School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
EXAMINATION
Semester One Final Examinations, 2020
ENVM7512 Environmental Problem Solving
MCQ Component (Questions 1-10)
Short Answer Questions Component (Questions 11-15)
QUESTION 1
1. What type of performance measure is illustrated in the figure below?
Select one answer below.
a. Natural measure.
c b.Constructed measure.
c. Proxy measure.
d. Structured measure.
QUESTION 2
2. What does the hexagon represent in the figure below (highlighted in red)?
Select one answer below.
a. Fundamental objective. c b. Means objective.
e c. Driver.
d. None of the answers.
QUESTION 3
1. What is NOT an element of an alternative? Select one answer below.
a. It cannot address the fundamental objectives.
b. It must be distinct from other alternatives.
c. It must not be constrained by budgets.
d. It must be legal.
QUESTION 4
1. What best describes objectives? Select one answer below.
a. They reflect human values. e b. None of the answers.
c. They reflect strategic actions.
e d. They reflect experimental findings.
QUESTION 5
1. Which of the following is considered a predictive model? Select one answer below.
a. Influence diagram. c b. Systems model.
c. Bayesian belief network. c d. All of the answers.
QUESTION 6
1. What makes agood performance measure? Select one answer below.
a. Clear relationship to fundamental objectives. e b. Related to the consequences of interest.
e c. Complete and concise. e d. All of the answers.
QUESTION 7
1. The figure below shows the number of proteas detected (a type of flower) as a function of initial survey investment. What best describes the area shaded in yellow?
Select one answer below.
a. The most productive area.
b. The diminishing returns area. c. The negative returns area.
d. None of the answers.
QUESTION 8
1. The figure below shows the risk of tiger extinction as a function of the number of tigers poached per year. The number of tigers poached per year is directly related to the number of anti-
poaching patrols. Which concept is represented in this figure?
Select one answer below.
a. Return on investment. c b. Cost-benefit analysis.
c. Satisfaction index.
d. None of the answers.
QUESTION 9
1. Systems dynamics models are often used to model complex systems with feedback loops. What causes S-shaped behaviour within a systems model? Select one answer below.
a. A reinforcing feedback loop. c b. A balancing feedback loop.
c. Both a reinforcing and a balancing feedback loop. c d. Delays within a balancing feedback loop.
QUESTION 1 0
1. What bias occurs when we justify further investment on the basis of prior investment? Select
one answer below.
e a. Anchoring bias. e b. Sunk cost bias.
c. Overconfidence bias. e d. Confirmation bias.
Question 11. Explain the issues with using targets in environmental decisions.
Include examples to illustrate your point. (10 marks)
Question 12. Explain the differences between cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness
analysis. Provide an example of each approach. (8 marks)
Question 13. Describe the concepts of a dominated alternative and an efficiency frontier. Use a figure showing cost versus environmental impact to illustrate your answer. (12 marks)
Question 14. Uncertainty is an important component of environmental problems. One way to articulate uncertainty is as hypotheses.
Question 15. Below is a consequence table for an environmental problem. A coastal
community has been approached by three different industries (Tourism, Aquaculture, and Oil), hoping to develop the water just offshore. The community would like to maximise the benefit they receive through providing revenue and jobs to the local economy, while minimising the impacts on aesthetics, public health from water quality, and biodiversity of the area.
Simplify the consequence table, then using the swing weighting results provided and the simplified consequence table, calculate the expected utility of each alternative (show your working).
Note that cleaning up pollutants from each industry costs $1 million for each part per tonne (ppt) of pollutants, which would come out of the projected profit.
Based on your calculations, which alternative would you recommend to the community and why? (30 marks)