Case Studies

• Introduced in 1979 by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping to limit population growth
• Marriageable age for men = 22, for women = 20
• Couples had to apply to get married, and again for a child

If they conformed:

• Free education
• Priority housing
• Family benefits

If they didn’t conform

• No benefits 
• Fined heavily
• Women pregnant for a 2nd timehad to get forced abortions
• Persistent offenders sterilized

Exceptions:

• 2nd child allowed if 1st was mentally/physically handicapped or died 
• Farmers could have 2 children if 1st was a girl In rural areas, 2nd child allowed on payment of fine/bribe 
• Policy did not apply to the 56 ethnic minority groups

Achievement of policy:

• Birth rate fell from 31 to 19 in 20 years 
• The fertility rate has fallen to 1.7 births per woman 
• Reduced severity of problems that come with overpopulation

Low fertility rates of 1.33 children per family

Italy has long had a problem with declining birth rates

Yuppiedom – preference for luxury goods delays marriage and babies

Problems

• Women do not want to interrupt career to have children 
• High fees charged by nurseries 
• Shortage of affordable housing for young people

Solutions

Italian government offers a one time payment of 1000 euros to couples who have a 2nd child

• From 1986 to 2010, the percentage of population living in urban centers increased from 20% to more than 40% 
• Persistent problem of inadequate water supply leading to unhealthy living conditions. 
• Increased levels of pollution; air, water, noise, soil contamination. 
• High infant and child mortality; no development of the health system. 
• Elevated crime rate due to drug cartels and increased theft by people stealing resources to survive. 
• Malnutrition constant issue in rural areas

• Australia has an area of 7.6 million km2 and population of 22 million 

• Australia export their surplus food, energy and mineral resources 

• High incomes, good living conditions, and high levels of technology and immigration. 

• Australia is the world's thirteenth largest economy 

• World's fifth-highest per capita income It is probable that standards of living would rise, through increased production and exploitation of resources, if population increased

Push Factors

• 1800 per doctor 
• GDP per capita $14,406 
• Adult literacy rates only 55% 
• Life expectancy 72 years 
• 40% Unemployed
•  Poor standard of living 
• Shortage of food

Pull Factors

• 400 per doctor 
• GDP per capita $46,860
• Adult literacy rates 99% 
• Life expectancy 76 years 
• Many jobs available 
• Better housing Family links

Effect on USA

• Millions of $ on border patrol 
• Drain on US economy 
• Migrants keep wages low
• Good for US economy, bad for US workers 
• Cultural and racial issues
• Increased incidents of TB 
• Culture enriched

Effect on Mexico

• Shortage of economically active 
• Men emigrate leaving women 
• Trouble find marriage partner 
• Immigrants send $6 billion a year back to Mexico

• An ageing population - birth rates have fallen and one of the world's highest life expectancy's. 

• Highest proportion of old dependents - about 23% 

• Lowest proportion of young dependents about 13% 

• Has a total fertility rate of only 1.25 

• Have to look outside its borders to prevent future population decline and economic decline

• Rapid urban growth due to immigration and high birth rate 

• Poor people live in shanty settlements (favelas) and slums built along main roads leading to the city or vacant space next to factories on the outskirts of the city 

• Land with little economic value 

• Steep hillsides or unhealthy valley floors 

• Shacks made from wood, corrugated iron, cardboard or sacking 

• Overcrowded, high population density 

• Problems: pollution, eyesore 

• Threat: flooding, landslips or industrial pollution

Type 1: Low-cost improvements

• Houses rebuilt with cheap and easy-to-use breeze blocks 
• Water tank on roof collects rainwater for toilet & sink 
• Electricity and mains sewerage are added 
• Pay a low rent

Type 2: Self-help schemes

• Groups of people encouraged to build their own homes 
• Local authority provides breeze-blocks and roofing tiles 
• Electricity and water supply added 
• Advantages: 
• Creates community spirit
• Cheap
• More houses built

• Opened in 1999 and located near Dartford, Kent 

• Built on a Brownfield site in a dis-used chalk quarry and is just outside the M25 

• 14 hectares of retail space and almost 1.5 hectares for indoor leisure use

• What's there? 

• 320 shops 

• Parking for 13,000 cars

• Cafes and restaurants 50 acres of lakes and parkland, playgrounds and cycle ways 

• 12 screen cinema

• The Docklands suffered a spiral of decline and became very deprived due to containerization and deindustrialization 

• During the 1980's, British government launched Urban Development Corporations (UDCs) to regenerate poor and deprived areas 

• Physical Regeneration: 200,000 trees planted and 17 conservation areas made 

• Social Regeneration: 2,000 new homes built, shopping centers, sports centers and colleges built and $160 million spent on education and healthcare 

• Economic Regeneration: businesses doubled, jobs tripled, railways built, city airport opened

Social Problems

• Increased congestion so increased pollution – health problems 
• Increased travel time 
• More cars - increased frequency of accidents 
• More traffic jams increase frequency of road rage.

Environmental Problems

• Increased amount of air and noise pollution 
• Increased road building - destruction of greenfield sites
• Air pollution - acid rain and greenhouse effect

Economic Problems

• Increased government expenditure – building more road 
• Workers arrive late to work 
• Reliance on oil

Solutions

• Congestion charge: Drivers are now charged to drive into the center of London. 

• Bike hire scheme: Borrow bikes for a short period at minimal cost &bike lanes created 
• Trams (like buses that run on train tracks) reintroduced 

• Pedestrianisation: removing cars from the roads and making them walking only areas

• Improved rail links which decreases travel times 

• The amount of buses have been increased and old ones renewed

• Encouraging carpooling and building dedicated lanes Increased car tax and petrol duty

7.2 Richter on 17 January 1995, 5.46am

Cause:

• Destructive plate margin

• Philippines Plate forced under Eurasian plate

 Effects:

• 5500 dead 

• 40 000 injured 

• 230 000 homeless 

• 1km of railway collapsed 

• 180 000 houses destroyed

6.1 Richter on 4th February 1998, Winter

Cause:

• Collision plate boundary 

• Indian and Iranian plate collided with Eurasian plate.

Effects:

• 4000 died 

• 10 000 injured 

• 15 000 homeless 

• 27 villages largely destroyed

Erupted in January 2014

Cause:

• Destructive margin

• Indo-Australian plate subducted Eurasian plate

Effects:

• 80,000 hectares of cropland destroyed

• 16 deaths

• 25,000 people had to take refuge

• $700 million loss of roads, water and telecommunications

• Hundreds of jobs created 

• Geothermal power

• Large tourism industry

• Scenic

• Fertile soil

• Farming

• Less congestion

• Space

• Privacy

Flooded August 2004

Causes:

• Hurricane Alex
• Convectional rainfall
• Heavy rainfall
• Saturated ground

Effects:

• 3 metre wave hit
• 10 injured
• No power for 3 days
• 6 buildings washed out to sea

Solutions

Short-term

• Flood warning systems
• Search and Rescue operations
• Donations
• Refuge in leisure centres

Long-term

• Reconstruction of power and water
• Flood Defences
• Channel widened and deepened
• Bridge made

Advantages

• 100 million people protected
• Provide 2% of China's energy needs
• Tourism increased on lake 
• Improved shipping
• New settlements have better services

Disadvantages

• 3 million people relocated
• Factories submerged releasing toxic waste into water
• Silt doesn’t fertilize fields downstream
• Risk of earthquake cracking dam
• Loss of species, Yangtze dolphin

• New Forest coastline in Hampshire has clay and sand cliffs 

• Retreated 60m since 1971

• Now protected by concrete sea wall and groynes

• Constructing rock revetments and groynes at Barton on Sea

• Marshland with wildlife value from Keyhaven to Lymington – so nature reserve created and New Forest named as National Park

• Morfa Harlech is a sandy peninsula immediately north of the town of Harlech in the county of Gwynedd North Wales.

• This large area of sand has formed since the ice age.

• Sand comes from beach and has been moved northward by longshore drift to form a spit across the estuary

• The prevailing south-westerly winds picks it up and molds into sand dunes

• The youngest dunes are found closest to the sea.

• River Ganges flows southeastwards from Himalayas

• Alluvium deposited east of New Delhi and Bay of Bengal to form a flat plain and large delta – farming occurs here

• Farmers produce just enough for family

• Continuous growing seasons: rice in monsoon season & vegetable/cereal in dry season

• Labour intensive

• Recent changes include application of modern farming techniques, usage of HYV cereals, improvement in irrigation via technology and increased farm size.

• Narrow belt of semi-arid land South of the Sahara in Africa
• Rainfall is only in 1 or 2 months of the year
• Rainfall is irregular with no rain in some years

Physical Causes:

• Low amount of water supply
• Global warming; less rain per year
• Water holes dry up
• Non drought resistant grasses die

Human Causes:

• Population growth; 4% each yr
• Overgrazing; increased 40%
• Overcultivation; same crops grown and no fallow land left
• Taking local trees for firewood

Attractions

• Mixture of natural and farmed landscapes

• Diversity of landscapes (lakes, woodland, moorland)

• Wide range of ecosystems

• Sites of special scientific interest, nature reserves and protected limestone pavement

• 3200km of footpath, bridleways and green lanes

• Local settlements with human history

• Culture, dialect, sports, literature movements

Advantages:

• Wealth to locals
• Employment for locals
• New amenities used by locals too

Disadvantages:

• Traffic: too many cars
• Footpath erosion:
• Places become overcrowded
• Conflicts; locals and tourists
• Ruining scenery; cars and litter

Solutions:

• Landscaping: repairing eroded foot paths & planting trees
• Integration of rail, bus and lake steamer transport
• Road hierarchy, decreasing congestion

Attractions

• A coral reef with abundant life

• Over 450 cayes (low-lying islands); favored by scuba divers

• Relics from the Mayan civilization

• A sub-tropical climate & abundant wildlife.

• Political stability and close to the USA

Successes:

• Tourism is Belize’s second most important earner of foreign exchange.
• Has attracted the elite market
• 1⁄4 of country designated as nature reserve, preserving wildlife

Problems:

• 90% of recent developments are foreign owned
• Coral at the Hol Chan Marine
• Reserves has been damaged.
• Mangrove swamps are being drained
• Some tourists are failing to take care in nature reserves.
• Deforestation by refugees

Cause:

• Formed in Atlantic Ocean off coast of Africa
• Began 2 September 1999
• Category 4 hurricane in Bahamas by 13 and 14 September

Effects:

• 79 deaths
• 4 million evacuated
• Insurance = $460 million
• $1 billion agricultural losses
• Beaches in Bahamas destroyed
• 1 million had no electricity or water
• 14 states affected – North Carolina worst hit

Solutions and Management

• Prediction: National Hurricane Centre tracked storm using satellites, allowed 4 million people to be evacuated.

• Preparation: evacuation was well planned, supported by army and many hundreds of hurricane shelters

• Prevention: US citizens educated on how to survive a hurricane by government

• Buildings are well constructed to withstand high winds, floods and storm surges.

• Aid: USA relies on internal aid for it’s own government, the US government gave £1.5 billion and whilst FEMA gave £0.8Billion

Cause:

• Less than average rain

Effects:

• Garden hosepipes banned
• Water rationing
• Clay soiled dried, cracked and buildings collapsed
• Grass stopped growing so cattle did not have enough food
• Crops died
• Forest fires as land dry
• Legislation introduced to reduce home and industrial use of water

M4 corridor runs from Wales to London and is home to a lot of high tech firms like microelectronics, Rolls Royce and British Aerospace because it has:

• M4 motorway to allow inputs and outputs to be transported

• Mainline railway Wales to London

• Heathrow airport (and 4 others) for international links

• Large labour force from London and nearby towns (e.g. Reading)

• Nearby firms to exchange ideas

• Near Bristol, Bath, Reading and London Universities for expertise and research

• Attractive environment for workers e.g. National parks like Dartmoor

• Malaysia first developed heavy industry like steel and ship building

• Now concentrating on high tech industry like microelectronics and biotechnology

• Aims to be an MEDC by 2020

• Many industries not run by government anymore but privatised

• Uses a large workforce so attract workers from Indonesia and Philippines

• Attracting foreign companies too

• Now building a new international airport, new towns, science parks and high tech buildings like Petronas building

Vendors on Copacabana beach sell sunhats, lotions, cold drinks, jewelery and roses

Benefits

• Self employed
• Little capital (money) involved
• Labor intensive
• Use cheap resources
• Employs many people - 15,000
• Gives skills
• Uses local materials

Drawbacks

• Small scale
• No government assistance
• Illegal
• Women and children as workers
• Low standards of goods
• Work irregular wages for uncertain wages
• Not paying taxes

• Located along River Paraná: large reliable flow of water

• Hard impermeable rock was ideal for constructing both the dam and reservoir

• However 40,000 people had to be relocated because of construction

• Before construction, already reasonable amount of infrastructure due to nearby towns

• Depth of valley and the relief of wider area flooded for reservoir means Itaipu has lowest flooded area per unit of power production of all HEP schemes in Brazil

• Located at Daya Bay in Guangdong, south-east China

• Coastal location: seawater to used in the cooling process

• Hard rock in area: solid foundation for large and heavy installations

• Not on plate fault: no major threat from earthquakes or faulting in area

• Major cities not too far (Hong Kong 50km) so little energy is lost in transmission, but reasonable distance away in case of a nuclear accident

• Nearby supply of labour

• General infrastructure is very good

• Major 2000MW thermal power station in south-east England

• Located on the banks of the Medway estuary: lots of water for cooling

• Port facility: allows importation of coal and oil

• Adjacent to farmland and no significant residential areas nearby: lots of space

• Not too far away from house: not much energy is lost in transmission

• UK government wants to reduce CO2 emissions & increase renewable sources.

• By 2020 the UK aims to produce about 15% of its energy from renewables

• 2011, UK had 296 wind farms and over 3,400 turbines

Renewable power:

• Wind: source for greatest amount of renewable energy in the UK.

• 2010, world’s largest offshore wind farm opened in Thanet, on Thames estuary

• Many wind farms have been set up, particularly in Scotland and Wales.

• Biomass: Production of energy from biomass is expanding.

• 2011, new biomass energy centre was opened in Chilton, Durham.

• Deforestation occurring for the growing need for fuelwood

• 25% of the forest was removed between 1990 and 2005

• Removing trees on steep slopes leads to soil erosion

• Monsoon rains between May and September increase erosion

• Villagers in Tadiya have easy access to the forest to collect fuel and fodder however they are having to travel further and further

• Women spend 1/3 of their day collecting firewood for fuel

• Using fuelwood for tourists (70,000 per year) has increased deforestation and soil erosion by 10%

Causes

• Slash and burn farming by Amerindian tribes like the Yanomami
• Subsistence farming by 25 million landless peasants
• Commercial cattle ranching
• Highway and railway
• Timber/ logging companies
• Mineral mining eg diamonds, gold

Effects

• 30000 known species could be threatened
• Could lose the cure for diseases
• Loss of Amerindians + tradition due to European diseases
• Soil erosion and a loss of nutrients in soil
• Climate change and global warming
• Affects global carbon/oxygen levels

• Zones for different activities

• Loggers use selective logging practices

• Laws + fines and prosecution for law-breaking

• Limit licenses to be given out

• Restricting use of heavy destructive machinery

• Avoid construction where local tribes exist

• Community forestry development scheme to educate local people
• Increased patrols