Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management 0680/22 is the May/June 2026 Paper 2 (Management in Context), variant 2. It lasts 1 hour 45 minutes, is worth 80 marks and is sat by every 0680 candidate. It had three compulsory questions, all set in Romania. Question 2, on salinisation, desalination and eutrophication, was the biggest at 35 marks. This guide goes through the paper question by question and shows what the official mark scheme gave marks for. The paper and its mark scheme are free on the Tutopiya Learning Portal.

For an overview of both 0680 papers from this series, see IGCSE Environmental Management 0680 May/June 2026 past papers: what came up and how it was marked.

0680/22 at a glance

Question	Topic	Marks	Main command word
1	Population, urbanisation, employment and an environmental issues survey	26	Describe, suggest, explain
2	Salinisation, a chlorophyll investigation, desalination, reservoirs and eutrophication	35	Suggest, explain, identify
3	Tourism, deforestation and conservation in the Carpathian Mountains	19	Suggest, state, explain
	Total	80

The context: a world map and a map of Romania show its neighbours, its Black Sea coast, the Carpathian Mountains and the Transylvanian Alps. A fact file gives its area (238 391 km²), its 2024 population (19 million), its climate, terrain and main industries, and its natural resources. You need the area and population for Question 1(c).

Question-by-question walkthrough

Question 1: population and environment (26 marks)

• Describe the population graph, 1844 to 2020 (3 marks): an overall increase, fluctuations, a peak around 1990 (1990 to 1994 was allowed), and comparative dates showing a rise up to about 1990 and a fall after it. Quoting single population figures without a comparison was ignored.
• A problem with a non-linear x-axis (1 mark): the graph can be misleading (making a change look larger or smaller), equal distances don’t stand for equal time intervals, or trends are hard to interpret. “Difficult to read” was ignored.
• Percentage in Bucharest (2 marks): 1.768 ÷ 19 × 100 = 9.3, which rounds to 9%. One mark for the working or 9.3, one for the whole number.
• Describe the urban percentage, 2012 to 2022 (2 marks): it fell slightly then rose, it was broadly stable with an overall increase, about half the population lives in urban areas, and a calculated change, such as a fall of 0.08 from 2012 to 2015. A data quote needed the % sign. Explanations such as birth rates or migration were ignored, because the question asked you to describe.
• Population density (2 marks): 19 000 000 ÷ 238 391 = 79.7, plus a separate mark for the unit, people/km². The scheme rejected 79.8 and 79, and “million per km²” as a unit.
• Why higher density can cause a drinking water shortage (1 mark): greater demand, so water is used faster than it is replenished. “More people” on its own and water pollution were ignored.
• Why fewer people are employed than are of working age (2 marks): not enough jobs, lack of skills or qualifications, people caring for children or elderly relatives, ill health or disability, people still in education, and people in informal work that isn’t recorded. Migration was ignored.
• Why education helps manage population size (2 marks): better knowledge of family planning and contraception, better job prospects so people focus on careers, choosing to have fewer children or have them later, and a stated reason for smaller families such as cost. “Education” without detail was ignored.
• Order five strategies from the survey bar chart (2 marks): plant trees 1, monitor air quality 2, reduce extraction of minerals 3, create a national park 4, grow more cash crops 5. Two to four correct scored 1; all five scored 2.
• How a disaster plan manages flooding after it happens (4 marks): each mark needs a plan and a linked explanation. Plans included evacuation and shelters, emergency food, clean water, medical help, communication from the authorities, clean-up, rebuilding, and aid. Explanations included moving people to safety, treating injuries, preventing hunger, reducing the risk of cholera and other water-borne disease, and helping people get back to work and normal life. Four plans with no explanations scored only 1, and anything done before a flood, such as warnings, monitoring or flood defences, was ignored.
• How flooding can raise crop yields in the long term (2 marks): silt is deposited, and it adds nutrients to the soil. Replenishing groundwater or soil water was allowed. “Improves the soil” and “irrigates the soil” were ignored.
• One impact of over-packaging (1 mark): more waste and landfill, plastic pollution, harm to animals, or the impact of making packaging, such as energy use or resource depletion. “Pollution” on its own was ignored.
• Two things needed to compare a repeat survey (2 marks): sample size, the age or gender of respondents, how people were selected, the time of year, and the location. “Do it the same way” was ignored.

Question 2: salinisation and water (35 marks)

• Distribution of salinised soils on a map (3 marks): uneven or scattered, along the borders, in the west or north-west, the south or south-east, the north-east or east, and along the Black Sea coast, with none in the centre. Directions had to be compass points: “top”, “left” and “edge” were ignored, and calling the pattern random was a contradiction.
• Three controlled variables in the chlorophyll experiment (3 marks): plant species, plant size, soil type, mass of soil or pot size, watering frequency or volume, temperature, pH and light intensity. The list rule applied, and salt concentration was rejected, because it is the variable being changed.
• Why plant A gets no salt (1 mark): it is the control, for comparison. The scheme ignored vaguer ideas such as “to see a difference” or “a baseline”.
• Why repeat with eight more plants (1 mark): to spot anomalies, identify a trend, or improve reliability. “To find a mean” and “increases accuracy” were ignored.
• Conclusion (1 mark): as salt concentration increases, chlorophyll concentration decreases (or the reverse). “Directly proportional” was rejected.
• Why measure chlorophyll (1 mark): chlorophyll absorbs the light used in photosynthesis. “Chlorophyll is needed for photosynthesis” was ignored.
• Word equation (2 marks): carbon dioxide + water → glucose + oxygen, one mark for each side. A correct balanced symbol equation also scored 2. Extra reactants or products cancelled the mark for that side, and an answer with no arrow or equals sign was capped at 1.
• Limitation of the brown-leaf scale (1 mark): it is subjective or qualitative, so it depends on the person judging. “Not accurate” was ignored.
• Number of water sources usable for irrigation (1 mark): 4 (V, W, X and Z).
• Why road salt increases salinisation (2 marks): the salt dissolves in meltwater or rain, runs off or infiltrates into the soil, rivers or groundwater, and builds up in the soil as water evaporates.
• The desalination process (1 mark): distillation or reverse osmosis. Heating, evaporation, filtration and plain “osmosis” were ignored.
• Volume in 24 hours (1 mark): 15 × 60 × 24 = 21 600 m³.
• Two ways poorly managed desalination harms marine biodiversity (2 marks): the water becomes too salty, the waste brine is toxic or lowers oxygen, organisms can’t adapt or breeding changes, producers die and food chains are disrupted, fish move away, and organisms are drawn into intake pipes. “Kills marine life” without a reason was ignored.
• Two advantages of floating desalination plants (2 marks): they run on wave energy rather than fossil fuels, so they emit fewer greenhouse gases, they take up no land and destroy no land habitats, they can be moved to where water is needed, and they cause less visual or noise pollution. Producing more water was credited only when stated as a comparison with land-based plants.
• Why the reservoir level fell (2 marks): rising temperatures and evaporation, drought or less rain and snowmelt, over-extraction for irrigation, industry or drinking, and a dam upstream. Reasons for rising levels were ignored.
• Two other impacts of waste water in a river (2 marks): toxic pollution from a named source, water-borne disease such as cholera, smells and visual pollution, and loss of fish or disrupted food chains. Eutrophication effects were ignored, because the question had already given them.
• Anomalous result (1 mark): circle the algal biomass of 2.0 (at 9 mg/dm³).
• Graph of nitrate against algal biomass (4 marks): a y-axis labelled with its unit (mg/dm³), a linear scale with the points covering at least half the grid, six or seven points plotted to within half a small square, and a smooth curve of best fit that leaves out the anomaly. A straight line, a dot-to-dot line or a curve that runs past the plotted points lost the last mark.
• Eutrophication sentences (4 marks): light can’t reach submerged plants, so they can’t photosynthesise; bacteria decompose the dead plants, and use up the oxygen in the water as they respire. “Feed on” was ignored for the third gap.

Question 3: the Carpathian Mountains (19 marks)

• Two other impacts of tourism (2 marks): air, noise, water or visual pollution, disturbance to wildlife and breeding, litter, animals killed on roads, more demand for water, and tourist income funding conservation. Habitat fragmentation, soil erosion and poaching were also accepted. Loss of habitat and biodiversity were ignored, as the question had given them.
• Three other impacts of deforestation (3 marks): soil erosion (or landslides and desertification), more surface run-off and flooding, genetic depletion, loss of carbon sinks, and loss of livelihoods such as timber. Climate change was ignored, and so were loss of habitat and biodiversity, which the question had given.
• Why brown bears are not found in every European country (2 marks): hunting or lack of protection, road deaths, disease, habitat loss, lack of food, no wildlife corridors to move between areas, unsuitable climate, and noise disturbance.
• How a biosphere reserve conserves biodiversity (3 marks): it protects habitat, maintains genetic diversity, supports research and education, limits tourism, hunting, farming, mining and industry, and can be backed by laws, fines or entry fees. Credit for the three zones needed the zone and what is allowed there: no human activity except research in the core, limited access such as education in the buffer, and controlled activities such as settlements and sustainable farming in the transition zone. Naming the zones alone scored nothing.
• What the food chain shows (4 marks): the arrows show the direction of energy transfer, it shows feeding relationships, there are four trophic levels, and each organism’s level: apple tree producer, ant primary consumer, caterpillar secondary consumer, brown bear tertiary consumer. “Shows who eats whom” on its own was ignored.
• Three abiotic factors (3 marks): temperature, humidity, water, oxygen, salinity, light, pH, mineral ions, carbon dioxide and wind. Naming a biotic factor such as plants was a contradiction. Soil and weather were ignored.
• Matching terms (2 marks): the interaction of organisms with non-living components is an ecosystem, the role of an organism is its niche, and two or more populations form a community. Each extra wrong line cancelled a correct one.

Where the marks are on 0680/22

Type of mark	Questions	Marks
Knowledge, explanation and suggestion	1(c)(ii), 1(e), 1(f)(ii)–(iv), 2(c)(iv)–(v), 2(e), 2(f)(i), 2(f)(iii)–(iv), 2(g), 2(h), 2(i)(iii), 3	47
Describing data from graphs, tables and maps	1(a), 1(b)(ii), 1(d), 1(f)(i), 2(a)	13
Investigation skills	1(f)(v), 2(b), 2(c)(i)–(iii), 2(c)(vi)	9
Calculations and reading values	1(b)(i), 1(c)(i), 2(d), 2(f)(ii), 2(i)(i)	7
Plotting a graph	2(i)(ii)	4
Total		80

• Every mark was points-based. There was no levels-marked question on this paper, so precise, separate points are what score.
• Question 2 alone was worth 35 marks, and it mixed fieldwork skills, a calculation, a graph and recall of eutrophication.
• Repeating what the question gave you scored nothing. Loss of habitat and biodiversity in 3(a) and eutrophication effects in 2(h) were both on the ignore list.

How to self-mark 0680/22 with the mark scheme

1. Know the abbreviations. M1, M2 and so on number the marking points. A, R and I mean accept, reject and ignore; CON means a contradiction that cancels a mark; ecf is error carried forward; ora is “or reverse argument”.
2. Tick separate points and stop at the total. A 3-mark “describe” part with four correct points still scores 3.
3. Check pairs. In 1(f)(ii), only count a mark where a plan has its own linked explanation, then follow the scheme’s guidance for lists.
4. Apply the list rule in 2(b) and 3(d)(ii). Mark only the number of answers asked for, and cancel one for a contradiction.
5. Check rounding and units separately. 9 (not 9.3) in 1(b)(i); 79.7 and people/km² in 1(c)(i); m³ is already printed in 2(f)(ii).
6. Mark the graph point by point. Axis label with unit, scale, plots, then a smooth curve that leaves out the anomaly.

Sit 0680/22 as a timed mock

You have 105 minutes for 80 marks. Start by reading the fact file, because Question 1 needs its figures.

Block	Marks	Time
Read the maps and fact file	–	5 minutes
Question 1	26	33 minutes
Question 2	35	44 minutes
Question 3	19	20 minutes
Check calculations, units and the graph	–	3 minutes

Other May/June 2026 0680 papers

• 0680 Paper 12 (Theory)

Practise and download

• Download 0680/22 and its mark scheme on the Learning Portal →
• Both 0680 May/June 2026 papers: overview and marking patterns
• Try a free IGCSE Environmental Management quiz

Need help with a 0680 topic? Book a free trial lesson with an IGCSE Environmental Management tutor →

Frequently asked questions

What country was 0680 Paper 22 May/June 2026 set on? +

Romania. The paper opens with a map and fact file, and all three questions use it: population and an environmental survey, salinisation and water management, and tourism and conservation in the Carpathian Mountains.

How many marks is 0680/22 and how long is it? +

It is out of 80 marks and lasts 1 hour 45 minutes. There are three compulsory questions worth 26, 35 and 19 marks. Question 2, on salinisation, desalination and eutrophication, is the biggest.

What were the calculation answers on 0680/22 2026? +

Bucharest held 9% of Romania's population (to the nearest whole number), the population density was 79.7 people per km², four water sources could be used for irrigation, and the desalination plant could supply 21 600 m³ in 24 hours.

How was the flood disaster plan question marked on 0680/22? +

Question 1(f)(ii) was worth 4 marks for disaster plans paired with linked explanations, such as emergency water to reduce the risk of cholera. Four plans with no explanations scored only 1, and anything done before a flood, such as warning systems or flood defences, was ignored.

Is there a levels-marked question on 0680/22? +

No. Every part of the 2026 Paper 2 was points-marked, with one mark per marking point up to the total shown. The longest parts were worth 4 marks.

Where can I download 0680/22 May/June 2026 and its mark scheme? +

Both are free to download and print on the Tutopiya Learning Portal, on the Cambridge IGCSE Environmental Management 0680 past papers page.

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