per million cubic metres of reliable annual water for the large reservoir.
[1]
Identify the stakeholder whose statement most clearly assigns intrinsic value to non-living nature.
[1]
Explain how supporters using different ethical grounds could both favour demand reduction.
[2]
Analyse how conflicting beliefs about humans and nature could lead to different judgements about the reservoir.
[3]
Question 23
The Orin River has been granted legal personhood by the parliament of a fictional country. Guardians may represent the river in court. A proposed copper-processing plant would create employment but increase water extraction and the risk of pollution.
Figure 3(b). Present situation and proposed copper-processing plant; proposed plant operation is 30 years and toxic-discharge probability is a model estimate.
| Scenario | Dry-season river flow / | Total human water extraction / | Permanent jobs | Major toxic discharge probability over 30 years (model estimate) / |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present situation | 26 | 8 | 310 | |
| Plant proposal | 26 | 14 | 1460 |
Calculate the percentage of dry-season river flow that would be extracted under the plant proposal.
[2]
Explain how granting the river legal personhood reflects the concept of moral standing.
[3]
Explain how recognizing the moral standing of future generations could affect the decision about the plant.
[2]
Evaluate whether legal personhood for the Orin River provides an adequate basis for deciding whether the plant should proceed.
[5]
Question 24
Introduced goats are damaging vegetation on the fictional island of San Meru. The conservation authority is comparing three management strategies over a ten-year period.
Describe the projected change in native shrub cover under aerial culling.
[2]
Explain how a consequentialist could use the evidence to support aerial culling.
[3]
Explain how a rights-based judgement of aerial culling may differ from the consequentialist judgement.
[3]
Compare and contrast how virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics and rights-based ethics could be applied to select a goat-management strategy.
[5]
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Question 25
The health ministry of Belora is considering releasing genetically modified male mosquitoes. Their offspring would rarely survive to adulthood. The targeted mosquito is native and transmits a serious disease.
Modeled outcomes over five years after a mosquito-release programme.
| Year | Adult mosquitoes, no release / index | Adult mosquitoes, release / index | Disease cases, no release / cases/year | Disease cases, release / cases/year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100 | 100 | 24 000 | 24 000 |
| 1 | 100 | 48 | 24 500 | 10 400 |
| 2 | 100 | 18 | 25 000 | 5 200 |
| 3 | 100 | 11 | 25 500 | 3 000 |
| 4 | 100 | 8 | 25 800 | 2 100 |
| 5 | 100 | 6 | 26 000 | 1 600 |
Using Figure 5(a), calculate the percentage reduction in modeled annual disease cases at year 5 as a result of the release.
[2]
Explain why Resident 1's statement illustrates the appeal to nature fallacy.
[3]
Distinguish the ethical reasoning used by Resident 2 and Resident 3.
[2]
Evaluate the ethical acceptability of releasing the genetically modified mosquitoes.
[5]
Question 26
A government assessed three climate-policy pathways. Estimated costs and benefits are distributed differently between people alive during the first decade of the policy and people living later in the century.
Estimated outcomes of three climate-policy pathways.
| Pathway | First-decade cost / billion currency units | Avoided damage, 2050–2100 / billion currency units | Severe disruption by 2100 / % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid transition | 420 | 980 | 18 |
| Delayed transition | 210 | 470 | 43 |
| No additional action | 40 | 0 | 76 |
Calculate the net estimated monetary benefit of the rapid-transition pathway using the first-decade policy cost and avoided damage shown.
[1]
Calculate the percentage-point reduction in the probability of severe ecosystem disruption achieved by rapid transition compared with no additional action.
[1]
Explain how a rights-based argument concerning future generations could support rapid transition.
[2]
Evaluate the use of consequentialist ethics to choose between the three pathways.
[4]
Question 27
A regional authority proposes reintroducing a native large predator to an upland ecosystem. The predator could regulate herbivore populations and support ecosystem recovery, but livestock farmers are concerned about animal losses and rural livelihoods.
Explain how beliefs about the relationship between humans and nature may give rise to ecocentric, stewardship-oriented anthropocentric and technocentric perspectives.
[4]
Analyse how these three perspectives could influence decisions about the proposed predator reintroduction.
[7]
Using named examples, to what extent should the interests of an ecological community take priority over the livelihoods of people directly affected by conservation?
[9]
Question 28
A government is considering prohibiting bottom trawling in a deep-sea region containing slow-growing corals and other organisms. The region supports commercial fisheries but remains poorly studied.
Distinguish between instrumental value and intrinsic value, including why they are not mutually exclusive.
[4]
Explain how instrumental value, intrinsic value and moral standing could be used to judge whether bottom trawling should be prohibited.
[7]
Using named examples, evaluate the claim that intrinsic value provides a stronger basis for biodiversity conservation than instrumental value.
[9]
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Question 29
Following a large marine oil spill, scientists propose releasing genetically engineered bacteria that break down petroleum compounds. Opponents argue that releasing an artificial organism is necessarily wrong, while supporters argue that rapid removal of the oil is necessarily right.
Explain why describing an entity or process as natural does not establish that it is morally good.
[4]
Explain the ethical considerations, other than naturalness, that should be used to judge the proposed bacterial release.
[7]
Using named examples, to what extent should the natural or artificial origin of an intervention influence environmental policy?
[9]
Question 30
A company proposes an open-pit lithium mine in the high-altitude Qala Basin. Lithium would be used in rechargeable batteries. The basin is also used by pastoral communities and supports salt-marsh habitats.
Calculate the percentage of mining jobs expected to go to basin residents.
[2]
Describe one inequality shown by Figure 7(b).
[2]
Explain how the proposed mine illustrates the overlap between environmental justice and social justice.
[4]
Explain how an anthropocentric stewardship perspective and a technocentric perspective might lead to different conditions being placed on the mine.
[2]
To what extent could the lithium mine contribute to an equitable and sustainable future?
[4]
Question 31
The government of Pelagos proposes a no-take marine reserve around the Aruna Archipelago. The reserve would protect a whale migration corridor and coral reefs, but would restrict fishing by nearby communities.
Pilot reserve and unprotected reference area over eight years.
| Year | Pilot biomass / | Reference biomass / | Pilot whale sightings | Reference whale sightings | Catch per fisher / tonnes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 115 | 118 | 42 | 39 | 3.6 |
| 2 | 122 | 117 | 45 | 40 | 3.1 |
| 3 | 130 | 119 | 49 | 40 | 2.8 |
| 4 | 141 | 120 | 54 | 41 | 3.0 |
| 5 | 150 | 119 | 59 | 41 | 3.3 |
| 6 | 160 | 120 | 64 | 42 | 3.6 |
| 7 | 173 | 120 | 69 | 43 | 3.9 |
| 8 | 184 | 121 | 73 | 44 | 4.1 |
Using Figure 8(b), calculate the percentage increase in reef-fish biomass in the pilot reserve over the eight years.
[2]
Outline one instrumental value and one intrinsic value assigned to the marine ecosystem in the resources.
[2]
Explain how the proposal raises questions about the moral standing of both non-human entities and future generations.
[3]
Discuss whether the proposed marine reserve represents an ethically justified approach to sustainability.
[6]
Question 32
Climate change is making the historical habitat of a rare mountain plant unsuitable. Conservationists are considering assisted migration, in which the plant would be introduced to a cooler region outside its recorded natural range. The introduction could prevent extinction but might disrupt the recipient ecosystem.
Outline the basis of moral judgement in virtue ethics, consequentialist ethics and rights-based ethics.
[4]
Analyse how each of these ethical approaches could be applied to the proposed assisted migration.
[7]
Using named examples, evaluate consequentialist ethics as a basis for managing species threatened by environmental change.
[9]
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Question 33
A national energy company proposes constructing a large solar-energy development on semi-arid communal grazing land. The project would reduce fossil-fuel use and provide national electricity, but pastoral households could lose access to grazing areas and culturally significant places.
Distinguish between social justice, environmental justice, equality and equity.
[4]
Explain how environmental- and social-justice principles could be applied to the proposed solar-energy development.
[7]
Using named examples, to what extent can a transition to renewable energy be environmentally sustainable if it is not socially just?
[9]
Question 34
Some governments are considering stratospheric aerosol injection as a possible response to climate change. This intervention would increase the reflection of incoming solar radiation and could lower global temperatures, but its regional and long-term consequences are uncertain.
Explain how assigning moral standing to future generations broadens present human responsibility towards the environment.
[4]
Explain how different ethical approaches could be used to judge the use of stratospheric aerosol injection.
[7]
Using named examples, evaluate the claim that precautionary restraint is ethically preferable to technological intervention when environmental consequences are uncertain.
[9]
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