IGCSE Global Perspectives .
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2018-24 syllabus
INDIVIDUAL REPORT TEAM PROJECT EXAM APPROACHES
TEACHING RESOURCES NEWSLETTER ABOUT CONTACT
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EXAMPLE INDIVIDUAL REPORT –
SUSTAINABLE LIVING
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This Individual Report demonstrates the requirements outlined
in the IGCSE Global Perspectives Syllabus, Coursework
Handbook, and Mark Schemes, as well as and the latest
recommendations from Examiner Reports. Use this checklist to
explore how it meets the assessment requirements.
Please also take a look at our Out of the Box teaching materials
for IGCSE GP, which includes a unit on Sustainable Living which
nicely complements this resource.
A personal voice is used for parts of the report. This is
intentional because the IR is not simply a report about the issue,
:
it is a report about the research project, and includes a
requirement to develop and justify the writer’s own personal
perspective (AO2 Reflection). The personal voice does not a!ect
the academic standard of the writing. See this article for more
discussion of style.
Note that the photographs illustrating this webpage are not
part of the IR, but the two charts are.
IGCSE Global Perspectives Example Individual Research
Report
Topic: Sustainable Living
Should we stop eating animal-sourced foods to live
sustainably?
As a vegetarian, I am often asked to justify my choice of diet. I
initially decided to stop eating animals when I found out about
:
the horrors of the industrial farming system,1 but lately I have
heard claims that sustainability is another reason to avoid
animal-sourced foods, and I want to find out if this is true.
Vegetarianism and veganism are perspectives on diet shared by
many people around the world. The number is growing, but
they are still only a few percent of the population in most
countries.2 This means that the dominant global perspective is
that animal-sourced foods are essential (or at least right and
proper). The United Nations o!ers a third global perspective,
which is worth considering because it attempts to create global
agreement on sustainable development.
Evaluation of sources
I started with the documentary film Cowspiracy, which may be
biased with a vegan perspective, but transparently lists its
sources via its website so I could check its claims. Most seemed
well sourced, but I rejected the striking claim that 51% of total
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from animal agriculture
because it included controversial assumptions, so for this I used
a landmark scientific study: Poore and Nemaek (2018)3.
Published in Nature, a leading peer-reviewed journal, it is based
on a huge data set (which gives it high accuracy) and has very
comprehensive analysis (giving it high credibility). We can see
Poore is highly expert from his a"liation to Oxford University,4
and the study is highly praised by other experts.5 I have also
used the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC). UN bodies can be trusted because they
have large global teams of top scientists, and they are under
such scrutiny that they cannot spin their findings. For other
information I have used only quality sources such as
:
government websites and reputable news agencies rather than
blog posts.
E!ects of production and consumption of animal-sourced
foods
As Fig.1 shows, animal agriculture takes up a massive
proportion of the world’s habitable land and the bulk of the
agricultural land, but it supplies only 18% and 37% of the
world’s calories and protein respectively, meaning it is very
ine"cient.
Fig.1 – Global land use for food production6
Compared to agriculture as a whole, animal agriculture
consumes a disproportionate amount of land and fresh water,
and causes the majority of air and water pollution.7 It is also the
biggest cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones and
habitat destruction.8
Of these many dreadful e!ects, I think greenhouse gas
:
emissions is the most important to focus on, because the IPCC
is warning that without drastic action we are heading for a
future 3-degrees hotter, with potentially catastrophic e!ects on
ecosystems, food security, sea levels, migration and wars. The
window to take e!ective action is rapidly narrowing, so it is
extremely urgent.9
The IPCC says there is “significant potential” to mitigate climate
change by adopting healthy diets high in plant-based foods and
low in animal-sourced foods worldwide.10 According to Poore’s
study, even just reducing animal agriculture by 50% while
targeting the worst producers would reduce total GHG
emissions by 20%.11 That is more than emissions from all
transport (16%) or all energy use in buildings (17.5%).12 GHG
savings from those will need massive investment in
infrastructure and technology and will take a long time. In
contrast, the plant-based proteins to replace animal-sourced
ones make far lower GHG emissions (Fig.2) and could be grown
cheaply using just a little of the 3.5 billion hectares13 of land
saved from animal agriculture.
Fig. 2: a comparison of the carbon emissions from producing
equivalent quantities of protein14
:
Poore’s personal perspective must be one of the best-informed
in the world. He says: “‘A vegan diet is probably the single
biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth.”15
Is this perspective from the UN and from science being adopted
by nations? — Not very well! Governments around the world
are missing the opportunity to promote the lowest-carbon
lifestyle choices, according to a 2017 study.16 I confirmed this
was true for my country, the UK — in the 135-page document
that explains its plan to achieve “net zero” emissions by 2050 I
could find no mention of diet whatsoever.17 Unsurprisingly, the
government is being sued by environmental campaigners for
failing to create an adequate plan.18
For balance, I sought out the perspective of the animal
agriculture industry. The global industry does not speak with a
single voice, but since the USA produces and consumes far
more meat than most other countries,19 I looked to the largest
USA industry lobby group “Animal Agriculture Alliance” (AAA) for
:
a representative perspective supporting animal-sourced foods.
The AAA claim that the industry’s environmental impact is
widely exaggerated, and that improving e"ciency with
technological innovations is enough environmental action,
without cutting down on production.20
However, I was not persuaded that the AAA is a good source of
information. The website spins facts to support the industry,
e.g. telling “Meat & Milk’s Sustainability Story” entirely by
percentage improvements in e"ciency,21 which hides the fact
that high growth has caused overall environmental impact to
rise. The AAA’s claim that the industry can reduce its
environmental impact just by increasing e"ciency is wrong
because people will buy more when the product gets cheaper –
an e!ect known as “price rebound”.22 Overall therefore, this
perspective seems highly distorted by vested interest and tries
to maintain business as usual by giving false reassurances.
[Group of Zebu calves grazing in recently deforested land in the
:
Amazon, Brazil.]
Causes of production and consumption of animal-sourced
foods
If vegan foods o!er such an environmentally beneficial
alternative to meat, dairy and seafood, why are there so few
vegans? Why is consumption of animal-sourced foods so high,
and why aren’t governments and mainstream environmental
groups persuading us to switch to plant-based foods?
One reason is that the livestock industry is very powerful and
intimidates its opponents. In South America, many campaigners
have been murdered.23 In countries with stronger rule of law
such as the USA, critics can be sued24 under laws that protect
the industry by restricting freedom of speech.25 The powerful
industry lobby also influences the government to subsidise the
cost of production, e.g. by hunting predators and granting
grazing on common land.26 One study finds that if the
externalised costs of meat production in the USA had to be
included, the price would more than double.27
Food supply is big business, so countries with large natural
resources have an opportunity to exploit them to create wealth,
regardless of sustainability. “You have to understand that the
Amazon is Brazil’s, not yours,” said President Bolsonaro in
2019,” citing what he sees as hypocrisy from overseas
environmentalists: “You destroyed your own ecosystems.”28
Believing two wrongs make a right, Bolsonaro has engineered a
boom in Brazil’s beef and pork exports, causing huge additional
damage to the Amazon rainforest.29
:
Global economic growth has expanded the number of people
who can a!ord meat, and animal-sourced foods symbolise
prosperity and status,30 so people eat more as they get
wealthier. China is the most spectacular example in recent
years. China ate 5kg of meat per person per year in 1960 and
eats 63kg today.31 Unlike others, this is not a cause we would
want to reverse, but it points to the frightening prospect of
massive additional environmental impact if billions more
people follow this trend when they make it out of poverty.
The widespread belief that meat and dairy are nutritionally
essential is a major driver of consumption. It is not supported
by the UK’s National Health Service, which voices national policy
on health and nutrition: “As long as they get all the nutrients
they need, children can be brought up healthily on a vegetarian
or vegan diet.”32 Cultural beliefs like this require time and
education to shift, so it is disappointing to see that the UK
government’s “Eatwell Guide” infographic33 only weakly
acknowledges plant-based alternatives.
In contrast, China’s government has recently set a goal of
halving meat consumption by 2030, and is encouraging
innovation and growth in the mock meat industry.34 China’s
Buddhist heritage may make it more culturally willing to
embrace meat substitutes, and it is starting to view meat as
risky, as the origin of diseases such as avian flu and COVID.35
Cost is still a significant barrier to mass uptake, and good plant-
based meat is still more expensive than animal meat, but
China’s active government backing will help create the mass
production which will bring down costs.36
:
Taste is another key cause, but recently I have personally
noticed huge improvements in plant-based meat and dairy
substitutes, from companies such as Omnifoods,
Impossiblefoods, and Beyond.37 Growing rapidly, such
companies intend to take market share from animal
agriculture.38
Which causes of meat consumption should we focus on? Some,
like bullying and lobbying by the animal agriculture industry
seem unjust, selfish, negligent, or even criminal, which
motivates us to demand action against them. However, it is
hard to challenge powerful vested interests, so in the search for
a solution it may be better to consider the price and taste of
substitute foods as the most important factors because once
the technology improves it will spread globally and tend to
weaken demand for animal-based foods naturally. Cultural
factors are also critical because they will strongly a!ect people’s
willingness to eat di!erent foods.
:
Conclusions and reflection on the development of my
personal perspective
Should we stop eating animal-sourced foods? – Yes, my
investigation shows that they cause massive environmental
harm, yet I found no reasons humanity couldn’t thrive without
them. I was astonished to find that despite such a high impact
on climate change, reducing animal agriculture is not yet
prominent in climate action plans. I also realised that
alternative climate actions such as travelling less would
diminish our lives far more.
As a vegetarian myself, I was vulnerable to confirmation bias
during this investigation, and I realised the need for patience
and empathy when reading sources that opposed my views.
The AAA website did not change my opinion, but it did help me
to see how destructive their opponents must seem from their
perspective, so I understood the need for support to help
people transition their livelihoods out of animal agriculture. It
made me wonder whether I am equally critical when I read
information that supports my views, which prompted me to
make extra e!ort to check facts.
Suggested course of action
Because of the urgency for climate action, I think only
government policies can drive the necessary widespread
change fast enough. All national governments should accept
the IPCC’s message and e!ectively plan a switch to low-carbon
plant-based diets. China’s 50% meat reduction policy is a good
example to follow. To achieve this, government education
:
materials like the UK’s “Eatwell Guide” should be updated to
actively promote plant-based foods. Vegan food producers
should receive tax breaks, and meals funded by the
government (in schools, canteens for civil servants, etc.) should
make the switch to increase demand. This will boost
development of ever more attractive plant-based foods, and
economies of scale to bring down their prices. Because culture
and habits take time and e!ort to change, the government
should also enlist the help of opinion leaders such as celebrity
chefs to develop new, culturally attractive vegan dishes.
Governments will need to help people switch their livelihoods
from animal agriculture to the new opportunities which will
arise, and should buy up surplus agricultural land for rewilding
as carbon sinks.
Creating new national parks and restored ecosystems to enjoy,
plus delicious new alternative foods to eat, this policy will have
an overwhelmingly positive impact besides reducing climate
change.
Word count
Body: 1910 words; within Fig 1: 62 words; within Fig 2: 28 words.
Total: 2000 words
Citations
1
Foer, J. Eating Animals. First Back Bay paperback edition. New
York: Back Bay Books, 2010. Print.
2
Wikipedia, “Vegetarianism By Country”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism_by_country#Demo
:
graphics, accessed 2 Feb 2022
3
Goodland, R Anhang, J. “Livestock and Climate Change: What if
the key actors in climate change were pigs, chickens and cows?”
https://awellfedworld.org/wp-content/uploads/Livestock-
Climate-Change-Anhang-Goodland.pdf accessed 2 Feb 2022
4
Poore & Nemecek (2018) Reducing food’s environmental
impacts through producers and consumers,
https://josephpoore.com/Science%20360%206392%20987%20-
%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf accessed 2 Feb 2022 and
erratum https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30792276/ accessed
2 Feb 2022
5
Ibid.
6
The Guardian, 31 May 2018, Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single
biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoid
ing-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-
impact-on-earth accessed 2 Feb 2022
7
Data source: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, graphic
from Our World in Data website:
https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture accessed
28 Jan 2022
8
Poore & Nemecek (2018)
9
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Report,
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/#SPM, accessed 1 Feb 2022
:
10
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Special
Report on Climate Change and Land, Executive Summary
“5.6.3.1 Can dietary shifts provide significant benefits?”
https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/ accessed 25 Jan
2022
11
Poore & Nemecek (2018) erratum
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30792276/
12
Our World in Data website: “Sector by sector: where do global
greenhouse gas emissions come from?”
https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-by-sector accessed
31 Jan 2022
13
Our World in Data website: “If the world adopted a plant-
based diet we would reduce global agricultural land use from 4
to 1 billion hectares” https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets
accessed 2 Feb 2022
14
Data source: Poore & Nemecek (2018). Graphic from The
Guardian, 31/04/2018, accessed 31 Jan 2022
15
Ibid.
16
Wynes, S. and Nicholas, K. 2017 Environmental Research
Letters, “The climate mitigation gap: education and government
recommendations miss the most e!ective individual actions”,
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541,
accessed 31 Jan 2022
17
UK Government: HM Treasury, “Net-Zero Review”, October
2021,
:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy
stem/uploads/attachment_data/file/1026725/NZR_-
_Final_Report_-_Published_version.pdf accessed 2 Feb 2022
18
The Guardian, 12 Jan 2022, “UK government sued over ‘pie-in-
the-sky’ net-zero climate strategy”,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/12/net-
zero-climate-strategy-uk-government-sued accessed 2 Feb 2022
19
OECD Data: “Meat Consumption”,
https://data.oecd.org/agroutput/meat-consumption.htm
accessed 2 Feb 2022
20
Desmog.com, “Animal Agriculture Alliance”,
https://www.desmog.com/agribusiness-database-Animal-
Agriculture-Alliance/ accessed 2 Feb 2022
21
Animal Agriculture Alliance website, “Sustainability”,
https://animalagalliance.org/issues/sustainability/ accessed 2
Feb 2022
22
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Special
Report on Climate Change and Land, Executive Summary
“5.6.3.1 Can dietary shifts provide significant benefits?”
https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/ accessed 25 Jan
2022
23
The New York Times, 21 June 2016, “The Rising Murder Count
of Environmental Activists.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/science/berta-caceres-
environmental-activists-murders.html accessed 2 Feb 2022
:
24
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press website:
“Appeals court upholds win in ‘mad cow’ lawsuit”, from Spring
2000 issue of The News Media & The Law
https://www.rcfp.org/journals/the-news-media-and-the-law-
spring-2000/appeals-court-upholds-win-m/ accessed 22 Jan
2022
25
Andersen & Kuhn, “Cowspiracy” 2022 version,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfmpXM7TADU accessed
21 Jan 2022
26
Ibid.
27
Ibid.
28
The Guardian, 19 July 2019, “Bolsonaro declares ‘the Amazon
is ours’ and calls deforestation data ‘lies’”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/19/jair-
bolsonaro-brazil-amazon-rainforest-deforestation accessed 2
Feb 2022
29
The Guardian, 16 March 2021, “Eating up the rainforest:
China’s taste for beef drives exports from Brazil”,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/16/eatin
g-up-the-rainforest-chinas-taste-for-beef-drives-exports-from-
brazil accessed 31 Jan 2022
30
United Nations, Academic Impact: “Shifting to Sustainable
Diets” https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/shifting-
sustainable-diets, accessed 2 Feb 2022
31
Time, Jan 22, 2021: “How China Could Change the World by
:
Taking Meat O! the Menu”, https://time.com/5930095/china-
plant-based-meat/, accessed 2 Feb 2022
32
UK National Health Service website: “Vegetarian and vegan
diets Q&A”, https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/vegetarian-
and-vegan-diets-q-and-a/ accessed 31 Jan 2022
33
UK Government, Public Health England, “The Eatwell Guide”
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-eatwell-guide
accessed 31 Jan 2022
34
Time, Jan 22, 2021: “How China Could Change the World by
Taking Meat O! the Menu”, https://time.com/5930095/china-
plant-based-meat/, accessed 2 Feb 2022
35
Ibid.
36
Ibid.
37
Own experience
38
MSN News: “Impossible Foods Prepares To Go Public At
Around $10B Valuation: Report” https://www.msn.com/en-
us/money/news/impossible-foods-prepares-to-go-public-at-
around-10b-valuation-report/ar-BB1ft0qO accessed 27 Jan 2022
Works Cited (separate document)
IGCSE Global Perspectives Individual Report Exampl…
:
The written commentary in the video will help you to see how parts of the report
meet the requirements, while the text is read aloud. Note that only the two charts
(Fig.1 and Fig.2) are part of the IR itself – other visuals just help illustrate the ideas
and show the sources.
10 COMMENTS
Madhumita says:
9th February 2022 at 9:15 pm
Commendable job
Reply
Jorge Ferreira says:
13th May 2022 at 1:18 am
indeed
Reply
:
aynakhan says:
12th March 2022 at 10:46 pm
really good work
Reply
unknowncoookiesissshigghhhandneeedsshelllppp
says:
5th August 2022 at 9:22 pm
which citation style is this?
Reply
Lankymax says:
5th August 2022 at 11:27 pm
I used Easybib to build this citations list. I think I used MLA.
CAIE don’t mind which standard you use, but they assess it
for “consistency”.
Reply
Luz says:
6th November 2022 at 7:33 pm
Very useful! In my school we use APA format for citations.
Reply
:
Muheammed Zaid says:
16th April 2023 at 10:38 pm
Who else is watching this to write an individual report
assignment at 3AM
Reply
Veer says:
31st August 2023 at 7:29 am
Shouldn’t use wikipedia
Reply
Lankymax says:
31st August 2023 at 12:03 pm
It really depends what you use Wikipedia for. It may be open
access, but it does have a community of editors who care
deeply about accuracy and academic integrity. I have just
noticed this video from Mike Caulfield of the University of
Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, in which he
uses Wikipedia as a prima facie guide to the nature of an
organisation and thus the likely credibility/bias of its
website. There is little reason to fear misinformation from
the Wikipedia page, given the comparatively low stakes and
uncontroversial nature of the query. There are certainly
other times when Wikipedia would not be a su"ciently
authoritative source. However, Caulfield is talking about the
:
evaluation of sources appropriate for members of the public
as they form their views on issues, and that is about the
level of IGCSE.
Reply
Bonda says:
15th September 2023 at 7:47 am
How much time did you spend on this report? also amazing job
Reply
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