Global Issues: overview of SQA National 5 Geography Unit 3
An overview of Unit 3 of SQA National 5 Geography, Global Issues, covering climate change, environmental hazards, trade and globalisation, tourism and health, with a note on the assignment coursework, study tips and links to each topic.
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Global Issues is the third of the three units of SQA National 5 Geography. It looks at major issues that affect the whole world: climate change, natural hazards, world trade, tourism and health. You study these as global problems with causes, effects and solutions, using examples from across the world. This page maps the topics, explains the assignment, and shows how it all connects.
The topics in this unit
- Climate change
- The physical and human causes, the local and global effects, and the strategies to reduce climate change and adapt to it.
- Environmental hazards
- The causes, features and impacts of earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical storms, and how prediction, planning, protection and aid reduce their effects.
- Trade and globalisation
- The patterns and inequalities of world trade, the role of globalisation and multinational companies, and fair trade and trade agreements.
- Tourism
- The causes of the growth of mass tourism, its effects on the environment and people, and eco-tourism and sustainable tourism.
- Health
- The distribution, causes, effects and management of diseases of the developing and developed world, and the role of primary health care.
The assignment (coursework)
The National 5 Geography course is assessed by a question paper and an assignment. The assignment is worth 20 marks and is set and marked by the SQA.
- You choose a geographical issue or topic (often, but not only, from a global issue), gather information from several sources, including some you collect yourself, and process and present it.
- You write it up under controlled conditions, showing a clear question, gathered information, knowledge and understanding, analysis, and a conclusion.
- It rewards the same geographical skills as the exam: gathering and processing information, using map, graph and data skills, and reaching a supported conclusion.
This page focuses on the global issues themselves; treat the assignment as a research-and-write task that applies these skills to a chosen issue.
How the issues connect
The five issues overlap, which makes strong cross-links in answers:
- Climate change worsens some environmental hazards (stronger storms, drought) and health (spreading disease).
- Trade and globalisation shapes the wealth that decides how well countries cope with hazards and health.
- Tourism can damage the environment but can also fund conservation, linking to climate change.
How to study Unit 3
- Use the causes-effects-management structure. Almost every question fits this pattern; learn each issue in three parts.
- Have real examples ready. Name events and places (Hurricane Katrina, Fairtrade cocoa, eco-tourism in Costa Rica, malaria in Africa).
- Comment, do not just list. Many questions ask you to judge how effective a strategy is, with its limits.
- Watch the command words. Describe, Explain and "Give reasons" each want something different.
- Choose your assignment topic early. Pick an issue with plenty of accessible information and a clear question.
For the official course specification
The SQA publishes the full National 5 Geography course specification, the assignment (coursework) assessment task, past papers and marking instructions at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current specification and SQA past papers.