Geography Case Studies

• 800,000-1 million people live in squatter settlements in an area of only 255 hectares.
• People live in mud huts, some with corigated iron sheetng.
• Paths of sewage running between homes.
• Rubbish is not collected properly.

Improvements

• A bristish charity provides low cost roofing tiles, these allow self-help schemes.
• UN Habitat provides affordable electricity.
• Two main water pipes provided by the council and world bank.

Site and service schemes These give people the chance to rent or buy a piece of land. The land is connected to the city by transport links and has access to essential services (eg water). People build their own homes using money from a low-interest loan.

Self-help schemes These give people the tools and training to improve their homes. Low-interest loans may be used to help people fund these changes. People may be given legal ownership of the land.

Rural investment Improving the quality of life and creating greater opportunities in rural areas may prevent people from migrating to urban areas. Investment in rural areas may therefore help to improve conditions in the city as well.

Population - 1.8 million

City has a budget of $600 million a year

Ways of working towards sustainability:

• Reducing car use - bus system, cheaper to use the bus. Car use is 25% lower than the national average and Curitiba has one of the lowest levels of air pollution in Brazil.
• Open spaces and conserved natural environments - green space per person increased from 0.5m to 52m in 20 years. Over 1000 parks that prevent damage from flooding. Residents have planted 1.5 million trees along the citie's streets.
• Recycling Schemes - 70% of rubbish is recycled, paper recycling saves the equivalent of 1200 trees a day. Residents in poorer area which don't have rubbish collection services are given food and bus tickets for bringing their recycled rubbish to collection centres.

How successful it's been:

• Reduction in car use means less pollution and use of fossil fuels.
• Conserving natural environment means in the future, people can still use the open spaces.
• 99% of residents said in a survey that they were happy with their town.

• In last 30 years, gone from a mainly agricultural economy, to a strong manufacturing economy.
• 3rd largest economy behind USA and Japan.
• GDP from agriculture fell from 30% to less than 15% between 1978 and 2004.
• Products manufactured in china have increased rapidly eg. colour TVs
• Lots of TNCs have factories in china eg. Nike and Disney

Reasons for Growth in Manufacturing:

• Cheap Labour - No minimum wage, cheaper than UK
• Long working hours - Chinese law says workers can work maximum 40 hours a week, however Chinese manufacturing company Foxconn says most of their workers work 80 hours of overtime per month to maximise production.
• Health and safety laws not as heavily enforced.

• National Park in Cumbria
• Gets around 15 million visitors a year

Tourists come here because:

• Scenery eg. large lakes - Windermere, mountains - Scafell Pike
• Activities eg. bird watching, walking, pony trekking and boat rides.
• Cultural Attractions eg. Beatrix Potter Museum

Strategies to cope with tourists:

• Coping with traffic - public transport, people can leave their cars at home.
• Coping with erosion of footpaths - changing the line of the paths and using more hard-wearing materials to make them.
• Protecting Wildlife and Farmlands - More bins in popular sites, encouraging tourists to enjoy the countryside responsibly.

Tourist Attraction Stategies:

• Objective - extra 2 million visitors by 2018, and increase amount tourists spend to 1.5 billion per year.
• Public transport improved to make lakes more accessible.
• Farm encouraged to provide quad biking, clay pigeon shooting etc.

• 700,000 visitors a year

Reasons:

• Fascinating tribal culture
• Wildlife - Big 5 (rhino, lion, elephant, buffalo and leopard)
• Sunshine all year round
• Beautiful Scenery

Impacts:

Economic - Tourism contributes 15% to the countries GDP. Only 15% made from tourism goes to locals, rest goes to big companies.

Environmental - Money made from tourism in the 23 national parks goes towards maintaining them. Safari vehicles destroy vegetation and cause soil erosion.

Social - Culture is preserved as tribes are a global attraction. Some tribes are forced off their land to create national parks.

Ways in reducing negative impacts:

• Walking tours to preserve vegetation
• Alternative activities to safaris eg. white water rafting

Ways of Maintaining Tourism:

• "Magical Kenya" campaign in Russia.
• Kenya wildlife service planning to build air strips to make the national parks more accessible for tourists.
• Reducing visa fees

• 98% ice
• Amount of tourists increased from 7,000 to 46,000 from 1996-2006.
• Tourists attracted by scenery and wildlife

Environmental impacts of tourism:

• Toursist trample plants, disturb wildlife and drop litter.
• Tourists could accidently introduce non-native species or diseases that could wipe out existing species.
• Spillage of oil from ships kill molluscs and fish.

Protection Strategies:

• The Antarctic Treaty, signed by 47 countries to protect and conserve the area, animals and plants. New limits on tourism.
• International Association of Antractica Tour Operators.