What this lesson teaches
I can explain sustainable development, how its three dimensions depend on each other, and where they conflict.
Syllabus 9173, Topic 1.1, 1. Understanding Sustainable Development. What is sustainable development?
Make a guess
Soviet schemes diverted the rivers that fed the Aral Sea in Central Asia to irrigate cotton. Roughly how much of the sea's area was lost?
- About 10%, as the rivers soon refilled the sea.
- About 90%, and its fishing collapsed.
- None, since irrigation water drains back.
Show the answer
About 90%, and its fishing collapsed.
With most river water taken for irrigation, far less water reached the sea than it lost. The shrinking sea destroyed the fishing industry that depended on it.
A named place with a date or figure, linked to your point, turns a general answer into a developed one.
This lesson collects the 14 named examples from the lessons in this chapter, so you can revise them in one place. Each one is also a recall card below, so you can save the whole set and review it before an exam.
Sustainable development: Brundtland Report, 1987.
Measuring SDG progress: Sustainable Development Goals.
Renewable resources and depletion: Aral Sea, Central Asia; Grand Banks cod, Canada.
Hydropower and its trade-offs: Three Gorges Dam, China; Xayaburi Dam, Laos.
Transboundary water conflict: Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Managing shared rivers: Mekong River Commission; Indus Waters Treaty, 1960.
Extractive industries and their impacts: Brumadinho, Brazil, 2019; Grasberg mine, Indonesia; Cobalt mining, DR Congo.
Managing extraction impacts: Norway; Botswana.
To use a case, name the place or organisation, give its date or a figure, then say what it shows about the question. One developed case earns more than a list of names.
- Brundtland Report, 1987
- This UN report defined sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.
- Sustainable Development Goals
- In 2015, UN members adopted 17 goals with 169 targets for 2030, from ending poverty to climate action.
- Aral Sea, Central Asia
- Soviet schemes diverted its rivers to irrigate cotton. The sea lost about 90% of its area, destroying its fishing industry.
- Grand Banks cod, Canada
- Overfishing caused the cod stock to collapse. A fishing ban in 1992 put tens of thousands of people in Newfoundland out of work.
- Three Gorges Dam, China
- It has the largest installed power capacity of any power station and helps control Yangtze floods. About 1.3 million people were moved to build it.
- Xayaburi Dam, Laos
- This dam on the Mekong opened in 2019 and sells most of its power to Thailand. Critics warn it blocks fish migration and traps sediment.
- Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- Ethiopia began filling this dam on the Blue Nile in 2020. Egypt and Sudan, downstream, fear it will cut their water supply.
- Mekong River Commission
- Formed in 1995 by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to cooperate on the Mekong. China and Myanmar, upstream, are only dialogue partners.
- Indus Waters Treaty, 1960
- This World Bank-brokered treaty shared the Indus rivers between India and Pakistan for decades. India suspended it in April 2025 after a terrorist attack.
- Brumadinho, Brazil, 2019
- A mining waste dam collapsed, releasing a flood of mud that killed about 270 people.
- Grasberg mine, Indonesia
- This huge copper and gold mine in Papua has released large amounts of waste rock and tailings into local rivers.
- Cobalt mining, DR Congo
- DR Congo produced about 73% of the world's mined cobalt in 2025 (USGS), mostly for batteries. Large industrial mines, many owned by Chinese and Swiss firms, sit beside small hand-dug mines. Amnesty International reported in 2016 that children worked in some of these hand-dug mines. Export earnings rise, but miners and nearby towns carry the health and safety risks.
- Norway
- Norway saves its oil revenues in a sovereign wealth fund worth over US$1 trillion, so future generations also benefit.
- Botswana
- The government and De Beers jointly own Debswana, the main diamond miner, so diamond profits help fund schools and roads.
Step by step
Name it
The place, event or organisation.
Prove it
A date, number or specific fact.
Link it
Say what it shows about the question.
Worked example: From a name to a developed point
Weak: "There are real examples, such as Brundtland Report, 1987." Strong: "This UN report defined sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own." The strong version gives the place and the evidence, so it can earn a development mark.
Watch out for this
Naming a famous example is enough to earn the mark.
Examiners credit a developed case: a place, a date or figure, and a clear link to the question.
Check your understanding
Which is the strongest way to use a named example in an answer?
- Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
- List several example names, with no details.
- Describe the example in general terms, without a place or figure.
Show the answer
Give the place, a date or figure, and its link.
Yes. A located, evidenced and linked case is what earns development marks.