What does Global Governance cover in Eduqas A-Level Geography?

Global Governance is Section B of Component 2, with two compulsory themes: global migration (patterns, causes, impacts and governance) and the global governance of the Earth's oceans (the oceans as a global commons, UNCLOS and maritime zones, threats and management). Section C, 21st Century Challenges, is a synoptic extended response drawing on content from across Components 1 and 2. The strand is about how global flows and shared resources are governed, and how effectively.

How is Component 2 assessed?

Component 2 (Global Systems and Global Governance) is a written paper of 2 hours worth 110 marks, 27.5 per cent of the A level. Section A is Water and Carbon Cycles, Section B is Global Governance (migration and oceans), and Section C is the synoptic 21st Century Challenges, based on a stimulus resource. The paper mixes structured, data-response and extended-response questions, and Section C rewards synopticity (linking physical and human geography across scales).

What case studies do I need for Global Governance?

For migration you need at least two: a major economic migration corridor (for example South Asia to the Gulf) and a forced-migration or refugee crisis (for example the Syrian crisis), plus a source country showing remittances and brain drain (the Philippines) and a governance example (the EU and the 2015 crisis). For oceans you need a commons or overfishing example (the Grand Banks cod collapse), a governance dispute (the South China Sea, the Arctic) and a pollution or management example (the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, marine protected areas).

What are maritime zones under UNCLOS?

UNCLOS defines zones from the coastal baseline: territorial waters (12 nautical miles, full sovereignty subject to innocent passage), the contiguous zone (to 24 nautical miles, for customs and immigration enforcement), the exclusive economic zone or EEZ (to 200 nautical miles, exclusive rights to resources but not sovereignty over the water), and beyond that the high seas, a global commons open to all. The key distinction is between sovereignty (territorial waters) and resource rights (the EEZ).

What are the most common mistakes in this strand?

Confusing refugee, asylum seeker and economic migrant; treating migration impacts as all positive or all negative; overstating the power of global institutions (which coordinate but cannot compel states); confusing territorial waters (sovereignty) with the EEZ (resource rights); assuming UNCLOS is fully enforced; listing ocean threats without their effects; assuming a marine protected area equals real protection; and, in Section C, treating the 21st-century challenges in isolation rather than synoptically.

EnglandGeography

Eduqas A-Level Geography Global Governance and 21st Century Challenges (Component 2, Sections B and C): a deep dive on migration, the oceans and synoptic challenges

A deep-dive Eduqas A-Level Geography guide to Global Governance and 21st Century Challenges (Component 2, Sections B and C). Covers global migration patterns, causes, impacts and governance, the oceans as a global commons and their governance and management, and the synoptic 21st Century Challenges, with case studies and the exam patterns Eduqas repeats.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.818 min readA110QSUpdated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

Jump to a section

What this strand actually demands
Global migration: patterns and causes
Global migration: impacts and governance
The oceans as a global commons
The governance of the oceans
Ocean threats and management
21st Century Challenges (synoptic)
How this strand is examined
Check your knowledge

What this strand actually demands

Global Governance is Section B of Component 2, and 21st Century Challenges is the synoptic Section C. The demand is to understand how global flows (people) and shared resources (the oceans) are governed, to weigh that governance critically, and then, in Section C, to synthesise physical and human geography across scales in response to a stimulus resource. This strand is heavy on evaluation: who benefits, how effective is governance, and what are the limits of cooperation between sovereign states. It rewards precise terminology (refugee versus migrant; territorial waters versus EEZ), strong case studies, and balanced, supported judgements.

This guide ties together the six dot-point pages: migration patterns and causes, migration impacts and governance, the oceans as a global commons, the governance of the oceans, ocean threats and management, and the synoptic 21st Century Challenges. Each has its own page with practice questions; this overview shows how they fit.

Global migration: patterns and causes

Migration flows from lower-income to higher-income regions along major corridors, plus huge internal rural-to-urban movement. It ranges from voluntary (economic migrants) to forced (refugees, asylum seekers), driven by push factors (poverty, conflict, hazards) and pull factors (jobs, safety), and greatly facilitated by globalisation (transport, communications, global labour markets).

Global migration: impacts and governance

Migration brings remittances and skills to source areas but risks a brain drain and demographic imbalance; host areas gain labour and diversity but face pressure on services and possible tension. It is governed at three scales, nation states (borders), regional blocs (the EU, Schengen) and global institutions (UN, IOM, UNHCR), with the central tension between sovereignty and migrants' rights.

The oceans as a global commons

The oceans regulate climate, drive biogeochemical cycles and hold vast biodiversity, while carrying most trade, feeding billions through fisheries and supplying energy and minerals. Much of the ocean lies beyond national jurisdiction, making it a global commons subject to the tragedy of the commons, where individual overexploitation degrades the shared resource, requiring international governance.

The governance of the oceans

UNCLOS defines the maritime zones (territorial waters at 12, contiguous zone at 24, EEZ at 200 nautical miles, then the high seas) and the distinction between sovereignty and resource rights. Governance also involves the UN, the IMO and regional fisheries bodies, but is weakly enforced, and disputes (the South China Sea, the Arctic) expose its limits.

Ocean threats and management

The oceans face overfishing (and by-catch), pollution (plastic, oil, eutrophication) and climate change (warming, acidification, sea-level rise, bleaching). Management uses marine protected areas, quotas, pollution controls (MARPOL) and agreements (UNCLOS, the High Seas Treaty), which are partially effective, limited by the commons problem, weak enforcement and the global scale of the threats.

21st Century Challenges (synoptic)

Section C is a synoptic essay on a stimulus resource, drawing on the whole of Components 1 and 2. The great challenges, climate change, resource security, migration, inequality, urbanisation, are interconnected, so the skill is to link physical and human geography across scales, use the resource as evidence, evaluate strategies and futures, and reach a supported judgement.

How this strand is examined

A typical Eduqas profile:

Resource and data skills (AO3). Read migration-flow maps and ocean data and describe them precisely.
Knowledge and terminology (AO1). Define migrant categories and UNCLOS zones accurately.
Extended evaluation (AO2) and synopticity. Judge the effectiveness of governance and, in Section C, synthesise physical and human geography across scales.

Check your knowledge

A mix of questions covering the whole strand. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.

Distinguish between a refugee and an economic migrant. (2 marks)
Explain how globalisation has facilitated international migration. (3 marks)
Define the term remittances. (2 marks)
Define a global commons and give one example. (2 marks)
Explain the tragedy of the commons in relation to the oceans. (3 marks)
State the distance and the rights of the exclusive economic zone under UNCLOS. (2 marks)
Define the term by-catch. (2 marks)
Explain why the great 21st-century challenges should be analysed together rather than separately. (3 marks)

Solutions

Q1: A refugee is forced to flee across a border (by conflict or persecution) and is granted protection under international law; an economic migrant moves voluntarily for work and lacks refugee protections.
Q2: Cheaper and faster transport, instant communications that spread information and sustain diaspora networks, and integrated global labour markets (plus demand from ageing wealthy economies) have made movement easier, cheaper and more attractive.
Q3: The money that migrants send back to their families in the source area; one of the largest financial flows to lower-income countries, often exceeding aid.
Q4: A resource beyond the jurisdiction of any single state, shared by all humanity; examples include the high seas, the atmosphere, Antarctica and outer space.
Q5: Because the high seas are shared and unowned, each user gains fully from taking more (fish, dumping waste) while the cost of degradation is shared by all, so the resource is overexploited for everyone, requiring international governance.
Q6: The EEZ extends to 200 nautical miles from the baseline and gives the coastal state exclusive rights to the resources (fish, oil, gas, minerals), but not full sovereignty over the water.
Q7: The unintended capture of non-target species (dolphins, turtles, seabirds, juvenile fish) during fishing, adding to the ecological damage of overfishing.
Q8: They are interconnected: climate change drives water insecurity and migration, inequality determines vulnerability, and urbanisation concentrates risk, so understanding and tackling them requires tracing the linkages rather than treating each in isolation.