bridging the development gap a2 edexcel geography

Bridging the development gap

Development gap = social and economic disparity between wealthy and poor, can occur globally or locally.

Food security = the extent to which a country can feed its own population or can afford purchase food on global markets when shortfalls occur.

Civil unrest = the disruption of typical social order e.g. strike, protest, violent or unviolent.

+around 2008 there was a 15 year period of economic growth and low inflation

+costs of imported manufactured goods was low and there was cheap labour in places like china

+food and wine prices had also fallen due to food surpluses

+low global interest rates made house prices cheap

-          Food prices rose sharply worldwide after 2006

-          Poor harvests after extreme weather = low grain stock

-          Growth of bio fuels reduced amount of land under food cultivation

-          Rising demand in rice supporting countries e.g. India, China

-          Rising incomes and food consumption reduced amount for exports

-          Rising demand for cattle feed e.g. Saudi Arabia largest barley imports

-          Hoarding of food by traders experiencing price increases

Rising oil prices also affects the increasing prices of distributing and growing food

FAO = UN organised Food and Agricultural Organisation

Development = means change and implies that it is for the better could be economic and improves the standard of living

Food crisis illustrates the development gap between rich and poor countries worldwide. Poorer countries have poorer food security caused by higher import costs. Many governments of rice producing countries banned the export of rice in order to guarantee supplies for their own people. 

Case study: The Philippines

2007 rice prices increased, as well as global increases. 2008 government used troops to deliver subsidised rice to poorer districts. Following protests rice hoarders were imprisoned if guilty. Until 1990s the Philippines was self-sufficient in terms of rice production. By 2008 it was the world’s biggest importer in 20 years the country lost its best farmland to urban developments. Examples of cash crops include coffee, chocolate, chilli and tea.

Factors making it worse =

Urban Sprawl (extension of cities into rural landscapes) + Climate change (result in flooding or desertification)

Since 1980 people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 40% to 20% but poverty is still bad due to population growth.

2.8 billion People live on $2 per day = moderate poverty

1.1 billion People live on $1.25 per day = extreme poverty

GDP = Gross domestic product. GNI = Gross National Income USA GNI double other countries

NNI = Net national income GDP and GNI don’t take income distribution into account. GDP and GNI show the local value of money.

PPP = Purchasing Power Parity (112 rupees may be £1.50)

Economic development relates to incomes, businesses, technology and enterprise. Whereas human development refers to quality of life, education and cultural values. Economic development could act as an indicator of a country’s economy and demonstrate their levels of employment.

Human development can be measured by assessing quality of life, birth and death rate and access to services. This is harder to measure as it is not in as many statistics like economic development is.

HDI = human development index. This uses 3 indicators: life expectancy, GDP and education, these are averaged out for each country.

PQLI = physical quality of life index

TAI = technical achievement index

GDRI = Gender related development index

MDG = Millennium development goals – they were developed in 2000 to measure income and quality of life. There are 8 goals and 21 targets to be met by 2015. E.g. goals halve proportion of people suffering from hunger, achieve universal primary education, and reduce under 5 death rate by two thirds.

North south divide can also be seen in supercar sales

Brant line = developed north and poor south with the exception of Australia. It was developed in 1981 (it is now outdated and over simplified)

Asian Tigers = BRIC countries

Mydal Model of core and periphery – demonstrates sub Saharan Africa and shows more detail than brant line.

Volvo cars = 40% owned by Chinese (they wanted to move money into Europe to avoid a collapse)

Example: Fair trade trying to get rid of the development gap by paying farmers good prices

Key players = World Bank, IMFG, NGOS, TNCs, and Governments

Poverty = lack of opportunity which is most acute in rural places  

India’s caste system

This is a system of social stratification, which historically separates communities by birth and family. It is a social and religious class system found mostly among Hindus and Muslims. It is thought to be traditional Hindu way of life, yet many people argue that British colonialism may have affected it. India’s constitution makes caste discrimination illegal. Untouchability was also made illegal in 1950. Inter-caste marriages are now more common.

Reasons for gender inequality in developing countries:

·         Gender bias laws, no equal pay, women can’t vote

·         Gender bias religious values e.g. Hindu caste system puts women at an disadvantage

·         Traditional values in society e.g. women stay at home for children and men work

·         No modern technology may shut them off from third world countries

·         Not a good level of primary and secondary education – not learnt about feminism – poor literacy – cannot get good job – limited opportunities

·         No democratic Government – unfair politics

·         Early marriages – lots of children

·         Poor health care – death at childbirth – poor sanitation – disease e.g. malaria, cholera

·         People may not be well travelled – understand western societies way of life e.g. equal rights

Who contributes to global development?

·         United nations – promote free trade, provide investment

·         EU – promotes economic co-operation, raise standards of business practice

·         Ngo e.g. Oxfam, water aid, unicef – bottom up approach, non-bias assessment

·         World trade organisation

·         TNCs e.g. nike, unilever, nestle – have large employed workforce

·         Trading blocs

·         Superpowers e.g. USA – regulate the economy, influence politics, provide infrastructure.

( RANKED INTO HOW EFFECTIVE I THINK THEY ARE HDI BEING TOP)	Advantages	Disadvantages
1.       HDI (human development index)	Encounters economic growth, quality of life, education and health care. This shows how governments invest, but not how much money they have.	Doesn’t take issues of water and sanitation into account. Doesn’t factor in gender equality.  It is only an average so it does not show the different areas
2.       GDP ( gross domestic product)	It shows values of goods and services over a year, this is averaged per person. You can see how much is produced in dollars.	This does not show what per capita income is actually worth in terms of spending power. Does not take living costs in different places into account.
3.       PPP ( purchasing power parity)	This shows what per capita income will purchase with the cost of living taken into account.	This value is purely economic Exchange rates can change. This is too narrow of a measure, it does not take all economic activity into consideration.
4.       GNI (gross national income)	Shows total economic activity, this includes overseas as well.	This is better than GDP as it encounters income from over sea such as shares and earnings. It is not always measured in per capita which is bad. There are no social factors considered.
5.       BRANT LINE 1981	Shows clear north south divide Good visual representation Easy to interpret Good for people south of line to understanding	Australia is an exception to the line. It does not take the BRIC countries into consideration. It is outdated 1981 and it is too simplistic.

case study: amazon peruvian rainforest

The World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund)

The World Bank

The World Bank is working towards a world free of poverty. The World Bank has set two main goals to be achieved by 2030:

·End extreme poverty by decreasing the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day to no more than 3%.

·Promote shared prosperity by fostering the income growth of the bottom 40% for every country.

The World Bank provide low interest loans and grants to developing countries. These can often be used to fund healthcare, education, sanitation and important infrastructure. They aim to promote the use of natural resources, having as little impact on the environment as possible. Their 2014 annual report focuses on two of the World Bank Groups institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

This screenshot from the 2014 annual report shows that their main commitments are in Brazil and India. The IBRD and IDA have the most operations in Africa. The Middle East and North Africa have as little as 5 IBRD operations.

 

This screenshot from the 2014 report shows the World Bank in relation to the millennium development goals. This graph shows that extreme poverty has decreased from 1990-2015 target. Access to safe drinking water has gone from 24 in 1990 to 62 as a 2015 target.

Main indicators The World Bank use to measure development:

·         Agricultural and rural development

·         Aid effectiveness

·         Climate change

·         Economy and growth

·         Education

·         Environment

·         Debt

·         Gender

·         Infrastructure

·         Technology and Urban development

 

IMF – International Monetary Fund

·         The IMF promotes international monetary cooperation and exchange rate stability, facilitates the balanced growth of international trade, and provides resources to help members in balance of payments difficulties or to assist with poverty reduction.

·         The IMF has 188 member countries. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations but has its own charter, governing structure, and finances. Its members are represented through a quota system broadly based on their relative size in the global economy. 

·         Through its economic surveillance, the IMF keeps track of the economic health of its member countries, alerting them to risks on the horizon and providing policy advice. It also lends to countries in difficulty, and provides technical assistance and training to help countries improve economic management. This work is backed by IMF research and statistics.

The IMF provides loans to countries that have trouble meeting their international payments and cannot otherwise find sufficient financing on affordable terms. This financial assistance is designed to help countries restore macroeconomic stability by rebuilding their international reserves, stabilizing their currencies, and paying for imports—all necessary conditions for launching growth. The IMF also provides concessional loans to low-income countries to help them develop their economies and reduce poverty.

 

 

Biodiversity A2 GEOGRAPHY EDEXCEL

BIODIVERSITY

Dr Jenifer Hill UWE lecture on tropical rainforests

·         Fortress conservation = building wall around the cleared area like a fort around an area of rainforest

·         New conservation = eco tourism using people as well as protecting RF

Epiphytes = plant that grows on another plant e.g. fern

The rainforest also has canopy layers. These allow different plants to get different amounts of light. They are all adapted to their position.

Rainforest is on the equator so they usually receive a lot of sun. They are in a zone of inter tropical convergence. 50% of rainforest is in central and south America. Malaysia and Australia have 25% and central and west Africa has 20% of RF.

Ø  Plant adaptation e.g. fan palms have extended leaves to catch extra rainfall. The leaves are segmented to drain excess water that might cause the plant to rot. They also have drip tips to let water drain away.

Ø  Strangler figs – start at top of tree then drops a seed, strangles host. Fig branches catch sunlight. The host dies. Tree has a hollow trunk for the strangler fig.

Half of the world’s species are in RF. High species diversity leads to:

·         Consumptive use value (value of nature consumed already e.g. firewood, meat)

·         Productive use value(makes money. Nature commercially harvested and passed through markets e.g. timber, medicine)

·         Non consumptive use value (value derived from ecosystems e.g. watershed production, carbon regulation)

·         Existence value (least listened to. Ethically preserving species right to exist)

Destruction = logging, animal pasture, resettlement schemes, development, commercial agriculture

Destruction makes a gap between seeds and animals that pollinate seeds. Many animals cannot migrate across gap made by destruction. This reduces the genetic fitness of a population and reduces the number of species and makes animals endangered.

RF has been fragmented by agents of destruction. They need to understand the ecology; they also need to understand influence of fragmented area shape and isolation of biodiversity.

·         Irregular shaped fragments of RF cut down means that there is more edge, forest edges have higher number of species

·         There is increased sunlight and temperature along the forest edge

Eco tourism in Peru

Eco tourism creates positive links between habitat conservation and local cultures

EXAMPLE: Rain Forests Expeditions (private company)

·         They aim to educate and research with sustainable conservation

·         In 2016 the lodge and all of their buildings will be passed onto the local community

·         All of the staff are native people from the local communities

·          They conduct low environmental impact tours

·         They also made a contract with the local people to ensure it is fair

·         60% of their profits go to the local people to help their community

·         They prohibit the hunting of wildlife

·         In 2007 the local community gained $148,000 from the RF expeditions company. Three quarters of the money was divided amongst local people and the rest was used for school construction and investment into education

·         10:1 is their guide to tourist ratio

·         They educate the local people in tourism so that they can run tours for tourists.

Alien species = those which are not native to an area, but have been introduced usually by human activity

THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY:

1.       Climate change rising sea levels. Niche species most endangered eg coral bleaching at great barrier reef due to increased water temperatures

2.       Population increase and resource consumption e.g. cod fishing enforced quotas by EU to stop them becoming extinct

3.       Economic systems promoted by governments and businesses that fail to value the environment

4.       Pollution e.g. oil spills

5.       Deforestation e.g. Borneo, Peru, Malaysia, RF

6.       Ignorance e.g. people and governments

7.       Invasive species e.g. bugs through human action e.g. red squirrel

8.       Over exploitation e.g. fishing, RF for medicine and timber wood. Land soil becomes bad

9.       Habitat change e.g. Tropical rainforests

Eutrophication = process by which fertilizer causes rapid algal and plant growth and the depletion of oxygen available for fish and other aquatic species

World Resources Institute asses threats to biodiversity by a scheme called ‘’count it, change it, scale it’’ They gather data, and then use the research to influence business policies and civil society action.  They test projects with communities. They then expand their efforts globally.

CASE STUDY = SOUTH WEST AUSTRALIA

Forest, woodland, shrublands have high numbers of endemic plant and reptile species. The threats facing biodiversity in Australia are agricultural expansion and high levels of fertilizer which can result in habitat loss. Also a threat is the introduction of invasive species e.g. foxes and cats which threaten native fauna.

CASE STUDY = ATLANTIC FOREST

It has over 20,000 plant species and 950 kinds of birds yet less than 10% of original forest remains. Over 24 critically endangered species. The threats to the Atlantic forests biodiversity include habitat loss caused by development and expansion of sugar cane and coffee plantations. Another threat is the urbanisation due to rapid expansion of cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Endemism = where something only occurs in one specific area e.g. dodo bird was endemic to Malicious

 

Exam question: Describe the distribution of threatened hotspots and threats they face.

Extra task – split threats to biodiversity into global and local.

Global distribution of biodiversity

·         TR contain 50% of worlds species in just over 7% of worlds land area

·         TR account for 80% of all insects and 90% of primates

·         Brazil, Indonesia and Madagascar contain over 55% of the worlds mammals

·         Tropical America has about 85,000 species of flowering plants compared with 11,300 in Europe

Global distribution of species richness varies by latitude. Patterns can be explained by variations in land mass.

Biomes = Large global ecosystems usually have many types of vegetation such as TR. Each biome contains communities of plants and animals that can be linked to soil types. TR is the most productive biome.

Biomass = total amount of organic matter in a given area

(NPP) Net primary productivity energy = calculated as energy fixed by photosynthesis minus that lost though respiration – measured in kg per square metre per year.

Biodiversity = total number of species in a given area or genetic variety of an area. Hotspots are areas that have high concentrations of biodiversity e.g.  South East Asia, India, Burma, Philippines.

Biodiversity =

·         Species diversity

·         Variations within species

·         Interdependence within species (ecosystem diversity)

Organic productivity = or primary productivity is a measure of how quickly vegetation grows i.e. at the rate at which organic matter is produced. TR produces the highest amount of organic matter due to their large biomass resulting from constant high temperatures and heavy rainfall = large growing season.

Case study NOT TYPED UP = ANWR (arctic national wildlife refuge)

·         Provisioning services- products obtained from ecosystems e.g. food, wood, fuel, medicine

·         Regulating services- benefits obtained from regulation of ecosystem processes e.g. air quality, water, erosion, natural hazard regulation, water purification, waste treatment

·         Cultural services – non material benefits that people obtain from ecosystems e.g. spiritual and religious values, knowledge systems, cultural heritage, ecotourism

·         Supporting services – those that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services their impacts on people are indirect e.g. soil formation, photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, water cycling

Carbon sequestration = trees absorb co2 and let out 02. Co2 is stored in leaves and branches and this regulates pollution in the atmosphere.

Daintree rainforest – Australia ‘wet tropics’ deciduous forest

Tourism in daintree rainforest worth $41.7 million a year , creates 3500 jobs, 70% tourists travel there independently.

Plants take up nutrients from the soil, when they die they replace these and this creates a cycle. If deforestation takes away these trees then there is no nutrients put back into the soil, making the soil not fertile for crop growing.

Threats to biodiversity can be managed through:

1.       Biodiversity protection

2.       Economic incentives

3.       Education

4.       Limiting development

Conflict = economic development vs environmental protection 

Factors influence biodiversity:

·         Climate – controls distribution of biomes.

·         Precipitation – can depend on season, how reliable rainfall is type of rainfall and growing seasons.

·         Temperature- This influences vegetation. Plants begin growth at 6degrees, they photosynthesis at 10 degrees, they suffer light stress at 35 degrees.

·         Light intensity – This affects photosynthesis. Tropical ecosystems receive most incoming radiation and have higher energy inputs.

·         Winds- This increases the rate of evapotanspiration.

·         Endemism – If biodiversity is high, the rates of endemic species is usually high too.

·         Human activity – biodiversity is under attack from human activity. This causes habitat change, invasive species, pollution and climate change.