Value is not fixed: The value of natural capital is dynamic: a resource that was precious can become almost worthless, and one nobody wanted can become valuable.
Why value changes
- Technology: a new use raises value (lithium in batteries); a substitute lowers it (kerosene for whale oil).
- Economics: demand, price, the cost of extraction, and gluts of supply all move value.
- Culture and society: changing attitudes, e.g. animal rights made real fur less wanted.
- Politics: laws, taxes, treaties and energy security push value up or down.
- Environment: new knowledge of harm (climate change) or of benefits (biodiversity) changes value.
- Scarcity: as a resource runs out, extraction costs more and its value changes.
- Place: value also varies between regions, e.g. cork matters most where wine is made.
Remember it as: Tools, money, minds, laws, nature, scarcity and place: seven reasons value moves.
Value goes up when
- A new use is found
- Demand or energy security grows
- Awareness favours it (renewables)
Value goes down when
- A cheaper substitute appears
- Attitudes or laws turn against it
- Its harm becomes clear
Real example: in the 1800s whale oil lit city streets; today whales are worth more alive, watched by tourists. Same animal, very different value.
Show the change: Saying a resource has high value is not enough. Say what changed, why, and whether its value rose or fell.
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The guide asks for two named examples of change over time. Learn each one as a short story: what it was used for, what changed, and why.
1800s
- Whale oil burned in lamps and made candles; thousands of ships hunted whales for it
1860s
- Kerosene from crude oil was cheaper and brighter, so whale oil lost most of its value: technology
1986
- After whale numbers crashed and people campaigned to save them, a world ban on commercial whaling began: attitudes and politics
Today
- Whale watching earns about US$2 billion a year: whales gained value alive
Real example: the value of whales fell twice and rose once: kerosene replaced their oil, a ban ended hunting, and tourism made a living whale valuable.
Different reasons, different marks: Four marks need four different reasons. One example can give more than one reason, as long as each reason is a different kind.
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A second example, this time with a graph. Lithium shows how fast value can rise and fall.
Why lithium's value changed
- Up: sales of electric cars soared, and each battery needs lithium.
- Up: supply was short, because new mines take years to open.
- Down: new mines opened in Australia, Africa and China, so supply grew.
- Down: electric car sales grew more slowly than expected in 2023.
Real example: the price of battery lithium rose from about US$8,000 a tonne in early 2021 to about US$80,000 in late 2022, then fell to about US$13,000 by the end of 2023.
How this comes up: Paper 2, Section B (b): a 7-mark explain question on one named resource. Give reasons for a rise AND a fall, each linked to that resource.
Coal powered the factories, trains and power stations of the Industrial Revolution, and many countries still burn it for electricity.
Explain how the value of coal to a given society may increase or decrease as time passes.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.