OCR B GEOGRAPHY CASE STUDIES

• In 1950's, govt encouraged people to have more children to help increase country's workforce and build a strong army as state philosophy was "Large population gives strong nation"
• In 1950, people didn't have appropriate education and contraception wasn't widely available and improvements in people's living conditions led to a rapid increase in China's population.

• Land shortage due to overpopulation. Led to many people living in cramped conditions with poor sanitation which meant govt had to spend money on housing.
• This then led to deforestation. 500 sqkm cut down for buildings due to land shortage Put endangered animals like the panda at serious risk of extinction. Bad impact on wildlife, less plants= increase in pollution.
• Lack of resources, food and water. Not enough to feed everyone as very expensive due to it being scarce. So poor people suffered the most. Lead to people dying of starvation, dehydration, diseases from drinking contaminated water
  

Late, long and few policy (1970)

• Have kids later, leave longer gaps between each child and to have fewer kids in total
• Worked well, fertility rate dropped from 5.7 to 2.9 in 1979.
• BUT POPULATION WAS STILL GROWING

1 Child policy (1979)

• Birth rate decreased
• More women able to work because they don't have to look after many children
• Women forced into abortions so they don't break rules
• Ageing population, affected China's economy; govt invested money in old people not in education
• Gender imbalance, more males than females due to people preferring boys than girls so they can carry the family name

• Push: 40% Mexicans unemployed
• Pull: More job opportunities in the USA, esp for jobs in unskilled work like farm labouring
• Therefore, Mexicans more likely to migrate to USA for work

• Push: Poor medical care in Mexico- 1800 people to 1 doctor
• Pull: Excellent medical facilities, 400 people to 1 doctor
• Therefore, Mexicans who have conditions that can't be treated in Mexico may migrate to the US for treatment

• Push: Poor education. Only 55% literate
• Pull: USA has excellent education, best unis like Yale, Harvard and more career opportunities
• Therefore, Mexicans more likely to migrate so they can get good education

• Push: Lots of poverty. 40% Mexicans live below poverty line
• Pull: Less poverty, Only 12% live below poverty line

• M's accept low wages for work. Good for US economy but not for A's who don't want to work for low wages. As a result, M's usually get the job over A's
• M's in the USA send over $6 billion to family in Mexico. Good for Mexican economy as money invested but bad for US economy
• Tension between M's and A's as M's seen as drain on economy and as people who steal A's jobs
• Some Mexicans brought gang culture to cities like LA. This increases hate and street crime.
• Majority of M's who migrate to US are young males. This leaves a gender imbalance in Mexico and an ageing population. Therefore, not many children are born and health services are stretched etc...
• Illegal immigration costs USA millions for border control and prisons

• 1990 Immigration Act, limits annual number of immigrants to 700,000
• The US built a long border with Mexico. This is patrolled by border patrol agents who are armed. The US is increasing its technology to catch illegal migrants
• There are severe punishments for people who migrate to the US illegally. They are put in jail and fined heavily as well if caught in the US illegally.

• R: Available jobs have low wages & bad working conditions and hours. Mechanisation in farming means less people needed in farming which leads to unemployment. Eg, some coffee plantation workers get paid less than $1 per day
• SP: Many job opps in the city, so people migrate (esp for unskilled workers)
• R: Services essentially non-existent in rural areas like healthcare. People who need treatment can't get treatment in rural areas
• SP: To get treatment need to go SP, good healthcare
• R: Education extremely poor and families want their children to succeed
• SP: Better education within the city, attractive and better future
• R: Poor quality of life
• SP: Move in search for better quality in life

Favelas (Large illegal settlements that grow around outside of cities)

• Poor standard of living, below poverty line
• Rural people have no money for good quality housing so make own from scrap materials
• Poor sanitation, no sewage system so cholera and diarrhoea common.

Crime rate

• Rural people turn to crime for fast money, especially drugs, cartels very dangerous. Leads to gang violence over territory and between police.
• 1000's people die due to street crime every year
• Brazil experiences more death than countries at war. So bad that the wealthy travel in helicopters to avoid street crime.

Overcrowding and informal sector

• Services,hospitals&schools can't cope with large influx of people moving to the city.
• lack of jobs= increase informal sector. Less taxes= less money for services

• Grants and loans offered to make temporary homes more permanent
• Forced eviction of favelas to clear land for formal development
• Increasing policing to stop new favelas
• Raise taxes on the rich to pay for improved housing for the poor
• Youth groups reduce kids in crime and drugs though using reggae music and culture

Self-help scheme

• Govt provide training and building materials. Community build houses w/ electricity, water and toilets. This improves people's quality of life.

Site and service scheme (expensive)

• Govt builds sets of new homes this provides people homes that meets basic needs

• 1995
• Denser oceanic Phillioines plate is being subducted beneath lighter continental Eurasian plate
• Earthqauke had a shallow focus
• Epicentre 20km away from Kobe

• Hanshin expressway collapsed- form of transport, people couldn't escape
• Gas pipes burst and electricity lines fell. Caused a 500m wall of fire and 850,000 lost gas and electricity supply
• 5000 people died, 23,000 injured. Psychological damage
• 180,000 houses destroyed, so 230,000 people made homeless
• 70% railway unusable, people can't get away
• Emergency services couldn't reach people due to damage to transport. Increased death and injuries

• Japan refused international aid, caused a lot of suffering
• The Japanese worked together. 1.2 million volunteers worked over 3 months to put things right. Increased community cohesion.
• New laws were passed to ensure that buildings were made earthquake proof to stop damage occurring in the future.
• Japan developed earthquake prediction technology which gives them a few minutes warning.

• Measured 6.6 in Richter scale on 23rd December 2003
• Conservative plate margin. Arabian and Eurasian plates sliding past each other at different speeds and direction.
• This created friction which lead to a build-up of pressure.
• The release of this pressure created seismic waves which travelled from focus to the epicentre in Bam

• 80% buildings destroyed including 16th century citadel. Buildings made of mud bricks which collapses very easily. Because of this 75,00 people were homeless and people lost their jobs because the citadel was a tourist attraction.
• 30,000 killed and 40,000 injured. People who knew them may suffer psychological problems...

• International aid was sent like tents, food and hospital equipment. This helped to patch up problems between USA and Iran who've had a rocky relationship for many years.
• Buildings reconstructed using cement not mud brick to prevent collapsing buildings in the future
• Tent cities were set up on the outskirts of the city to house people who were homeless
• Many people from around Iran volunteered to help those in need

• Hurricane Katrina began as a low weather pressure system which strengthened to become a tropical storm and eventually a hurricane as it moved west towards the Florida coast on the evening 25 August 2005.
• There were warm temperatures which allowed the hurricane to form initially
• Its wind speed increased from 75mph to 80mph to 125mph in a few days’ time.

• 1 million people left homeless and about 1200 drowned- suffer psychological problems
• Oil facilities were damaged, so petrol prices in UK and US rose affecting people internationally
• Despite an evacuation order, many of the poorest were left behind in New Orleans
• People sought refuge in the superdome stadium- conditions were dirty& shortage of food and water
• New Orleans lies below sea level and is protected by levees which protects New Orleans from the Mississippi river and lake Pontchartrain. As storm surges reached over 6 metres, the levee defences were unable to cope with the strength of Kat and water flooded into the city. Increased deaths and cost of damage bcs flooding in the area was worse than it should've been
• 230,000 jobs were lost from businesses

• The UK government sent food aid during the early stages of recovery. However, most refused because it didn't meet US food standards. Increased impacts.
• $50 billion in aid was given by their own government. Reduced impacts.
• National guard was mobilised to restore and maintain law and order in what became a hostile and unsafe living environment. Prevented theft and other crimes.

• Mitch formed in western Caribbean Sea on Oct 22 1998
• Very hot summer. sea temp in Caribbean reached 27c, meant a lot of evaporation of water vapour occurred, which caused an area of low pressure to form
• winds became stronger and stronger as air rose more rapidly and so movement of air to replace it became faster as well
• As a result, air started to spiral as well as increase in speed.
• Hurricane hit Honduras on Oct 29th 1998

Honduras

• Coastal buildings destroyed. Meant rubble got into sea, may have killed animals
• Heavy rain which fell in a short amount of time caused soil to be washed into rivers blocking them. This caused widespread flooding. This ruined crops, which ruined people's way of earning money, meant can't provide for their families.
• Bridges and roads destroyed by floodwater.

Nicaragua:

• Rain caused a huge mudslide down the side of Casita volcano. This completely buried 4 villages.
• Valuable farmland destroyed, only source of income for some
• About 20,000 people died, psychological damage
• Polluted drinking water caused outbreaks of disease like cholera

• Mexico and USA sent helicopters, troops and bulldozers. Reduced impacts as helicopters took supplies to remote areas and airlifted the injured
• Charities like the red cross provided water purification kits to combat disease. Work of red cross was successful in keeping the outbreak of disease to a minimum.
• Un provided seeds, fertilisers and tools to rural areas who had been affected due to loss of farmland.
• Government troops helped rescue those stranded by floods or trapped in rubble of destroyed buildings
• Long term aid stopped quickly once the hurricane was not featured as heavily in the news which meant that redevelopment also stalled.

Why did the docks go into decline?

• In the19th century, the docks one of the busiest ports, but in the 1950's it significantly declined.
• This bcs there was an increase in ship size, which meant that these ships couldn't come as far as the Isle of Dogs
• Containerisation meant that the docks couldn't cope with the largest ships or deliveries and so they went into decline.
• Also, there was a decline of portside industries and manufacturing, which meant that the docks were loss frequently used.

• By 1981, the population of the isle of Dogs had shrink to 15,500
• Employment was declining by 1985, only 7,600 people were in work on the island due to the loss of jobs from decline of the docks
• Access to the rest of London was poor with narrow roads that were heavily congested. Main road serving the area, the East India Dock road was heavily congested.
• Public transport on the island was limited to a single bus route. No rail or underground service directly served the area
• Shopping facilities were limited. Lack of open space and recreation facilities.

• London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was set up in 1981
• They set up new transport links to the area like city airport, the DLR and Lime house link tunnel for cars and buses. Meant that people could access the rest of London easily.
• There was a £7.7 billion investment from the private sector, lie several huge new shopping malls were built.
• Post-16 colleges and a new campus for the University of East London.
• Leisure facilities like water sports and a national indoor sports centre were built.
• 22,000 new homes created. Many are luxury flats in former warehouses.
• Water based Ecology Park and London's first bird sanctuary at East India Dock Basin, this is just one of the 17 conservation areas set up.
• 2,700 new businesses are trading
• 200,000 trees planted and there's 150 hectares of open space.

Positives

• More trade for local shopkeepers
• Cheaper rents for large companies, encourages companies to set up there
• Greatly improved accessibility

Negatives:

• Many of the jobs created were in highly skilled professions. This meant that the existing local population remained largely unemployed
• No new factories were built and no jobs were created for secondary industries-only tertiary and quaternary. Original population were unskilled, so despite new jobs, they required skills that most old Dockers didn't have.
• Often the new facilities made were not owned by the local authority, which meant that local people could not afford to use them.
• Many locals could not afford the new and expensive property.
• As the Docklands are an international 'hub' it has reduced community spirit of the old Dockers. Has led to a decline in community cohesion.

• Area rundown and many people moved out of the area. This meant that there were few people to use local shops and these shut down too. Some shops that remained were the pound shop and Iceland.
• Much of the land was also brownfield sites, with buildings being full of toxic waste. Derelict buildings are also ugly and dangerous.

• Westfield employs 10,000 people. At least 2000 of these were previously unemployed local people.
• Olympics development means that transport links were improved in the area meaning lots of people use the retail services.
• The International Station attracts foreign investment into the area.
• The extension of the Jubilee Line on the Underground give Stratford much better connections to the rest of London and up into Essex.
• Local people now have a diverse range of shops to visit without travelling into central London.
• Westfield had 47 million visitors in its first year

• The cost of building Westfield was £1.45 billion. Some people don't think it was worth it.
• Some local businesses couldn’t compete with the new shops in Westfield and so had to shut down.
• Due to the shopping centre, on the busiest days 800,000 people will travel through Stratford causing congestion and crowding on both roads and public transport.

• On 6th July 2005, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that London would host the 2012 Olympics
• London's bid was focused upon a complete rebrand and reconstruction of a brownfield site along the Lea Valley in Stratford, East London
• The development included the building of Westfield shopping centre. This has one and a half million meters squared area for retail, leisure and residential development
• Stratford City has already attracted 5 major international banks and several new apartment blocks have been built.

• It's a NGO, non-governmental organisation that provided aid to eastern Africa
• Funded by voluntary donations
• Founded in 1985 to reduce rural poverty
• Has been operating in Ethiopia since 1988

• There are very few opportunities for Ethiopian women to make money. Means they have a low quality of life and struggle to afford things like healthcare.
• In the Afar region, prosopis, a plant introduced by the government to stabilise soils has become a pest, making farming difficult, as it invades grazing land.
• In the Semu Robi region, frequent droughts make farming very difficult. This reduces the farmer's income and can lead to malnutrition. Semu Robi is a remote region, so getting veterinary care for livestock is difficult.
• In the Bale region, forests are cut down to make land for growing crops and grazing livestock. Trees are also cut down for firewood. This reduces resources for future generations

• Women are given training and livestock to start farming. Loan schemes have been set up to help women launch small businesses like bakeries and coffee shops. Women have been given legal training to advise other women of their rights. Has helped 15,160 people.
• Farmers are shown how to convert prosopis into animal feed. The animal feed is then sold, generating a new source of income. Has helped around 4,400 households
• People are given loans to buy small water pumps to irrigate their farmland. This reduces the effects of drought. People are trained in basic veterinary care so they can help keep livestock healthy. Has helped around 4100 people
• Communities are taught how to produce honey and grow wild coffee. These are then sold, so people can make money without cutting down trees. Communities are also taught how to make fuel-efficient stoves that use less wood. This also reduces deforestation. Has helped around 7500 communities.

Rural women's empowerment

• Once the businesses have been set up they'll continue to grow and make money. This means that money will be available as a future resource.

Prosopis management

• Once the farmers have been taught the new technique they'll be able to carry on using it. This means that money will be available as a future resource.

Community development project

• The project means people are able to farm more crops and animals. This means they can earn more money. But if too much water is used there won’t be any left for other people.

Sustainable forest management

• Less deforestation means there'll still be trees for future generations. Also, people can make money themselves by selling the coffee and honey

• Wal-mart began in 1962 when Sam Walton opened first store in Arkansas, USA
• More stores opened across Arkansas, then across the USA and now all around the world. LIke in the UK (ASDA), Canada, China, Mexico
• Wal-mart sells a variety of products, eg, food, clothes and electrical goods
• Wal-mart is the biggest retailer in the world- it owns over 8000 stores and employs over 2 million people

• Creates lots of jobs in different countries, eg, in construction, manufacturing and retail services. Eg, in Mexico, it employs over 150 000 people and in Argentina, three new stores opened in 2008 creating about 450 jobs
• Local companies and farmers supply goods to them, increasing their businesses. Eg, in Canada, Walmart works with over 6000 Canadian suppliers, creating around $11 billion of business for them each year
• They offer more skilled jobs in LEDCs. Eg, all the Wal-Mart stores in China are managed by local people.
• They donate hundreds of millions of dollars to improve things like health and the environment in countries where it's based. Eg, in 2008 in Argentina Wal-Mart donated $77,000 to local projects and gave food and money to help feed nearly 12,000 poor people
• The company invests money in sustainable development. Eg, in Puerto Rico, 23 Wal-Mart stores are having solar panels fitted on their roofs to generate electricity

• Some companies that supply Walmart have long working hours. Eg, Beximco in Bangladesh supplies clothing. Bangladesh has a max 60 hour working week, but some people claim employs at Beximco regularly work 80 hours a week.
• Not all Wal-Mart workers are paid the same wages. Eg, factory workers in the USA earn around $6 an hour, but factory workers in China earn less than $1 an hour.
• Some studies have suggested that Wal-mart stores can cause smaller shops in the area to shut- they can't compete with the low prices and range of products on sale.
• The stores are often very large and out-of-town, which can cause environmental problems. Building them takes up large area of land and people driving to them causes traffic and pollution. For example, the largest Wal-mart store is in Hawaii and it covers over 27,000m2 and that's over three times the size of the Wembley football pitch

Santander located their call centres in Tyne and Wear which is located in the north east of England

• High unemployment in the area meant that there was a ready workforce
• Keen workforce willing to work for minimum wage
• Lower rate of sickness in Tyne and Wear than London
• Customer complaints about Indian call centre operators and loss of business
• To rent offices in Cobalt park is cheaper than in London
• There's a large workforce of women who are keen to undertake jobs with flexible working hours, like call centres

• Cobalt office park- it's a business park
• Has good transport links- railways and dual carriageway connect it to the city
• There's a nursery, a hotel for 157, leisure centre, shared car and bicycle schemes
• 9000 people employed in Cobalt office park
• Close to other businesses so they can share ideas, technology and resources.
• Attractive landscaping and next to country park
• Staff discounts on food, entertainment and travel

• Provided jobs for people who had been previously unemployed
• Provided flexible working for people who had children
• The Cobalt park facility provided a nursery for employees who have children so they can still come to work
• Highly skilled jobs aren't available so they're not well paid

• Indonesia overtook Malaysia as the largest grower of Palm oil in 2007. Cargill (an MNC) is being encouraged by the Indonesian government to increase production in parts of Indonesia like Borneo.
• In the past the majority of palm oil production has been for food and cosmetics but now the European Union have agreed to cut greenhouse gasses by 20% by 2020 we are having to find a new source of fuel for our transport.  The answer is said to be bio-fuels however this will mean that Indonesia and Malaysia will produce more palm oil.

Climate

• Palm oil plantations need temps of 25-28 all year around and plenty of sunshine and rainfall
• In South east Asia, where Borneo is located has a humid tropical climate. Average temps of 25-28c, no dry or cold seasons and has a rainfall of 2000-4000mm a year

Site

• Palm oil plantations need huge areas of land, flat land to reduce erosion &problems with erosion, and deep, well-drained fertile soils
• Borneo has deep tropical soils, flat river valleys with mountains in places and untouched tropical rainforest inhabited by tribal groups

Labour and machinery

• Palm oil plantations need hard work to pick the fruit and special machinery to extract and refine the oil.
• Borneo has low-paid Indonesian migrant workers and major companies investing in processing and refining

• In Borneo there are few roads, hospitals and schools. Cargill has provided investment in infrastructure in the area through palm oil production
• There are very few jobs in the region and many people have to leave the area in order to find work. Palm oil production provides jobs; the locals call it 'green gold'
• Some argue that palm oil production is allowing Borneo to develop sustainably- creating jobs and wealth
• Palm oil is used as an eco-friendly biofuel. The crop has a wider range of uses than other crops, it needs fewer chemicals to grow, it produces more energy than other biofuels and absorbs nearly as much co2 as the rainforest

• The UN environment programme (UNEP) predicts that 98% of Indonesia's lowland rainforest will be destroyed by 2022
• The rainforest is the natural home of many animal and plant species like the Sumatran tiger, Asian elephant and the orang-utans of Borneo.
• At the moment there are between 55,00 and 60,000 but 5000 to 10,000 orang-utans are killed each year
• Smoke caused by the forest fires designed to clear the land spread across south east Asian, disrupting air travel, damaging people's health and costing the region billions of pounds
• As Indonesia replaces rainforest with palm oil, it emits huge amounts of greenhouse gases
• Traditional ways of life in Borneo are threatened. Local communities like the Dayak people depend on hunting and on forest resources like rubber. As they lose their land, they lose their culture and existence

Government support

• Palm oil plantations need research to increase quality and production. Also need roads and ports for export
• The Malaysian government has been researching into new varieties since the 1960's also, there are major road development projects being held

Markets

• Palm oil is used for food processing and fuels.
• In South east Asia there is little demand, whereas Chinese and European export markets