ECS2606 Assignment 1 (COMPLETE ANSWERS) Semester 1 2026 - DUE 12 March 2026

ECS2606 Assignment 1 (COMPLETE ANSWERS) Semester 1 2026 - DUE 12 March 2026 .... JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Human-caused climate change worsened recent torrential rains and floods that devastated parts of southern Africa, killing more than 100 people and displacing hundreds of thousands, researchers said Thursday. A study by the World Weather Attribution, which analyzed the recent heavy rainfalls that caused severe flooding in parts of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, showed that the region experienced a year’s worth of rain in a period of 10 days. Does the excerpt above present enough evidence that climate change has worsened the flood? Substantiate your answer. It resulted in widespread damage to housing and infrastructure estimated to run to millions of dollars, while humanitarian agencies say there is an escalating crisis for people displaced and facing hunger, disease outbreaks and a lack of health services because of the destruction. Explain and diagrammatically illustrate the impact that the Covid-19 -pandemic induced restrictions on economic activities imposed in many countries across the world in 2020/21 had on the materials balance principle. As an environmental economist, how would you advise the government on planning for future flood risk Explain with the aid of production possibility curves how your country could limit the production and consumption of future generations by current irresponsible consumption and production. [10] 3. Make use of appropriate examples to explain and distinguish between opportunity costs and external costs. ECS2603 ECS2604 [10] 4. Explain the difference between positive and normative economics and provide two examples in each case. [10] 5. Draw two graphs to explain how the impact of inelastic and elastic demand curves will differ if environmental policies are enforced. Many homes and buildings in Mozambique were completely submerged under water and dozens of hospitals and clinics were destroyed, while roads and bridges were swept away in the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and parts of Zimbabwe. Does the excerpt above present enough evidence that climate change has worsened the flood? Substantiate your answer. How does this extreme weather events affect economic development. What are the economic costs associated with this flooding event. As an environmental economist, how would you advise the government on planning for future flood risk? The study was conducted by scientists from across the world using peer-reviewed methods to assess the impact of climate change on severe weather patterns and events. A magnitude occurring once in 50 years The data obtained from the recent downpours, the rare magnitude of which occurs roughly once every 50 years, confirmed a “clear move toward more violent downpours,” the study said. It was also compounded by the current La Nina weather phenomenon which naturally brings wetter conditions in the southern Africa region but was now operating within a much warmer atmosphere. “Our analysis clearly shows that our continued burning of fossil fuels is not only increasing the intensity of extreme rainfall, but turning events that would have happened anyway into something much more severe,” Describe and diagrammatically illustrate the impact of introducing a new plant/equipment on materials balance principle. said Izidine Pinto, a senior climate researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Make use of appropriate examples to explain and distinguish between opportunity costs and external costs Pinto, who co-authored the study, said the climate models used struggled to pinpoint exactly how much worse the recent floods were made by climate change, but that a 40% increase in the intensity of the rains would be impossible to explain without human-caused climate change. Explain and diagrammatically illustrate the impact that the Covid-19 -pandemic induced restrictions on economic activities imposed in many countries across the world in 2020/21 had on the materials balance principle. [10] 2. Explain with the aid of production possibility curves how your country could limit the production and consumption of future generations by current irresponsible consumption and production. [10] 3. Make use of appropriate examples to explain and distinguish between opportunity costs and external costs. ECS2603 ECS2604 [10] 4. Explain the difference between positive and normative economics and provide two examples in each case. [10] 5. Draw two graphs to explain how the impact of inelastic and elastic demand curves will differ if environmental policies are enforced. “It means what would have already been a serious period of heavy rain has been transformed into a more violent deluge that communities are not equipped to deal with,” he said.